Archive for the ‘Birthday Invitation’ Category
Kennedy is the most girly girl ever! Which is a drastic change from my rough and tumble boys! She loves all things pretty, pink, and sparkly! She loves to be in dresses and tutus and I knew photographing her would be a blast. So, I called my partner in crime Courtney, of Courtney Jade Photography and she agreed to photograph my little darling.
→Continue reading for more details + photos
*** WARNING*** TOO MANY CUTE PHOTOS, I COULDN’T RESIST!!
December is the most hectic month of my (Jessica Wilcox, Modern Moments Designs) life. Every year, I promise myself it will be easier and I will plan ahead, but without fail, it seems to be crazier than the last. I know many of you feel the same way, and for me “December madness” stems from having two kids with birthdays two weeks apart, being a graphic designer (designing Christmas cards is a full time job in itself), buying presents, and also trying to get ready for Christmas! Wow, I’m tired again just thinking about it all {wink}!
Our youngest son, Emerson, who you might remember from his Office Party First Birthday last year, turned two this month! I’ve been planning a VINTAGE CARNIVAL PARTY for him since last year…
I had my dear friend, Courtney, of Courtney Jade Photography took his photos this summer at Oaks Park, a local amusement park. If you want to check out some of the photos Courtney was nice enough to post them on her blog. The photos were amazing and I knew the invitation had to be spectacular too! I designed a four-page double sided booklet style invitation.
I also included a mini envelope in the back full of raffle tickets to get the kids excited! The envelopes were lined with a coordinating striped paper. (The following photos of the finished invitation were taken by me.)
Selecting a venue is always a challenge since we live in Oregon and December isn’t exactly warm or dry here. Thankfully, my aunt and her husband were kind enough to allow me to use their family “barn.” They own a farm, Lake View Farms, and have an amazing pumpkin patch. The venue was perfect. We took full advantage of all of their amazing old crates and baskets too!
If you’re familiar with any of my parties you know that I only serve items with sugar as their first ingredient. Okay, so that may be a bit exaggerated, but pretty close. I served popcorn (with several topping options, as inspired the perfect Olde Fashion Rustic Popcorn Bar by Pen N’ Paperflowers Sudio and Designs), peanuts, cupcakes, rice crispy treats, cotton candy, cake pops, and totally stocked candy cart.
One of my clients sent me a photo of a candy cart at a local hotel, I was instantly in love with it and knew I had to have one. My Dad was kind enough to build one for me. I gave him a really small photo of what I wanted and away he went. I was so excited with how it turned out! He did the most amazing job! Thanks Daddy!
Since we didn’t have the party at your traditional kids’ party place, we had to come up with our own activities. I kept if fairly simple and setup four games.
The first was “Knock them Down.” I took chip cans from the Dollar Tree and created my own wrap. We stacked them up and let the kids knock them down with balls. The second game we set up was a “Bean Bag Toss“. The kids got to toss bean bags into buckets and won the corresponding amount of tickets. The third game was “Fish Toss” – clear glasses were filled with water and the kids had to toss ping pong balls in them. If they made it, they won a fish. Somehow, all three of my kids came home with fish! The last game was “Spray it Down” which I had intended to have the kids spray ping pong balls with squirt guns. However, finding squirt guns in December was a lot more challenging than I thought. Instead, we used Nerf guns, which ended up being so much drier and cleaner.
We set up a prize table so the kids could redeem their tickets and pick their own prizes! They had a ton of fun selecting from the huge prize table. I also designed custom candy bags that each child could fill with candy before they left! I’m sure the parents love me for that one!
All of my parties are always a group effort. I have a whole team of family and friends that always step-up to help! Honestly, I couldn’t throw these parties without all of their help! A special thank you to everyone who helped me with Emerson’s special day!
Check out some more photos from the big event. . .
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VENDOR CREDITS:– Graphic Design: Modern Moments Designs – Event Styling: Double Take Event Styling and Modern Moments Designs – Bag Sewn By: Julie of Tots in Tow – Suckers (“W”, “E”, & “2”): Vintage Confections – Fondant Cupcake Toppers: Two Sugar Babies – Straws, Cups, Plates, Popcorn Boxes, Prize Bag, & Sucker Candle : Shop Sweet Lulu – Cake Pops: kCreative – Ferris Wheel Wood Cutouts: Bullfrog Laser Works – Chalk Board Sign: Custom Chalk – Donuts: Every Day is a Donut Day – Cotton Candy Machine Rental: The Party Pros – Prizes: Oriental Trading Company – Candy Cart: Don Studer, (My Dad) – Jars in Candy Cart: Anchor Hawking at Target – Table Cloth: TabelVogue – Venue: Lake View Farms – Photography: Courtney Jade Photography
***AS SEEN on HOSTESS BLOG, Look for Part 2 Coming Soon****
Can I get a drum roll please? I’m so excited to finally share all of the details with you. If you follow my blog, you know that my son Jackson was having a ROCKSTAR Fourth Birthday Party!!! Well, that day as come and gone!
Here are all the details that you’ve been dying to know. . .
{THE PHOTOS THAT STARTED IT ALL} I’m going to start at the beginning for all my new followers. If you’ve already read The Wilcox Family is Taking Over Courtney Jade Photography, then feel free to skip this! If not, you’re in for a treat! Jackson is our middle son! If any of you have a “middle” child, I’m sure you can relate to Jackson! He is one wild and crazy kiddo, bursting with personality! He wanted to have a Rock Star Birthday Party and I couldn’t wait to get my creative wheels-a-turin’.
