Wedding Recaps - Color Me Periwinkle

Wow, 7 months goes by fast. I can't believe I've been married for 7 months. I think I'm allowed to be called a newlywed for the first year, right? So recaps of a wedding that happened in July isn't crazy, am I right? 


*crickets*


Well, I've already disclosed where we were having the wedding, but I haven't much talked about my design or my plans with how I wanted to transform the space to make it my own. 


First, it was all about color. For many, this is an easy task; choose your favorite color, and move on, right? Well, that would just be too simple for me. I needed to find a color that's ridiculously difficult to find. Make life hard for myself - yes! This is a GREAT idea! Periwinkle! Let's choose Periwinkle!! And brown, because frankly, the colors go well together. 


Brides use Tiffany Blue for everything these days, so let's change it up a little so people, including everyone involved in making your wedding possible, are confused. Perfect. 

Tiffany Blue? Too easy.

 Did you know that periwinkle isn't a trend these days? Yah, me either. So, finding inspiration for this color had to come from the voices in my head. And though they are entertaining, the voices are more for the whimsy than the real. So, for many things, I needed to create from things I've seen and make them my own. Some things worked, others didn't. The most important thing I learned was that it's okay to have several shades of blue, periwinkle and brown and use them together to make a continuum of color that ties everything together. 

Many thought I was crazy because they were from the old school notion that you should have 2 colors for your wedding, and they should match exactly. This is the same notion that says hunter green and burgundy are still the wedding colors of choice. (Side note - in high school, I was CONVINCED these were going to be my wedding colors. Ugh.)

However, I'm glad to report I think it all turned out okay...

Pictures by Metsker Photography

Overall, I'm glad I decided to go with a twist of a trending color. It allowed me the freedom to play with more color options and create a palette of colors instead of one or two. 

What factors have played in your decisions for color?

Star Wars Party

My son loves Star Wars. As a 6 year old, his experiences are more along the Clone Wars lines, and less the days of Ewoks and Chewbacca. So, when it was time to celebrate his birthday, he asked to have a Star Wars party. And since I refuse to completely fall into the commercialized visions of how my party should be, I decided to explore the blogosphere for some inspiration...this is what I found:

The Ultimate Death Star

The woman that wrote about her party inspired me to do a very similar party. Imitation is a form of flattery, yes? Let's discuss:

My son's birthday is in October, so the orb of choice was a pumpkin, and with so many people carving death stars out of pumpkins, I thought, hey, why not?

Um, I am no pumpkin carver, like this dude is.

Here is my son's party in all it's glory: 

The Death Star pumpkin in all it's glory, accompanied by Federation Fruit (with dip), and pretzel light sabers - pretzel sticks dipped in colored candy melts. These were to die for by the way. I can't believe I've never made them before. They taste like yogurt covered pretzels. Yum!

My aunts bake great cakes, and can be pretty creative. They were troopers when I asked them to tackle Yoda. They even used a glow stick for his light saber. So clever. 

Though, we did find that Yoda's head, removed from his body, transformed him into E.T. 

Beeeeeeee Goooood.............

Food with a little creativity paired with family and friends makes a great party. Have you ever stepped out of your normal to make a party fun for someone? 

Be Mine, Valentine

My son Angelo is in Kindergarten. Which means just about every day I'm given some sort of permission slip, reminder note or something of some sort of activity he is participating in. Of course, with it being February, the activity is the infamous Valentine's Day party.

Oh, I remember my elementary school Valentine's Day parties...hoping you got a 'special' valentine from that cute boy in class (it never happened). Decorating your mailbox and then taking turns with fellow classmates passing out valentines. Oh, and there are treats. Always treats at these parties.

Source here, here, and here

So, as a parent, I was initially excited to get the letter home that Angelo is having a Valentine's Day party. However, I was a bit disappointed to find that for the most part, everything must be store bought. Well, Boo! Each parent is allowed to choose what they want to contribute to the party.

Since baking on my own is out of the question, I decided to go for party favors. There are 26 kids in Angelo's  morning Kindergarten class. We've been asked to make things simple, so I searched for something that would be simple, but cute, and different from anything store bought. The result? I went to Michaels and made favor bags.

(pictures by me)

Each bag contains a coloring/activity sheet, 2 crayons, a scratch-n-sniff sticker and a little bag of Hershey Kisses. The bags were simple - Ziploc bags with a construction paper wrap stapled to the top, embellished with foam stickers.

I think it brings a touch of home-made to a cookie-cutter party. What have you contributed to your children's party?