Archive for the ‘ parties ’ Category

Well here we are back from a lovely weekend and a fantastic and fun rainbow party!
Alannah had an amazing time, she was so happy the entire day, and I  thought I’d share the pics with you.

Keeping with our our rainbow theme and inspired by the book ‘You, Me and the Rainbow’ I introduced a heart element into the invitation design as well as some of the design elements in keeping with the rainbow ritual in the book ‘sending a rainbow from my heart to yours’.
We were both really excited about this theme, it was so much fun to work on.
Above: Our new ‘wrap me in rainbows’ party invitations created especially for this party; Miss Alannah loving every bit of her 6th Birthday; ‘wrap me in rainbows’ party hats
Above: Rainbow party hats – Alannah loves party hats, so these were a special request from her, now available as a printable party file;
Favours – guests were given ‘Cookie Love’ take home rainbow gingerbread hearts; The kids party table – one of my favourite things and a fabulous find that I used for this party were the garlands – you can’t see much of them in the pics, but I strung them all over the roof, mainly in white, with some bulk colour for the rainbows. These were not actually garlands, but strings of wool! Yes wool, it’s called snowball and you can purchase it in 25 metre lengths in a multitude of colours from Lincraft or Spotlight for around $3.50. A bargain!

Above: The Sweets and Candy Table – The hanging cloud with rainbow hearts was purchased from etsy seller The Rainbow Room, Clara very kindly adjusted the design to have hearts rather than rain drops for me; The Cake - I first saw the rainbow cake over at my lovely friends Hip Hooray, for instructions to make head on over to Whisk Kid. For our version I wanted Alannah to be involved – she finger knitted the wool decoration to wrap around the cake, and chose the unicorn on top out of selection of few cake toppers I found on etsy – this one came from the very talented Bunny with a Toolbelt. The number six was purchased from spotlight and I glued some printable paper with spray adhesive to the front so it would tie in with the other stationery pieces.

Above: The food - as we were having an afternoon party I didn’t want to make too many different dishes for the dessert bar, so we went with cupcakes – topped with the rounded tip of a candy cane, rainbow bark – white chocolate with crushed candy cane on top, heart shaped fairy bread – always a favourite, and rainbow striped gingerbread hearts – these took a fair bit of time to make, but I’m super pleased with the outcome even if I do say so myself! An assortment of coloured lollies were also added included smarties, jelly beans and twizzlers – rainbow coloured licorice!

Above: More sweet treats; Drink bottles – were dressed up with printable drink labels in our wrap me in rainbows theme

Above: The rainbow cake – it worked! It really is simple to make, and very effective – the papparazzi were in force!; Sweet Treats – I printed up little treat bags and filled with candy for guests to take home

Above: More Gifts - I couldn’t resist making up these  little personalised pocket mirrors to match the invitations. The poem on the hessian bag was ironed on with t-shirt transfer.

Entertainment - I wanted to sit back and enjoy the party this time around so I organised for Stephanie from Fairy Flutterby to entertain the guests. Stephanie is a fantastic entertainer and talented face painter. She kept the girls laughing with a magic show, dancing, games, facepainting and balloon sculpting – what more could you ask for! I highly recommend her.

More Details:

Stationery - All of the stationery items used in this party are now available for purchase through Alannah Rose as printable party files, you can view our ‘wrap me in rainbows’ printable party invitations and matching items here. So if you’re wanting to replicate this look, you can simply purchase the files and print off the paper pieces at home.

Twizzlers - from Sugar Station

Ribbon Cake stands from Tracey Lau

Rainbow Candy Cane - Big W

Cake Supplies – Wests

Rainbow Twine – The Twinery

Finally – A very special thank you to my mum, my husband, my two gorgeous girls that make me smile every day, my lovely friend Kerrin, and the mums that helped me on the day.

And finally to Amy Atlas who featured our little party on her blog today with the sweetest words – I’m so flattered! – I’m ever inspired by Amy’s work, and thrilled that she has featured one of our party’s again.

Today we’re getting ready for a little 6th birthday celebration for my daughter. The theme she’s chosen is rainbows, and whilst there’s so many rainbow parties around and it’s a popular choice, it’s a choice that’s dear to our hearts and especially special to her.

Last year when she started prep, we went through a lot of separation anxiety, two terms of it actually (in Australia that’s half a year), there were tears every morning at drop off, and I mean EVERY, which was distressing for me, distressing for her, and difficult for her teacher – a Mr – who handled her absolutely amazingly and took her on his knee each morning as I pried my fingers out of her grip.

At some stage amongst all the tears I had a chat with my Aunty, a school teacher who had just been to a talk by Petria King – a well-known author, inspirational keynote speaker, teacher and facilitator. Petria’s talk was about the rainbow ritual and accompanying story book You, Me and the Rainbow. A story and ritual developed by Petria to help children deal with challenging, sad or distressing news. My Aunty thought it might be worth a try with our separation anxiety, so I ordered the book and away we went.

Well, within a week of reading the book every night and doing the rainbow ritual, Alannah was going off to school, wrapped in a rainbow and not a tear in sight!

Since then, she’s been obsessed with rainbows, we talk about them a lot, and every now and then when she’s feeling a little unsure, I send her rainbow from my heart to hers, and it’s enough to give her a little more confidence to head off to whatever it is she’s doing.

I highly recommend the book, it’s a beautiful story with a purpose, and it’s certainly one that’s become special in our home. So tomorrow, we’ll be sending rainbows around, I hope you all catch one too.

Stay tuned for the pics – we’ve had so much fun with the theme rainbow, Alannah has even finger knitted some of the decorations, which is so incredibly sweet.

