Category: party ideas

A Vintage Inspired Christening Party – Revisited

We shopped our homes to pull together this eclectic little event. An unexpected location, some fun décor and yummy food created an easy vibe. A unifying color scheme made it easy to create a vintage vibe that really rocked when we added a few modern elements. Who knew a pitchfork and vintage trike could look so good?

This adorable bright ceramic bird, and painted feathers tied our table-scape together.

A burlap tablecloth is made elegant with a long lace runner. The silver candelabra, assorted glassware and bouquet of baby’s breath completed this fun table-scape.

We loved this Paper Pyramid Light Garland made by The Society of National Industry on Etsy. It was so easy to incorporate these sweet lights in our decor setting. They added warmth and a little twinkle to these rustic barn doors.

What do you wear to an eclectic, vintage event? An eyelet A-line dress, of course! We paired this one with ballet style leather moccs, tied up with lace. So adorable! Top it with a hand-made baby’s breath wreath and her outfit’s complete!

These Leather Ballet Moccasins come with a darling little bow headband. LOVE!

Lovin’ the bow detail on these adorable baby moccasins!

This dusty rose pearl bracelet is the perfect accessory for your little sweetheart.

Spray-painted feathers make an amazing garland that comes alive in the breeze. It was so easy to create! Learn how on our painted feathers tutorial.

A little jute tie around this napkin kept the feathers in their pretty place.

Aren’t these christening invitations (courtesy of Biplane Press on Etsy) so elegant? The silver foil adds a bit of shimmer to the embossed details. We were so impressed with the quality of paper, ink and the attention to details of this invitation. Great job Biplane Press!

A collection of glassware in varied shades and heights made for an entertaining spread. What’s on the menu? These scrumptious sugar cookies were fabulous frosted, or without! How about a little custard on the side?

Layers upon layers made this stacked crepe cake. We topped it with fresh raspberries and a dust of sugar. It was A.MA.ZING. Click here for the recipe. We simplified a little by using prepared Bavarian Cream Pastry Filling instead of homemade…loved every bite!

Lace-tied candles added a sophisticated element to our table-scape. A little lemonade was a refreshing treat at this fun christening brunch.

An old wooden spool made a splendid spot for our little brunch. Add a handmade wood stool and a rusted metal chair and you have the perfect setting!

When filled with delicious sugar cookies, these stamped muslin bags (courtesy of Yellow Flower Designs on Etsy) made for a wonderful take-home treat!

We loved putting together this vintage inspired christening party! We hope to have brought you some wonderful ideas to create your own setting for a special event! One last big thanks to Heather & Kayla of Paisley Studios for the fantastic photography, and all our Etsy vendors for helping us pull off this fun party!

Shop One Small Child Baby Gowns, Outfits and Accessories

Christening Party Ideas: An Outdoor Summer Christening Party

Outdoor summer christening parties can be so beautiful! Natural settings offer a beautiful venue for summer evening events. Guests enjoy an evening of fresh air, delicious food and fun conversation at this summer christening party by Petal Pixie and One Small Child.

All white linens, plates and platters allow the pretty pink elements to come alive. The focus is on the food, flowers and conversation. What’s on the menu? How about some refreshing pink lemonade, layered sandwiches, and frosted carrot cake? Two gorgeous floral arrangements bring sophistication and interest to this lovely tablescape. Exposed flower stems and jute ties around the sandwiches and flatware sets echo the rustic elements of this outdoor setting.

It’s not a party without decorations! A colorful fabric bunting softens the scene. Learn how to make your own no-sew fabric bunting in this post.

Our silk Phoebe gown was the perfect choice for this summer soiree. Subtle pink trim, a ruffled bonnet and big bow from the silk ribbon ties are adorably girly. Baby girl was cool and comfortable in this light gown, and mom loved the way she looked. Our mother and child pearl bracelet set was a sentimental display of their special bond.

Guests were graced with dainty herb pot favors to take home and treasure. They looked adorable next to each place setting and added yet another element of rustic charm to the tablescape. Find out how easy it is to make these fun favors in this post.

This little gentleman is so handsome! We love the faux over-all style of this lightweight romper. The James Christening Outfit can be personalized with custom embroidery. Isn’t it just right for this summer christening party?

We hope you were inspired and now have oodles of summer christening party ideas to make your own event magical. A special thanks to these sweet babies and their wonderful families!

Flowers, food and styling courtesy of Petal Pixie.

Photography by Paisley Studios.

Christening clothes and accessories by One Small Child.

Favorite Fourth of July Treats

Independence Day is this weekend! Are you ready? Need some fun ideas for food and snacks to keep your crowd happy? Today we’re sharing a Pinterest roundup of our favorite Fourth of July treats.

