A Christening Dinner Tablescape...

A friend and fellow teacher contacted me recently to design a tablescape for a christening dinner she and her husband were hosting for her godson, Niko, and his family. Based on the table linens, I came up with a light pewter, navy blue and white color palette, and designed individual votive holders for each place setting that could either have a guest's name on it, or an initial(as we did in this case). The "N" was continued on the sash of the vases, which held monochromatic flower arrangements that ran for the length of the dining room table. The banner, a fab find on Etsy, continued the color scheme off of the table (Lisa hung it on the wall of her dining room).

It was so much fun dressing up your table, Lisa!(and it certainly helped that you have an amazing home to showcase my ideas :)

Fabulous Finds...

Christening Banner from Little Black Shop~Etsy

~Check out her exquisite shop of all things paper HERE~

Western Party...DIY Printables

A new client contacted me recently to do a horse-themed birthday party for her two daughters. She opted for one of my new packages, {A Little} Time For a Party where I deliver all the party goods to her a day or so before the party and she stages everything herself, with the help of a detailed binder with pictures.

She's actually having two separate parties on the same day, with about an hour "clean up" built in between them, so she can reset the kids' eating table, etc. So ambitious!

I still have more pics to edit, but here's the great DIY printables I found from Leslie Marie Designs on Etsy. She was fantastic to work with, and her stuff is adorable! I was able to fashion some of the printables into cake toppers as well, using some chipboard letters ("L" is for Lea, and we did a "Q" for her sister, Quinn). The bottom pic is the placecards for the kids' eating table...wait til you see what it was hung on...more to come, so stay tuned!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/LeslieMarieDesigns

An Under the Sea Soiree...

Mia's Mermaid Party

click on any of the pictures to make the collage bigger...

Mia had 11 of her preschool-aged pals over for her under the sea soiree on a rainy day in March {props to me for accepting the fact that it was probably not going to be spring-like on the day of her party, but rather, straight up WET}. Mia and the girlies decorated an under the sea sticker scene, made ocean necklaces, and decorated felt purses with their names, fish and shell felt stickers...Then they lunched, cupcaked, and helped Mia open presents...Whew!

Credit where credit is due:

• Mermaid Party Printables {invites, mermaid circles, birthday banner, party favor tags}: Frog Prince Paperie {Etsy}
• Cupcakes: Cupcake Craving
• Party Styling: Time For a Party

A Party For a Little Lady...

Click on any of the pictures

to make the collage bigger...

We did a family and friends party for Lucy's 3rd shindig. The kids decorated ladybug wands and made ladybug garden sticker scenes in anticipation of the main event...The Piano Man! Lucy still gets a smile on her face when she hears "Willaby Wallaby Woo..." (personalized with her name, of course!)

Credit where credit is due...

• invitations and cupcake toppers: Two Pooch Paperie {Etsy}
• party favor circle tags: Ciao Bambino {Etsy}
• flower & ladybug centerpieces: Expressions by Devin {Etsy}
• ladybug birthday banner & door sign: EMT Sweeetie {Etsy}
• red & black balloons {eeks, no pics! trust me on the cuteness}: Quaintly Amusing {Etsy}
• party staging: Time For a Party
• cupakes: Icing on the Cupcake {East Sacramento location}

Ahhhhh...

Lucy's 3rd birthday...

check! I'll do an official post once I come down from the cupcake high and realize what a mess I have to clean up...

Where It All Began...

My cousin Crystal and me at my 7th birthday...Yes, of course that's me with the CROWN!

Mia and her gal pals at her 4th birthday...

I guess it really is no wonder I eventually found my way into the party biz (and that my daughter's 4th birthday party theme was very similar to my 7th birthday party theme...and no, I'm not going to answer any questions about exactly how long ago that was!)

I still remember this dress-up/make-up party as one of my two most favorite birthday parties (the other being my surprise 13th birthday.) What little girl doesn't want to play dress-up with her friends? Plus, I have some FABULOUS blackmail pictures of some of my childhood girlfriends that I still keep in touch with!

An Oooh La La Soiree...

Click on the collage to make any of the pics bigger...

In keeping with my "better late than never" theme, here's a peek at Mia's "4 & Fancy" Dress-Up Birthday...

