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6 Tips for Hosting a Fabulous Play Date for Under $10

February 1, 2016
Celebrating , Posh Playdates

I try to celebrate the every day in style. Even when it comes to hosting play dates, I like to elevate the experience by offering something a little more memorable than your average mommy and me meetup. Here’s how I hosted a pajamas and pancake play date at my home for less than $10. Hopefully, this will give you some inspiration for your next children’s gathering.

1). Find a fun theme. Themes get people brainstorming and anticipating the excitement that lies ahead. And for a play date, they immediately make meetups special. I had never held a breakfast play date before so I set this one up with a pajamas and pancake theme. (invite from Paperless Post)

2). Use what you have. There’s no reason to spend a lot. Search around the house and find items that may inspire you. I noticed for instance that Juliet had amassed a bunch of Play doh gifts so I hosted a Play doh themed playdate – same with Hello Kitty. Click on those earlier blog posts for more ideas!

This time around I was determined to use my leftover 2nd birthday decor.

I figured these plastic animal figurines that I bought wholesale and decorated for Juliet’s party animal themed birthday could easily turn into a fun ‘wild for you’ Valentine’s decoration. I just cut out letters freehand from scrapbook paper that I already had. And even used coordinating tissues (yes as in travel-sized Kleenex) found at Target for $1 to make the ‘YOU’ cutout letters.

The animal figurine display set the backdrop for the pajamas and pancake play date nicely.

To continue the animal decor, I sat furry stuffed animals on each chair which helped welcome our sweet little guests, strung animal Valentine’s cards that I found for $1 at Target into a banner, and laid down a twin sized duvet cover that was a pink zebra print for the table linen. (Think out of the box!) And the melon rectangles that awaited the kids were stamped with bunny bento cutters that I already owned.

3). Encourage pancake decorating! It’s not often you’re encouraged to play with your food but it sure is fun! Our pancake decorating station included: sprinkles in 6 colors, mini chocolate chips, blueberries, rasberries, whipped cream and syrup.

And I made the pancakes PINK to coordinate with the decor and add some Valentine’s fun. Too cute!

To add to the menu, I made heart shaped omeletes (with mushroom, red pepper and cheese) as well as offering muffins and organic granola bars to the mix for variety.

4). Elevate your play date style. Kids meals, parties and play dates don’t have to mean primary colors and character paper plates. For this get together, simple white paper plates were placed onto beautiful chargers. Coordinating paper napkins were folded with kids silverware, and adult cake plates and platters added contrasting height to the arrangements.

5). Prepare toys within theme. For this Wild For You Pajama and pancake play date, I made sure to bring out furry stuffed animals, animal puzzles, animal games and toys.

Of course, sometimes the kids will find other toys just as fascinating and that’s ok.

6). Don’t forget the fashion. Consider how you can incorporate the theme with fashion! And don’t hesitate to get kitschy or a little wild. It’s play time and whimsy should be encouraged! For instance, at Juliet’s party animal themed 2nd birthday, we asked everyone to dress in their ‘wildest’ fashions which turned guests of all ages up in bunny ears, animal prints and darling animal heads all over their clothes. For this animal themed play date though, I actually styled the kids (meaning I bought and returned for the photo shoot) coordinating animal printed pajamas.

And I accessorized with furry hats that we already owned. You can buy similar hats here. Use my promo code 012BC82D8 for a FREE HAT (just pay s&h). They have tons of cute styles for infants, toddlers and even adults!

What do you think?