First things first, design an amazing invitation! This amazing invitation needed even more AMAZING photos to accompany it. So, I turned to none other than Miss Courtney with Courtney Jade Photography! If you’ve been following my blog, then you know she is my latest girl crush and my long lost BFF!!! I just can’t say enough nice things about her. She kindly agreed to take Jackson’s photos. It didn’t hurt that Jackson has a major crush on her too!! I dressed him in PINK (his favorite color), a leather jacket, and some distressed jeans! He even had an outfit change mid-session. Total rocker! We shot his photos in downtown Portland and I was more than happy with how they turned out. I LOVED the photos so much I used them throughout the whole party! They were too cute not to. To see some of his outrageous Rock Star Photos, check out Courtney’s Blog.
{THE INVITATION} Now, where was I? Right, an amazing invitation! I’m always trying to push the limits with my invitations. I don’t ever want any of my designs to look the same. I want each of them to be unique and different. Once I decided on a layout, everything fell into place. I knew I wanted to use as many photos as I could, so I designed a tri-fold invitation. These were printed on smooth card stock and I added a UV coat to the front of the invite. This just made it extra shinny and cool! For the inside, I tracked down foam CD hubs and attached a “Rock Star” CD in the center of each invite with Jackson’s favorite songs. The first track was, of course, Pink’s “So What, I’m Still a Rock Star.”
{VENUE} Photos. Check! Invitation! Check. Check!!! Now, find the PERFECT party venue. Some day when I am rich, I will be able to build the ultimate party house! Luckily, I live in an amazing city and was able to find the perfect music school. Sound Roots is a school for modern music. The party was ultra relaxed. The kids basically had a jam session with our amazing music teacher, Mo Phillips. Think Jack Black, but thinner and more handsome. He was so energetic, funny, and incredibly talented. The kids weren’t the only ones having a good time, all the parents were rockin’ out too.
The venue was totally urban. I wanted to keep the “garage band/basement rock band” feel. Instead of a “traditional” backdrop, I used three 36″ balloons from Shop Sweet Lu Lu. The lighting wasn’t great for photos, but it was really cool (new light fixtures had just been installed!). They had also just put down amazing looking bamboo wood floors! I can’t wait to see the place when the renovations are complete with a rocking stage too.
{COLORS} I was most excited about the color palette we (Jackson and I) selected! We went with pink, teal, black, and white. Since I am a Mom of three boys, getting to design in pink was a dream come true! Plus, Jackson’s party was a few days before Valentine’s Day and there was a ton of pink items to choose from. You can’t go wrong with black and white and bursts of color. I also pulled inspiration from Jackson’s black and white striped hat (purchased at H&M).
{WELCOME TO THE PARTY} I made custom “Backstage Passes” for each of the kids who attended. As soon as they arrive, they received their backstage pass with their name on it (on the invitation I wrote, “Backstage Passes At the Door”). I made them for the teacher, everyone who helped setup for the party (ours said “Event Staff”), and I included one on the dessert table. All the kids loved them. My boys are still wearing them around the house almost two weeks later. These were so simple to make, but really set the tone for the party!
{DESSERT TABLE} What are my three favorite ingredients? 1. Sugar 2. Corn Syrup 3. Fructose. In no particular order. Don’t come to one of my parties and plan on eating healthy. It’s a party after all!!! No heathy eating here! I love to use candies, cookies, and cupcakes throughout my dessert tables. You can’t go wrong with bright colored candies! Stay tuned for more details. . .
{THE DECOR} The Decor was pretty simple. I used clusters of balloons on each side of the doors that had Jackson’s Rock Star Posters on them. I wanted these to look like rock band posters. The Dessert table was the focal point for the party! I used black bread boxes that I purchased at Target on clearance to hold the candy. We had an open guitar case on another table that had the adorable polka dot gable boxes (also from Shop Sweet Lu Lu) and extra drinks.
Stay tuned for more details about the Dessert Table, DIY Drum Set, DIY Custom Guitar Picks, Printables and more photos like these. . .
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VENDOR CREDITS
-Birthday Invitations, Return Address Label Wraps, Water Bottle Labels, Place Cards, Candy Labels, “Backstage Passes,” Posters, Soda Bottle Labels, Candy Bar Wrapper, Sucker Wrapper, Nerds Wrapper, T-shirts, Shortbread Cookies & Design, Cake Pops : Modern Moments Designs -Stripy Straws, Clear Tubes (gum balls were featured inside), Japanese Tape, 36″ balloons, polka dot balloons, polka dot gable boxes, Divine Twine, Striped bags: Shop Sweet Lu Lu -Black Bread Boxes: Target -Guitar, Music Notes, & Nautical Star Cookies: Bee’s Knees Creative -Edible Cookie Designs: Frost – Guitar Cake: Cakes by Taste of Honey (cakebyhoney@comcast.net in the Portland & Vancouver Area) -Guitar Fondant Cupcake Toppers: Two Sugar Babies -Rubber Ducks, Blow up Guitars, Paper Plates, Napkins, Stickers, Tattoos, Glasses: Oriental Trading Company -Stars, Blow Up Microphones, Birthday Candle, Nerds: The Lippman Co. -Venue: Sound Roots -Pick Punch (I used this to create the custom pics): Pick Punch -Photographs of Jackson (used on invite and all printables & photos of invitation): Courtney Jade Photography *Party Photographs were taken by Me, my hubby Lincoln, and the best photos were taken by my talented brother-in-law, Ryan Wilcox with You Look Nice Today Photography