What to drink… This Patriotic Punch from MomEandeavors.com will have your kids puzzled and delighted! Don’t worry about the preparation. It’s not rocket science. We love a Twizzler straw, too!

Delightful dinner… How creative are these Firecracker Dogs from HandmadInTheHeartland.com? They’re sure to please your crowd of littles this Independence Day. You could even try a grown up version with Bratwursts! Pass the ketchup, please!

A cool treat… Let’s add a little fruit to the menu with these healthy Firecracker Fruit Pops from MillionMoments.net. She uses strawberries, coconut and blueberries. Yum!

Dessert with a bang… Okay, what kid (or adult) wouldn’t love these Firecracker Cakelettes from SheKnows.com!? We know they’re adorable. But the best part is the surprise inside! Soo fun!

Treats for the show… Keep their busy little hands and mouths quietly entertained with these Firecracker Favors from GoodHousekeeping.com. These treat boxes will (hopefully) keep the fun coming as long as the firework show.

We hope these Fourth of July treats were inspiring! Still puzzled about what activities to plan? Check out this post on fun family activities for the Fourth of July.

Christening Cakes 2015: Pinterest Roundup

No celebration is complete without a delicious, beautifully decorated cake! We’ve scoured our Pinterest boards, and found our favorites. There’s something for everyone. Whether your celebration is themed, trendy or traditional. These cakes are sure to drop your jaw, and tickle your taste buds! Don’t forget to follow us on Pinterest for more ideas!

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Looking for something that’s not too over-the-top? We love the idea of all white Christening cakes! Your venue and décor will be complimented by the simplicity. And your guests will appreciate not getting colored frosting in their teeth!

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Give your little guy a celebration that’s all about him. Nothing says little boy like baby blue. A blue chevron pattern gives a subtle masculine touch.

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Celebrate what’s special about her, whether she’s a little diva or daddy’s sweetheart. Showcase her personality! The black and pink damask pattern says “all-girl”. Pretty peonies have a sophisticated feel.

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Going with a traditional celebration? Nothing says special occasion like white and gold with intricate embellishments. We love the lavish look of these traditional cakes! Prince George’s cake is truly inspiring. Can wWe love an angel wing topper!

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We love trendy celebrations! Geometric circles and an extra-tall bottom tier lend to the modern design. Pretty pink ruffles are so feminine for a lovely party.

(Winter Christening Cake | Crepe Christening Cake | Garden Party Christening Cake)

Going with a themed celebration? Create a unique cake that supports your theme! Snowflake embellishments for winter. A creative crepe cake for a vintage inspired party. A simple home-made cake topped with stunning flowers. Whatever your festivities are centered on, guests adore creative Christening cakes!

How To: Winter ‘One’derland Girls First Birthday Party

A first birthday is such a fun milestone! One that definitely calls for a celebration. A couple weeks ago, we shared this Winter ‘One’derland First Birthday Party. Today, we’d like to share how Josie’s mom threw this simple girls first birthday party. Here’s what she did:

“I chose the Winter ‘One’derland theme because it fit my daughter’s January birthdate, and it was specific to a first birthday. I liked the trendy color combination of silver, light blue and purple. So I chose them to base my decorating on. I’m very practical, and I knew I could easily find everything I needed in these colors. I don’t like to stress over these things!

“I recruited my sister (a great cook) to bake a home-made cake for Josie to smash. She did layers in the theme colors of blue, white and purple. Then, decorated it with white whipped frosting and silver sprinkles. It was just what I wanted-simple and delicious! She also made colorful cupcakes with the leftover batter from each layer. We served the cupcakes to the guests with some blue punch and left the smash cake all to the birthday girl.

“The most important thing to me was to have cute pictures to remember the fun. So I created a colorful backdrop that went along with my theme. I used four plastic tablecloths-layered on top of each other to get the streamer effect. Shred the top three, and leave the back whole. Add the twinkle lights and tulle in a swag over to finish the top and sides. I also added coffee filter snowflakes throughout the backdrop. The foam letters I happened upon, and thought were a cute addition. I put down a folded white sheet that I could just throw in the wash after the cake smash and some balloons for the kids to kick around. Josie and the other kids had fun playing with them, and it made for some great snapshots.”

“My mom saw the chalkboard idea, and I loved it! I’m kind of a perfectionist, so I made sure to draw it well in advance. It was a little time consuming, but everyone loved it. I felt it was worth it to display some fun things about Josie’s personality.

“The order of events went like this: after the guests arrived we sang happy birthday to Josie. She was so excited to see all her family. I let her open her gifts first-mom and dad and both her grandmas helped a lot with that. It was sweet that she got to open several gifts with the help of those who gifted them. She loved all her clothes and toys! We saved the cake smash for last, since I knew she’d be messy afterward. We let her dive in and then served the cupcakes and punch to the guests. Afterward, everyone visited while the kids (and a few dads) played with the toys and balloons. It was all very laid-back and simple.