For more information on Petria King, the Rainbow Ritual and You, Me and the Rainbow, please click here.

I think I admitted a few weeks ago that I’ve got a little ‘thing’ for cake stands… I found a stunning range at Sharnel Dollar Designs, and now I have discovered more!

Talented Australian stylist, photographer and dessert queen Tracey Lau has just started selling these gorgeous ribbon cake stands. The minute I saw them, I snapped them up – I can’t tell you how much I love them, and for how long I’ve searched for an Australian stockist of these! This week, I threaded red and white ribbon through them and made little chocolate pudding cupcakes for Christmas, so sweet.

And just today via Hostess with the Mostess, I’ve stumbled across Sweet and Saucy Supply – dare I say it – cake stand heaven! They have one of the largest ranges I’ve seen available online, at very reasonable prices. Have a look at these gorgeous pink hobnail stands. Their catch cry “Beautiful stands – oh my!” pretty much sums it up.

Sweet & Saucy also just recently styled Myley Cyrus’ 18th Birthday Party, a stunning dessert table based around a dream catcher theme – be sure to visit their blog for the rest of the eye candy.

Have a lovely Sunday all – only 6 sleeps until Christmas.

We’ll I’ve started the preparations for Alannah’s birthday in March, I was going to outsource next years parties, but it appears my children won’t let me! So here I am researching all things party again! I found these cuter than cute cupcake pom poms from My Silly Bear on Etsy. Such a sweet variant on the tissue paper pom poms we’ve all come to love.

Nothing quite says childhood like an old fashioned carousel- our Take Me To The Fair party invitation conjures up thoughts of fairy floss, ferris wheels and all the naughty food you shouldn’t eat but is so wonderful for little eyes to feast upon!

For little girls, keep your colour palette in soft pastel stripes- lots of pinks, lilacs, soft blues and lemon yellows. Serve your favourite old fashioned treats in carnival style containers and decorate with beautifully created musical carousels.

Clockwise from top left: Alannah Rose Take me To The Fair Party Invitation, fairy floss from Popcorn.com.au, Gelati stripe popcorn box from Pink Frosting, pink cups from Posh In A Box, bowtie from Swagger & Swoon, Musical Merry Go Round from Merry Treasure Shopper

This week I was thrilled to attend a little soiree held by the lovely girls at Bride to Be magazine. Held at the Pavillion at Como House, it was a lovely afternoon. I’ve fallen in love with the Pavillion, it’s an intimate room, simply decorated to provide a blank canvas for your own theme, and it looks out over some of the beautiful gardens at Como House. It’s perfect for engagement parties, small cocktail style weddings, birthday parties, bridal or baby showers and events.

Catered functions are run by Bursaria Fine Foods, and I can testify that the fare I tasted this week was simply delicious. I found this sweet image on their gallery, so pretty!

When we asked our Facebook “likers” which of our invitations they liked best recently, our friend and stockist of Alannah Rose, Kathryn of Pink Frosting said “Paris” was definitely her favourite.

We love our Paris party invitation, it conjures up so many beautiful parties – today? a French inspired afternoon tea party. Wire replicas of the Eiffel tower gracing the tables, sweet raspberry macaroons, blooming peonies and of course- the finest of tea leaves drunk from our favourite tea pot!

Clockwise form top left: Alannah Rose La Parti De Paris Invitation, Macaroons from Gourmet Traveller, Iron Eiffel Tower from Paris France Products, Tea Light candle holders from Love, Loans & Linen, Peonies from Just Picked, Teapot from Peters Of Kensington

Well it’s officially December. The girls and I put the Christmas Tree up yesterday to much excitement and I have made a start (albeit slow) at wrapping presents. This is how I’m using our La La La Bird Christmas Tags this year, don’t forget to get your orders in for these, they are disappearing fast!

First birthday parties are inherently special- filled with the baby innocence and the relief of parents surviving the sometimes harrowing first year. Our take on a first birthday party is always perfectly sweet with a few special touches.

This party (inspired by our One Little La La Plane Party Invitation) centers around that boyhood wonder- the airplane. Softly swaying planes hang from the ceiling, clouds decorate the wall, sugary sweet cupcakes with flags and handmade wooden airplanes for guests to take home. Along with cupcakes serve treats like popcorn, fairy floss, milk with brightly striped paper straws, soft squishy marshmallows and plenty of champagne for the adults!

Clockwise from top left: Alannah Rose One Little LaLa Plane Party Invitation,  Flensted Aeromobile Click-a-mobile from About Style, wooden airplane from stumpondtoy, cupcake flag from Details Details, blue striped straws from Details Details, cloud garland from Paperklip Design, cupcakes from Cakes and Art from Cupcakes Takes The Cake

Last Sunday I attended the gorgeous gallery opening for Little Bird Photography. Pru held little high tea to celebrate her sweet new gallery. It was a lovely afternoon and I was very taken with the sweet vintage tea cups and tableware she hired from A Vintage Affair.

A Vintage Affair hire gorgeous tea sets, silver tea service, crockery and accessories, perfect for hen’s days, weddings, baby showers, photoshoots and even gallery openings! Take a look at their website here.

I’m a little excited about today’s find, I’ve got a soft spot for polka dots, red and white in particular, so when I stumbled across this red and white polkadot tissue paper in Big W, I snapped it up!

Part of their Christmas range (look in the wrap section), it’s perfect for making pretty party pom poms, not just for christmas, but for any parties you may have planned for the year. Run don’t walk party planners, they won’t have it after the festive season!

Given it’s Halloween I thought today’s find should be on theme. I found this sweet recipe for Ghost Cupcakes on Kaboose, they look easy to make and would look super for a spooky themed party too!