{party inspiration: VS fashion show viewing party}

For years now I have always loved watching the Victoria's Secret Fashion show on TV every holiday season- it's just the epitome of girly silliness plus the musical acts in the past shows have only gotten better and better! Back when we were living in LA, some of my girlfriends and I got together to have a little viewing party for the fashion show with a "sweatpants & jewelry" theme showing up in our comfiest yoga pants, but wearing layers of our most fun jewelry.

In honor of the VS Fashion show taking place this evening and airing in a few weeks, I thought I would put together a little party inspiration board for this exact theme as I am hoping to host this party again this year.  So grab your ladies together for a fun girly night in their chic-est sweats dripping in their most over-the-top baubles!

PS- this post is not sponsored by Victoria's Secret- I really am just that obsessed with watching their fashion show every year! :)

{party inspiration: a grilled cheese soiree}

You might have seen on Instagram that last Sunday night we hosted a little grilled cheese soiree at our place and it might just be my new favorite party theme.  We purchased a bunch of bread and butter then asked guests to B.Y.O.C. - bring their own cheese and desired toppings.  Of course there ended up being a little friendly competition among guests to make the best grilled cheese combination- some of the front runners included jalapeño pesto pear with gruyere, baked beans with cheddar, and a surprising combo of american singles with hot dogs!  This is such an easy inexpensive last minute party idea that requires minimal set up and it gets guests involved!

{manly beer tasting party invitations + free printables}

Remember this masculine party inspiration for a fun craft beer tasting party that I posted a little while back?  Well today I am back with the invitations to accompany this fun party.  Inspired by some amazing specialty paper from Paper Source that I picked up the other day, I created a simple invitation suite using a neutral color palette of off-white, black and kraft paper.  I used the specialty paper as both a liner for the main envelope and as a handmade envelope for a mini details card.  I kept the rest of the invite straight forward with a bold to the point front to the invite and simple party info on the back.  See more details on assembling these invites below as well as links to download the printables!

Main Invite: Sized in a 6.5" square and printed on off-white 100lb cardstock. Download the front and back of the invites.  To type your own message/details on the back simply drop the jpeg file into Microsoft Word or Adobe Illustrator and type in your party details.  Fonts used are "Bebas" for the words "Beer Tasting" and "Engravers MT" for the words "Come Celebrate."

Main Envelope: I used leftover kraft envelopes from our wedding invites which you can purchase here. Or you can purchase this envelope template kit and make your own from a roll of kraft paper.  The liner is a hand-painted specialty paper from Paper Source- you can find similar ones here, but since this one is brand new it isn't on their site yet.  Use this envelope liner template to cut out the liner.

Details Card:  Download the front and back details card pdfs. These are sized to print 8 to a page.  Print the back first since it has less detail and then flip the paper and print the front side.  I recommend using a paper cutter like this one to cut these out. They are sized 2" by 3"

Details Envelope:  Use the mini envelope template in the this pack to make a custom envelope or buy mini envelopes right here. 

Here are all the download links once more:

Main Invite Front

Main Invite Back

Details Card Front

Details Card Back

{bachelorette party supplies}

Summer means wedding season which is great and all, but the really nice part about wedding season is the cooresponding bachelorette party season!!!  I love a good excuse to throw a fun girly party for a night out filled with champagne and confetti.  My one complaint with bachelorette parties is the obnoxious decor- can we all just agree once and for all to leave the penis crowns and pink zebra striped decorations at the tacky party store where they belong?  Here's a little round up of some fun alternatives for any bachelorette parties in your future:

For the bride:  No need to over-do it, but the bride to be HAS to wear a little something.  This is not negotiable.  When else in her life can she parade drunkenly around in a wedding veil.  Simply inform your bride-to-be friend that this is happening and buy her a simple veil.  And grab the adorable ring sunglasses to go with it!

Groupwear: In addition to the penis crowns, please also leave the matching rhinestone tank tops at home.  You are all better than that and your wardrobes deserve more.  That doesn't mean the ladies shouldn't get the chance to wear a coordinating accessory because like the bride's outfit- when else do you get to parade around with your friends wearing the same cute flair?!?  Colorful flower crowns (diy tutorial here) or bow headbands (see them in action here) make a nice alternative.  Personally I love the chiffon or tulle pouf for the ladies to wear, but I am biased since that's what we did for my bachelorette- see an easy tutorial for those here.   You can't go wrong with a simple pair of earrings like these or festive Lolita sunglasses.