“Josie had a great time playing with all her family. She enjoyed the gifts and the delicious cake, and I loved seeing her so happy! It was a very simple party to put together-just right for a girls first birthday party.”

How to Entertain Guests during the Holidays

Holiday get-togethers are memory makers. You catch up with family you haven’t seen in some time, eat as if calories don’t count and enjoy the spirit of the season. But some of us have the absolute pleasure of hosting some of that family for multiple days in our homes and the cooking, cleaning and pure joy that comes with it. Today we offer how to entertain guests during the holidays in small ways to make your life a little easier while you host those you love most.

While your grocery bill is going to go up, make sure that part of that is easy finger foods and drinks for all the kids that will be constantly asking for a snack, and adults. If your kids are anything like mine, if one asks for something to eat, they all do. Purchasing a large vegetable tray is a great way to go because you can set it out and everyone can take from it as they want. Even if it is in the fridge, everyone can take it out, take a few pieces and put it back. No preparation necessary. Add to it crackers, the mini cheese squares and flavored sparkling water and juice boxes and your all set.

Make a meal plan for every meal. Ask guests to contribute to the meals with a side or dessert and then they feel like they have helped in some way and you avoid them potentially offering you money to cover the costs of all the food. Also, clean out your fridge before everyone comes and leave room for your guests to put their own food, especially if they have a special diet.

Have activities in mind to go to or do at your home. Bringing out the board games are great, but knowing about special events happening in your area before your guests arrive is nice to choose from to break up the several game nights in a row.

Finally, offer those you love a room with a lock on the door. Having some kind of privacy will really help them feel better about staying over instead of a hotel. Knowing you can fully relax while vacationing is a gift in itself.

Enjoy your time with family and friends. Here’s to many nights of staying up late, too much cocoa and filling your heart with memories.

How to Make a Painted Feather Garland {in 3 Easy Steps}

We came up with this pretty painted feather garland for our Vintage Christening Party shoot, and love how it turned out! Also: it’s seriously easy to put together, and the options are endless. Here’s how we did it:

Painted Feather Garland Tutorial

Supplies Needed:

Feathers (any size, color will do, it’s all up to you–we used various sizes of white feathers for this garland)
Masking Tape
Spray Paint
String/Rope/Ribbon/Lace to hang your feathers on (we used jute twine & lace)
Floral Wire
Scissors

Step 1:

Find a surface you can adhere the feathers to, in a well-ventilated space where you can safely spray paint. Grab a feather and place masking tape over the area you want to remain the natural feather color. You can do any pattern: we did some of ours in a chevron shape, others with diagonal or horizontal stripes. Your imagination is the limit!

Step 2:

Spray the feathers with the spray paint. We liked ours with a heavy coat towards the bottom fading to a lighter coat towards the top. Again, it’s all up to your imagination. Just play with it and see what you like best–there’s no right or wrong way! Let the paint dry. It should take just a few minutes (this will depend on how heavily the paint is applied, just be sure it’s dry to the touch) and remove the tape.

Step 3:

Attach the feathers to your string with floral wire by wrapping a bit of wire around the feather and the string. Space the feathers as desired along the string, then hang the garland and ENJOY!

Holiday Fun: Family Fourth of July Activities Pinterest Roundup

Are you looking forward to all the Independence Day celebrations as much as I am this year? It’s always fun to get together with family. My family loves to play games, do crafts and watch the fun firework displays. It’s a time that we can all get together and catch up with each other.

I have been in charge of my family party on the Fourth of July for several years now, and I needed a few new Fourth of July activities for all the kids this year. I have to entertain every age from toddler to teen, which can be challenging! Not to mention I’m short on time to prepare, and I really don’t want to break the bank. So I went searching on Pinterest and found some great ideas for kids of all ages. (Are you following us on Pinterest?) Most are very inexpensive and simple to prepare. I wanted to include a craft, at least one thinking activity and a couple ‘get up and move’ activities for each age group. Here’s what I came up with:

Fourth of July Activities for Toddlers

Let’s start with the little ones: I picked a straw fireworks paint activity for their craft from ArtsyMomma.com. For their thinking activity, I chose a simple felt build-a-flag activity from LittleFamilyFun.com. The get up and move activities are water bottle bowling from RootsandWingsCo.blogspot.com and an awesome hand and foot-print flag from ParentMap.com. (Wouldn’t this be fun to involve all the kids and compare the flags as they grow each year?)

