Henry's Dedication

What: My Son Henry's Dedication
Where: Mountain Park Community Church
When: August 6, 2011
Decoration: Myself, Jaclyn Douma
Food: Chaparral Homemade Ice Cream

Gift Table:




Centerpieces:







Desserts:

















Additional Decor:

Time for Tea

Event: Aliyah's 2nd Annual 1/2 Birthday Tea Party Celebration
Date: Monday, June 27th, 2011
Host: Jaclyn Douma 



Every year I plan to celebrate my daughters 1/2 birthday by hosting a tea party in her honor. Last year was our first celebration and we enjoyed tea and lunch at a local tea house here in Arizona. This year, I wanted to host the party myself at home. (1) It's WAY too hot to go out (2) I just had my son (3) My grandma gave me a new Tea Party cookbook so I definitely wanted to try out some of the recipes (4) I had been dreaming up how to decorate the kitchen area for about 4 months prior to the party!

Although I ended up being sick on that Monday, everyone seemed to enjoy the food, decor and good company :)

Let's start with the invites. I thought they came out so cute:







Menu:

Homemade Cheese Scones and Strawberry Scones (no pic)


Fresh Fruit



Spinach Pesto Pasta Salad w/ Chicken



Cucumber Mint Tea Sandwiches



Blue Cheese, Walnut and Pear Tea Sandwiches



And for dessert -
Mom made Homemade Molten Chocolate Cake served with Raspberry Sorbet drizzled in chocolate sauce



Tea for the day:
HOT: Ginger Pear
ICED: Pomegranate

DECOR:

I absolutely LOVED decorating for this years tea party. I transformed our kitchen area into a quaint garden room for us to enjoy.





















ACTIVITIES:
Last year we all brought our own hats to the tea party, but this year I thought it would be fun for each of us to decorate our own. Now Aliyah has 4 new hats to play dress up with and let me tell you, She LOVES THEM!
The hats came out great! (If you notice, I never did make it into my tea party dress...so sad)









Aliyah playing with her hats this week...






(don't mind all the pj's.....we've been sick lol)

Kids Party Ideas

Date: April 23, 2011
Event: Easter Egg Hunt
Host: Mountain Park Community Church



Last weekend my husband and I took our daughter to the church Easter Egg Hunt! This is our first year participating as last year she was barely 4 months old. I thought the activities they had set up were so clever! and perfect for a little one's birthday party.


The first station we went to was Cookie Decorating.
They had pre-made their cookies and had plates out for each of the kids (along with the plain sugar cookie). They then had little dixie cups (like you'd see with a water cooler...the little tiny ones) with a pre-measured amount of frosting in each, plus a knife for spreading. I thought it was so great how everything was organized so nicely and would be perfect for a kids party, rather than having bowls or what not of frosting that will get everywhere. They then had a little bowl of, I believe fruit snacks to put on the cookies....but you could also use the dixie cups again and put sprinkles or other toppings in them..just enough for one cookie!





 Next we headed over to face painting, which was perfect, because rather than having the *teens* try to paint on all these little kids faces, they used these sponges -- PERFECT for an easy design on the kiddo's cheeks!
I tried looking all over the internet for a picture to show you, but no such luck. I'm assuming they bought the sponge/applicator..but at the same time they could have very well made them. Basically, they had sponges that were shaped like hearts, flowers, stars, angels, etc and they were on an applicator stick. All they had to do was dip it in face paint and place it on the kids cheeks. They also sprinkled my daughters with a little glitter as it began to dry! Once again- simple, easy and fun activity for kids!

Thirdly we made a necklace out of fruit-loops. Pre-cut string with a bowl of fruit-loops...easy peasy! (Although my daughter did tend to eat most out of the bowl...hah...maybe this is for a little bit older kids?? Like 3-4 rather than 1 1/2 years old)

THE PERFECT GIFT!

Of course I have to do a plug about my personal cookbook! Which will have an official release date for 2011 soon! We just finished cover design and are now moving on to layout. Can't wait to start selling again :)
Check out my website for more information and of course stay up to date on my Facebook page with all the latest news and photos.

Jessica's Baby Shower

Date: April 2011
Event: Baby Shower
Host: Family of the Expecting Mother
Desserts: Le Bousi Boo Pastry

I went to a baby shower a few weeks ago, and the setup was ADORABLE!  I thought I was walking into a small wedding; given that the "aunt", of the soon-to-be baby Isabella, owns a rental company.  So they had the resources for the tables, chairs, and linens.

The decor was so cute.  Hanging on the patio cover with black, pink and white paper lanterns (not sure if these ones were lanters, but the shower was during the day so it didn't matter).  On the tables were floral centerpieces, with personalized votive candles and candy bars (which were gifts that the guest could take home).  The candy bar wrappers could be found http://www.bigdotofhappiness.com/ (which I personally have ordered TONS from).

They also had a very cute dessert table displayed; which included a small cake, cupcakes, cake pops, rice krispy treats, and a few different types of candy.  But yet again, the set-up/display... ADORABLE!!