Decor:  If you can just recreate the decor from this amazing 30th birthday party then you will be all set!!! Throw in a pink + gold tassel garland from The Flair Exchange to fancy up your hotel room and add a cute fringed heart on the wall- perfect for photo ops!

Activities:  Since most guests will expect a game, why not make it enjoyable for everyone and have a little blindfolded champagne tasting contest.  Buy a few different bottles of champagne- have all the girls blindly taste them and see if they can guess which is which! Don't forget to pick up a cute blindfold!

Favors:  Whether it is the bride to be or the main party planner who buys some favors for the guests, it is always fun to have a little something to thank everyone for coming.   Load up a cute tote bag with custom cocktail bottles, nail polish and other fun items- see some more ideas what to put in these bags here. 

Special Extras:  These are just some fun items to bring along for extra credit- girl's night table topics would make for a fun late night activity, custom name krazy straws would be perfect for guests to keep track of their drink and of course a secret stash of confetti never hurts!

{kentucky derby party inspiration}

With the Kentucky Derby right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to put together a little party inspiration for in home viewing party.  I have never actually hosted (or even watched) the Kentucky Derby, but I know it would be an easy and festive little party to throw together.  All you would really need is a few mint juleps and tea sandwiches plus requiring ladies to wear fabulous hats and gents to don a bow tie.  Throw in a few grass green party decorations as well as maybe these awesome party favors and you are ready to go!

{oscar viewing party snapshots}

{simple serve yourself bar set up}

This past Sunday we hosted our first ever Oscar Viewing party and it was a blast (see the inspiration board here). We did a little re-arranging of our living room furniture to make for optimal viewing for our 12 guests, set-up a simple serve yourself bar and served a trio of fancy tacos for dinner.  Some parties that we host allow me the time to really take a lot of great photos for the blog, but other times I get too caught up spending time with our guests that I forget to take photos so I just have these few snapshots from the evening:

 {we made two batches of make ahead cocktails using these guidelines and I placed out a few 

bottles of champagne along with a selection of liqueurs and bitters for people to play with}

 {oscar ballots I made myself and oscar bingo printed from here}

 {a selection of popcorn: one is the classic Garrett's popcorn Chicago mix, the other 

was brought by Heather and it is a chocolate, sea salt and chile flake mix}

   {I wanted to make some extra special and since it was the Oscars, 

caviar seemed like the best way to go!}

{the parties of 2012}

Wow! 2012 was a whirlwind year that seemed to fly by!  Even though it felt like everything was moving at double speed, we got the chance to throw some amazing celebrations this year including one really big one- our wedding!  Here's a little recap of all my favorite parties from 2012 and based on these fabulous events, I cannot even wait to see what 2013 holds for us:

 {the "breakfast for dinner" themed party we threw for our good friend Kay- complete with a pancake stack cake! Definitely one of my favorite party themes since it was super easy to execute and who doesnt love breakfast food in the evening?!?!}

 {a garlic centric dinner party we threw in our new Chicago dining room.  This was first dinner party we had in our new place and I loved creating a menu around one ingredient}

 {a relaxed dinner party menu- one of the only posts where I featured a complete menu 

along with wine pairings!}

 {a colorful and fun engagement party some of my friends and I threw for our newly engaged pals,
Jeff & Katie.  My favorite part of this party was the DIY slider bar!}

 {my bridal shower- I definitely had absolutely nothing to do with the planning and execution of this party. All of the credit for this beautiful event goes to my bridesmaids, mom and mother -in-law.  I just loved this party so much, I had to include it!}

 {our "sequins & bow ties" themed going away party! This theme is hands down the best one I have ever thought of- I wouldnt mind if this was the theme for every single party going forward.}

 {breaking tradition for our birthdays this year, we opted to throw a cocktail party rather than the 20 person sit down dinner we usually choose to host- this was also the very first big party we threw in our new Chicago place, but surely not the last}

{a "champagne & desserts" themed party I threw for my good friend's 26th birthday party- another theme that I wouldn't mind using for many future parties!}

And of course- the best party of this year for us was our wedding in Palm Springs last April: