Fab Fetes: InStyle Summer Social with Single Edition Media

Mommies always need a night out.  So when Single Edition Media and InStyle invited (and paid) me to attend their Summer Social, I celebrated with a resounding ‘YESSSS!!  I’ll GO!  Take me!  Get me outta here!”  haha  Ok seriously, what mom wouldn’t enjoy a fashionable night out on the town and a chance to listen to music that didn’t involve nursery rhymes?  They had me at the invite.

instyle summer social

I saw this as the perfect reason to dust off my high heels and get dolled up.  Plus I was excited to network with the brands and meet the other bloggers and ‘influencers’ of which I was honored to share the title.  Shout out to Fashionista Momma (pictured on the left) and A Little Glitter, (pictured in the middle), my two favorite new blogging buddies from the event!

For more silly Gifs from the event check out Bosco’s party pics here!

Here’s a pic of the party people.  As you can see, it was a very pink party!

instyle summer social

What a fun adventure it was traveling through the loft-like venue, discovering beauty and lifestyle brands along the way.  Funny enough my two favorite finds were flower related.  Odeala Rose has the most gorgeous bouquets ready to deliver to your door.  Trust me, as an event planner I’m picky about my floral arrangements.  These will not be your typical 1800-flowers  but rather, upscale, stylish bouquets that you hope your prince charming would be smart enough to buy! I mean just look at the unique arrangement below!

white roses

Plus, they send you a snapshot of the actual bouquet so you can make sure you like what you see.  I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve been disappointed in a flower service that sent something of lesser quality than the advertised product picture.  The picture perfect check was a great selling point and so was the flower delivery box!  Modern and cool!  They say you can’t judge a book by its cover but I say, you can judge a present by its presentation.

ode la rose

instyle magazine event

My other favorite brand was named Peony, hence the similarity in flower theme.  This athletic wear made me actually want to work out.  And if you know me personally, you know that is a major feat.

peony

instyle magazine summer

Turns out the Creative Director is just as cute as the clothes.

Another highlight of the evening were the complimentary manicures care of Essie.  Pre-baby, my nails were ALWAYS manicured and I even changed up the color on a weekly basis to match my weekend outfits. (Oh! What endless time I had back then!)  Needless to say that doesn’t happen anymore.  So this was a true treat.

photo below from Style Fox

summer social with Instyle Other pampering beauty treatments included Sarah Potempa hair curling (check out the curling iron that rotates on its own!), Jose Eber Salon offering blowouts, Neutrogena’s Hydro Boost Moisturizer sampling, and Sally Hansen giving everyone airbrushed legs.

instyle 2

photos from A Little Glitter and Style Fox

While mingling and indulging in all these services we tasted guilt-free (less caloric) wines from Brancott Estate, coconut water from Zico and munched on Gardein veggie snacks shaped like fish and chicken (fooled me!)

instyle summer social

Don’t you love those branded pillows??

 

Here’s another peak into the scene

Thanks to all the InStyle Magazine, Single Edition and all the sponsors for making this a special mommy night out!

instyle magazine

photo from InStyle Magazine

Sarah Potempa /Essie /Brancott Estate /Think Thin /Gardein /Dickensin’s /Jose Eber /Sally Hansen /Neutrogena /Nicole Benisti /Peony /Sun Chips /Thierry Mugler /Zico

 

Fab Fete: How to Throw a Party Animal Themed Kid’s Birthday

We’ve jokingly called Juliet a party animal ever since she was born because she has been a night owl going to bed anywhere between 10pm (nowadays) to as late as midnight during her first year of life.  So it was only fitting (and such a cute unisex party theme) to make “party animal” her 2nd birthday theme.  Get inspired as this post shows you how to incorporate the party animal theme into everything from the fashions to the decor to the entertainment to the food!

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Let’s start with the fashion.  Juliet wore a bear necklace and (sometimes) wore / carried her lion backpack (perfect since her birthday invite introduced her as “Leo the lion”.  I wore my party animal necklaces from Mustard Dandelion’s cute Etsy shop with my leopard Banana Republic heels.

Juliet-8853animal masks

3rd birthday party Juliet-8867

The birthday invite (from Paperless Post) encouraged guests to come dressed in their wildest fashions.

animal inviteJuliet’s fashionable friends did NOT disappoint!

animal party ideas

We were happy to see lots of animal print, fur, animal faces, and bunny ears!  My friends are always up for a fun fashion challenge and luckily, they’re as crazy committed to themed parties as I am.  I find that it just adds another level of excitement, enthusiasm and involvement into a party.  How cute are they all?!!

animal themed party

The party animal decor consisted of a yellow, orange and baby blue color theme.  And animals were incorporated wherever possible.  (masks, plates, centerpieces, signage, and stickers for example).  Here’s the gift table that sat conveniently right next to the entrance’s coat check-in.

favor bags

Those 3 teddy bears are actually bears from my own childhood.  I just added the ribbon and party hats to align them more with the theme. I used them at Juliet’s 1st birthday party too and love that they represent daddy, mommy and Juliet.

Underneath the table, we stored all of Juliet’s presents.  And on top of the table, we featured the favor bags which included:  stickered go go squeezes, organic gummy bunnies, stickered Ziploc full of animal crackers and goldfish, a rubber duck, a book about animals and animal stickers.  Additionally, each child went home with one of the giant, yellow balloons featured at the kids table.

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dessert bar

The framed sign and favor bag stickers were custom created with my direction by That Party Chick , the silk flowers were bought on sale at Michaels, the riser was a diaper box that I covered in fabric and ribbon and the white topper is a shower curtain that I only use for special events.  If you follow my blog, you’ve seen it re-purposed in 3 other events.  And the yellow tulle fabric is just taped directly onto the table’s perimeter.

animal themed party

Every kids’ birthday should feature some photos.  I incorporated photos of Juliet holding different stuffed animals and/or costumed as an animal herself and created a consistent look and feel by printing them all the same size, posting them to card stock and adding a label to each one to continue the animal theme across the mirrored wall.   birthday partyThe food station was split into the sweets and snacks tables.  The sweets table included:

  • a macaron tower from The Macaron Cafe
  • frosted animal cookies from Elinis
  • organic animal cookies
  • bunny chocolates
  • organic bunny gummy pouches
  • vanilla cupcakes
  • candy balls
  • animal shaped suckers with “happy birthday Juliet!” stickered on the back
  • yellow gummy bears
  • stickered applesauces

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IMG_2751dessert bar Juliet-8884 Juliet-8889

IMG_2706 jungle themed party ideas IMG_5887

The snack side of the table featured:

  • snake sub (with olive eyes and red Twizzler tongue)
  • safari salad
  • monkey food (bananas)
  • hungry hippo hummus and veggies
  • bear nutella sandwiches
  • coffees teas, waters and jungle juices
  • parrot pineapples

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menu

And the entertainment consisted of:

  • musical performers singing animal themed songs (Think “in the jungle”, “itsy bitsy spider”)
  • Pin the Tail on the Elephant
  • stuffed animals, animal books and puzzles and animals that you could ride on

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And the animal decor included animal masks for the kids, plastic animal centerpieces (which you can read more about in my earlier post), and animal chair covers which were a big hit.

animal parade

animal parade masks

It was a lively party that kids and adults all enjoyed.  And Juliet was so happy to celebrate with all her little friends.  It was the first year she really understood what it meant to have a birthday.  I’ll always remember her cute voice saying, “I’m TWO! Happy birthday!!”

kids birthday party ideas Juliet-9168 Juliet-9219IMG_5902

 

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