As guests arrived, they were sent to the "Wardrobe Area" (that's fancy for closet) where they could pick out their favorite princess dress (and add necessary accessories like hats, scarves, jewelry and, of course, shoes) and then got to work decorating tiaras with princess stickers and jewels. The girls left with some swag (that's fancy for party favors) including a Fancy Nancy book, a yummy tiara cookie, a sassy glittered headband, and a hot pink frame to hold the fancy picture of them taken during the party. Ooh La La!

A Shower Fit For a Princess...

Click on the collage to make any of the pics bigger...

And we're back in business! Picasa and I have a bit of a love-hate relationship. I love it right now, so let's just leave it at that. And no more trying to add new pics to an old collage.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right???

Did you know that Time For a Party also does showers...of both the wedding and baby variety? I am still working on getting the specifics up on the What's In the Box section, but I wanted to do a quick post to give you the first peek! I did this Princess Baby Shower back in May, but it was before I became the Picasa/Blogger superstar I am now (note the sarcasm here), so the pics just sat in picture limbo on my computer, waiting patiently for someone to upload them to the blog. But better late than never, right? The guests had a great time decorating onesies, bibs and hats with ribbon, appliqués, paint, fabric...the sky was the limit and these creative women did not disappoint! To top things off, the weather was perfect for a backyard brunch afterwards. As you read this today, the guest of honor and her husband have already welcomed the arrival of their adorable baby girl...who has quite the fancy wardrobe already!

Pics from the Butterfly Party...

Click on the collage for a bigger view of the pictures...

Had so much fun doing Ellie's Butterfly Party yesterday! The girls had a great time dressing up in the wings and tutus, and getting their hand or face painted wih butterflies (of course). Next they decorated their butterfly tiaras and made butterfly magnets. Then they played a butterfly ring toss game, hula hooped and blew bubbles for a bit. For lunch, they munched on sandwiches made by Ellie's mom in the shape of butterflies; she even found butterfly-shaped crackers...nice touch! We rounded out the party with a reading of Fancy Nancy and the Bonjour Butterfly, chocolate and vanilla mini cupcakes, and of course, presents! Happy 5th Ellie!

Last-Minute Touches

Just putting some last-minute touches on tomorrow's Butterfly Party for Ellie. Here's the birthday girl's placecard, with 7 others just waiting to be set at the tables!

It's All About The Swag...

Party favors, treat bags, swag...You'd be hard pressed to go to a birthday party and not have your child come home with one. But it's the contents that count. Avoid going crazy at the dollar store for a WHOLE BUNCH OF TOYS that are most likely going to break during the car ride home, or worse yet, just end up in the junk drawer. I lean towards the "less is more" option with a couple of cool, out of the box items that relate back to the theme of the party.

You've already seen the butterfly barrette inside the bag for Miss Ellie from an earlier post, and so now here's the coordinating butterfly wand. A girl is never too young to start working on her magical powers!

More Butterfly Details...

So it wouldn't be a true Butterfly Party without the tutus and wings for the birthday girl and each of her guests to wear during the party...and it should be only fitting that the birthday girl's tutu and wings should be OVER THE TOP compared to her guests....after all, she's the birthday girl, right? Stay tuned for more of Ellie's party prep and festivities!

Everything's All A Flutter!

I am so excited to get to work on my next party...Ellie is turning 5 on Wednesday and I am doing a Butterfly Party for her and her friends! Here is a sneak peak at one of the activities we will be doing (decorating personalized butterfly tiaras) and one of the favors Ellie and her friends will find in their party favor bags (butterfly barrettes). Much, much more to come soon!

Come on in!

Hello and thanks so much for stopping by! Welcome to Time For a Party's home base for all things creative in kids' birthday parties.

Many, many thanks to my new friend Rita who designed my blog...be sure to pop on over to hers and check out her amazing work HERE
And big whoot-whoots to my pal Jillian who snapped some adorable shots at one of my parties. Her work is sprinkled throughout my blog. She's a elementary school teacher by day, and a photographer once the bell rings and the kids go home! Take a peek at her work HERE

So enough chatter...Get comfortable, take a look around...
I hope you like what you see!