One thing I LOVE to do is throw a fun party! In this case, it was my daughter's birthday. She decided to have a pool party and go with a Hawaiian theme. Thankfully the weather cooperated. I was worried because the day before the party, it rained all day! But, we had bright sunshine and HOT temperatures...perfect for a pool party.Now normally when I plan a party, I plan it for weeks and have everything ready to go, but this time was different. Due to scheduling issues with the pool, the party had to be 2 days after we got back from vacation! Yikes! (Note to self: don't plan a party for 2 days after you get back from a trip!) But, you do what you gotta do and it all turned out fine. Of course the perfectionist in me wanted to do so much more, but there just wasn't time. All in all, I think it turned out well and everyone seemed to have a good time. I thought I would go ahead and share some of my decorating ideas with you from the party. Nothing too fancy, mind you. Just "festive."
Here is a quick door sign I made. I literally whipped it up in a few minutes. I simply used a 12x16 canvas board, taped off areas to paint different colors, added polka dots with a large round sponge brush and added "Happy Birthday" in black vinyl letters that I cut with my Silhouette. Then I just added a ribbon to the back to use as a door hanger. The bright colors show up great from the street. I hung it out there a few days before the actual party. I chose not to put her name on the sign, so that I can reuse the sign for each family members' birthday week.
My next project was to try my hand at making tissue paper flower balls. I had never made them before, so decided to Google it and I found several You Tube videos that showed me exactly what to do. I tried to find the video tutorial that I used, but I was unable to find that specific one again. But, any tutorial you find will give you the instructions that you need. I used 10 sheets of tissue paper to make mine nice and full and I cut the edges of mine to a point (while still folded together), for a fun look. They were a little time consuming to make, but I just love what they added to the decor.
Having thrown several luau/Hawaiian themed parties in the past, I have lots of serving pieces, linens, etc that fit that theme. Which was good, since I was on a tight budge for this party! The grass skirt under the table cloth is actually a twin size bed skirt that goes with some Hawaiian bedding my daughter used to use when she was younger. It's the perfect size for my island! The "table cloth" is actually the twin flat sheet from the same bedding set. Yes, I said bed sheet! Why not? It had the perfect design and I already had it on hand.
I always like to try and challenge myself to see how much I can use from what I already have. I also kind of like the "mix and match" look. Nothing to "matchy-matchy." When I buy serving pieces, bowls, baskets, cloth napkins, etc, I try to buy things in fun colors that will work for a number of holidays or themes. I especially love reds, pinks, lime green and oranges. I love to use baskets with cloth napkins in them for serving pieces, especially for chips, bread, silverware or napkin holders, etc. The fun floral plates on the island came from Target years ago, and actually belonged to my sister-in-law, Terri. She put them in a garage sale we were having together and I snatched them up. I already have a hot pink set, but I knew the white set would come in handy too! (I know, I think I have a dish fetish!!) I'm sorry that the rest of the decorations/serving pieces didn't show up well in my pictures. Don't you hate it when you think you take enough pictures and you discover after the fact, that you didn't!!
Other fun serving pieces are buckets. Buckets in all sizes and colors. This little orange bucket came from the dollar spot at Target. (Love the dollar spot!) I simply added a hot pink and orange gingham cloth napkin and some bright turquoise plastic flatware for a splash of color.
I also love my white ribbon plate! I got it years ago, back when I was a Southern Living at Home rep. I wrapped a variety of pattern ribbons around the edge through the years. It's just such a fun plate and you can use dry erase markers to write a greeting or your menu. Too fun. Everyone should have one!
For party favors for the girls, I bought these fun tumblers at Target and used orange vinyl to put the girls' names on the cups. Then my daughter simply filled them with some of her favorite candy. Easy-peasy!
I didn't make the cake this time, but it was so cute, I thought I would show it to you anyway. Normally I made petite fours for my daughter's birthday, but I knew that just wasn't in the cards for this party. Thankfully she was fine with that and we happened to find this cake at Sam's that was perfect for our theme. It was so good and easy on the budget, too! Sweet!
Well, that's all I have for now. Like I said, this party was a little scaled back from what I normally like to do, but everyone seemed to have a good time. I hope you found this helpful and that perhaps you were able to get a few ideas from it. Thanks for taking the time to ready my post.
Have a great day,
Melony
My next project was to try my hand at making tissue paper flower balls. I had never made them before, so decided to Google it and I found several You Tube videos that showed me exactly what to do. I tried to find the video tutorial that I used, but I was unable to find that specific one again. But, any tutorial you find will give you the instructions that you need. I used 10 sheets of tissue paper to make mine nice and full and I cut the edges of mine to a point (while still folded together), for a fun look. They were a little time consuming to make, but I just love what they added to the decor.
Having thrown several luau/Hawaiian themed parties in the past, I have lots of serving pieces, linens, etc that fit that theme. Which was good, since I was on a tight budge for this party! The grass skirt under the table cloth is actually a twin size bed skirt that goes with some Hawaiian bedding my daughter used to use when she was younger. It's the perfect size for my island! The "table cloth" is actually the twin flat sheet from the same bedding set. Yes, I said bed sheet! Why not? It had the perfect design and I already had it on hand.I always like to try and challenge myself to see how much I can use from what I already have. I also kind of like the "mix and match" look. Nothing to "matchy-matchy." When I buy serving pieces, bowls, baskets, cloth napkins, etc, I try to buy things in fun colors that will work for a number of holidays or themes. I especially love reds, pinks, lime green and oranges. I love to use baskets with cloth napkins in them for serving pieces, especially for chips, bread, silverware or napkin holders, etc. The fun floral plates on the island came from Target years ago, and actually belonged to my sister-in-law, Terri. She put them in a garage sale we were having together and I snatched them up. I already have a hot pink set, but I knew the white set would come in handy too! (I know, I think I have a dish fetish!!) I'm sorry that the rest of the decorations/serving pieces didn't show up well in my pictures. Don't you hate it when you think you take enough pictures and you discover after the fact, that you didn't!!
Other fun serving pieces are buckets. Buckets in all sizes and colors. This little orange bucket came from the dollar spot at Target. (Love the dollar spot!) I simply added a hot pink and orange gingham cloth napkin and some bright turquoise plastic flatware for a splash of color.I also love my white ribbon plate! I got it years ago, back when I was a Southern Living at Home rep. I wrapped a variety of pattern ribbons around the edge through the years. It's just such a fun plate and you can use dry erase markers to write a greeting or your menu. Too fun. Everyone should have one!
For party favors for the girls, I bought these fun tumblers at Target and used orange vinyl to put the girls' names on the cups. Then my daughter simply filled them with some of her favorite candy. Easy-peasy!
I didn't make the cake this time, but it was so cute, I thought I would show it to you anyway. Normally I made petite fours for my daughter's birthday, but I knew that just wasn't in the cards for this party. Thankfully she was fine with that and we happened to find this cake at Sam's that was perfect for our theme. It was so good and easy on the budget, too! Sweet!Well, that's all I have for now. Like I said, this party was a little scaled back from what I normally like to do, but everyone seemed to have a good time. I hope you found this helpful and that perhaps you were able to get a few ideas from it. Thanks for taking the time to ready my post.
Have a great day,
Melony
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