For more Fab Kids themed playdates, and special event invites, make sure to like facebook.com/fabkidsnyc and send me an email with your email, names and age of child! If you’re in the NYC area you should join us for our upcoming Easter bunny brunch, Fab Fit Fun mommy meetups, red white and blue July 4th picnic, and white party in the summer! Spread the word and tell a friend.

xoxo,

Stella

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How To DIY a Galentine’s For Kids in 5 Easy Steps

February 13, 2017
Celebrating , Posh Playdates

I love celebrating Valentine’s with Juliet because it’s such a fun girly holiday filled with hearts, pink, red and lots of love. Every year, we transform our dining area with themed decor, I make my annual pink heart pancakes and break out all our Valentine’s colored fashions. Another annual tradition we enjoy is hosting a Valentine’s-themed, posh play date. See last year’s pajamas and pancakes play date, or Wild For you play dates! This year, I’ll show you how we threw a pink and metallic Galentines for kids. You can Do It Yourself at home too in 5 easy steps!

Pick a color theme.

I generally recommend picking and sticking to no more than 3 colors when decorating (with white not counting). (That is unless you are having a rainbow themed party in which case color explosions would be required). Because Juliet’s upcoming birthday party decor items were pink and metallic, I decided to make double-use out of items already laying around the house and use what we already had. The white, pink, silver and gold went well with our home’s neutral color theme, and the shot of baby pink just made things so much sweeter. To go along with the theme, I asked Juliet’s friends to dress up in those colors which made for super cute coordinated outfits (and photos)!
Dress the table.

I like to dress up the dining area for special occasions and holidays and it never takes much money. The flower centerpiece was actually a gift from a blogger event I had just attended, The pink paper plates were found at the dollar store and set on top of our fancier chargers to elevate the look, the borrowed sequin linen was folded into a runner and I made placemats out of cardstock paper.

I have bought a giant pack of patterned cardstock paper during Michael’s sale and have found them so useful year-round for all sort of crafts, activities and yes, as placemats! Just throw them out once a mess is made plus they look so cute under the clear chargers, don’t they? Another tip when dressing your table is to layer. Notice how the placemats and plates are layered on top of one another with a Valentine’s greeting card on each plate? Or see how the pom pom ball string was added to each side of the runner? All these layers add visual interest and elevate your standard dining table setup.

Juliet helped me DIY placecards by adhering letter these circular white and gold stickers to each plate, spelling out each child’s name while reinforcing her alphabet recognition.

3. Get photo ready.

With each holiday, you’ll want to capture all the cute memories and milestones. You’ve already asked your guests to come dressed in color theme, so think about the photo opps! For a simple backdrop, I cut out letters out of the same cardstock used in the placemats and spelled out “Happy Galentine’s,” scotch taped them to the wall for an easy, temporary banner.

Then I added xoxo letters to my dining area’s mirror and a love balloon (found at Target) to my other mirror.

My selfie station included lip, heart and kiss me photo props with a framed sign encouraging guests to, “pick a prop and pose” (and they did)!

4.Plan an Activity

Every get together needs an entertaining activity. For a little girls’ Valentine’s get together, I like to have them do some simple decorating of food items like topping their heart-shaped pancakes like in my last Vday party (or for this party), sprinkling sparkly confections onto already frosted cupcakes. Valentine’s card crafting could be another fun activity for moms and kids to do together but for the sake of time, I find it best to choose just one.

You could save time by purchasing store-bought cupcakes but Juliet and I enjoyed preparing for the party by pre-baking our own before the party started.

(Don’t you just love the shot of chocolate that Max Brenner gave to me as a blogger who attended their event?) You can inject it into the cupcakes, or just spread it over the top! The colorful sprinkles and candy toppings were a major hit too!

And if you’re hosting a play date, sometimes, it’s fun to plan an activity for the moms as well. I had prepared this fun get-to-know-you card game given to me by the brand during a toy fair. “Ladies night” it’s so fittingly called; and each card poses an interesting and revealing question, perfect for getting your Galentine’s going! Combine this with a little pink champagne or rose’ and you’re all set!

5. Party!

Lastly, don’t forget the background music, prepare enough time to set up before your guests arrive and when they do, relax, and party with your girls! Valentine’s is the perfect time show your girlfriends your love. Happy Galentine’s!