Fourth of July Activities for Kids

Next up is the kiddos. I chose a fun can wind catcher for their craft from MamaOlie.blogspot.com. I scored with this free printable patriotic bingo from Makoodle.com for their thinking game. And for their get up and move activities, I chose a simple water bottle ring toss from RootsandWingsCo.blogspot.com and fun can-do stilts from Spoonful.com. (To simplify decorating the cans, I may have construction paper to wrap the cans, and use star stickers instead of trying to let the kids paint the metal and let it dry, etc. Crepe paper would also be a less expensive alternative to ribbons for the wind-catcher.)

Fourth of July Activities for Pre-teens and Teens

Now for the older kids. I’ve planned on all these activities at least entertaining the pre-teen kids, and I’m hoping the teens will jump in and enjoy them as well. I chose ribbon dancers for their craft (A little juvenile for a teen, I know. But their “not into crafts” anyway, yeah?) from theGoldJellyBean.com. I’ll use crepe paper for these as well. Their thinking activity is a word search from FourthofJuly2013.com. (I might also do a Declaration of Independence matching game I saw briefly on theRedHeadedHostess.com that would be more challenging for the older kids.) Their get up and move activities are a balloon dart game from RootsandWingsCo.blogspot.com and a fun scavenger hunt from PartyGamesNow.com. Whew! Glad that’s all figured out!

The Challenge

Okay, here’s the monkey wrench. There is a very large, very fun fireworks display that is about 45 minutes away from our small town. After a day of food and fun activities, it’s always fun to go watch this particular firework display. However, we need to show up to claim our spot on the nice soft grass reasonably early. Otherwise we will end up with sleepy kids laying on asphalt or a big tree blocking our view. So, I need a few Fourth of July activities to take along, so the kids are entertained while we wait for the big firework show. Can I just say, Pinterest is a lifesaver? I saw this awesome pin from SugarBeeCrafts.com that is perfect! These games don’t take up a lot of travel space, and they’re very inexpensive. It’s nice that you don’t have to worry about something getting broken or left behind when packing away all the sleepy kids. (Honestly, I’ll probably end up tossing them in the trash on the way out.)

I’m excited to try out all these fun Fourth of July activities this year! I’d love your input! Have you tried any of them? Do you have any other fun Independence Day games or tips?

OSC Family Friday: Meg’s Baptism

{Miss Natalie LDS Baptism Dresses}

This girl recently celebrated a special day: she reached the age of eight years old and chose to be baptized and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This is a big deal for her, so she invited her grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends to attend the service and come to our home afterwards to enjoy a few of her favorite treats. It was such a pleasure to have so many loved ones in our home!

We’ve talked a lot about planning a christening or similar event on this blog, and I have to make a confession right here: this all came together at the last minute…because that’s how I roll. I utilized the same process, just smashed all the prep work into the day before. And while I don’t necessarily recommend taking on huge amounts of stress the day before a meaningful gathering, it worked for me because I tend to keep things fairly simple. {grin}

The menu selected by Miss Meg was as sweet as she is: chocolate chip cookies, vanilla cake, and root beer floats. I threw in some yummy ham-pineapple-cream-cheese-roll-ups for a touch of savory to go with all the sugar. I wouldn’t call it a balance, but it definitely took the edge off, and those babies disappeared fast!

This cake comes with a bit of a story. Because it was the last minute, I ended up ordering a cake from our local grocery store: vanilla cake with simple white frosting and pink lettering. When I picked it up, the lettering was…really awkwardly done. Grrr. I considered my options on the fifteen minute drive home, determined to make it work. When I arrived, to my DELIGHT, I found that if I was very careful, I could pick the lettering off the cake without any major damage. Pinterest supplied me with an awesome buttercream recipe, and I free-handed this simple design in nothing flat. It’s not perfect, but for me it was good enough. And yummy! (In case you’re wondering, CTR stands for Choose the Right.)

A sweet flower arrangement rounded out the preparations, and gave the table a pulled-together look that I loved.

All in all, it turned out to be a lovely day filled with the things that matter most: faith, family and friends!

Free Printable: What to Pack for a Christening

We’re all about making your special events go more smoothly! When planning a Christening or Baptism, you’ve got a lot on your plate! Between scheduling venues and officiators for the event to food and decorations for the after-party (not to mention catering to your out-of town guests!) we know you’re starting to feel the stress! Among everything you have to worry about, you have to pack all that you’ll need for your baby’s event. The last thing you want is to forget something at home and have to make a flying trip to get it — or worse, go without it. Let us help! We’ve come up with a free printable checklist of what to pack for a Christening. You can pack up baby’s things with confidence that you’ve got everything. Or better yet, assign someone else to pack! With one less thing to worry about, you’ll have time to enjoy your baby, guests, and event! After all, that’s what it’s all about!

{Print your free What to pack for a Christening checklist here}

Did we miss anything? Please share what else you found helpful to have on your Christening or Baptism day!