It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

I have to be honest, I'm a traditions girl. Even the thought of a Family Tradition feels warm and cozy to me.

One of my favorites as a child was when my mom would start an advent calendar with us. Oh heavens, is there anything more exciting than opening that little window and finding a sweet piece of chocolate inside?? Well, it turns out, yes there is. My (much) older sister (hehehehe), started an advent calendar with her children many years ago. Instead of including sweets or special treat, she wrote an activity for the family to do together that day. So for everyday in the month of December, the family all participated in some spirited event. When I married my husband, Becky gifted us with our very own Advent calendar. The. Most. Fun. Thing. Ever!! Holy smokes, we now have 24 days of traditions leading up to the main event!

The activities you choose to do with your family are totally up to you. Extravagant or simple. Here is the calendar I've put together for our family this year. Since Jackson and Adelynn are really getting into the years of understanding and loving the Christmas magic, I can't wait to get started! Ahem... Please note that I wrote all of these to be read to my 3 and 1 year old. Please don't judge my over excitement and/or goofy wording. ; )

Wednesday, December 1st- Hooray! Only 24 more days until Christmas. To kick off the season, choose your favorite Christmas carol and sing it for the family after dinner.

Thursday, December 2nd- Let's snuggle up with hot chocolate and watch ELF.

Friday, December 3rd- Severna Park is lighting the community Christmas tree tonight. We will be there!

Saturday, December 4th- Santa is flying in from the North Pole!
http://www.collegeparkaviationmuseum.com/Add_Events/Santa_Fly-In.htm

Sunday, December 5th- Let's all go help Dad cut down our Christmas tree. Maybe we'll even see Reindeer today!
http://www.applewoodfarm.org/applewoodchristmas.htm

Monday, December 6th- Take a minute to remember how blessed we are this Holiday. Pick a toy out at the store and donate it to Toys For Tots.
http://www.toysfortots.org/

Tuesday, December 7th- It's Jack's special day. Pick your favorite thing for Mom to make for dinner tonight.

Wednesday, December 8th- Today is Adelynn's lucky day! Pick your favorite thing for Mom to make for dinner tonight.

Thursday, December 9th- Get out the flour and sprinkles galore, it's time to bake some Christmas cookies!

Friday, December 10th- It's our Playgroup Cookie Exchange!

Saturday, December 11th- Bundle up! Tonight is the Parade of Lights in Annapolis!
http://www.eastportyc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=243&Itemid=32


Sunday, December 12th- Toot! Toot! All aboard the Santa Train!
http://www.wsrr.org/events.htm


Monday, December 13th- Could that be Santa whizzing by on the Fire Truck? Listen close all day so we don't miss the big man in red!

Tuesday, December 14th- Mom's turn to pick her favorite! Mmm, what will I make??

Wednesday, December 15th- Hop in the car, we're off to see the Lights on the Bay!
http://www.annapolis.com/events/lights-bay-illumination/

Thursday, December 16th- Jackson is a super star! Let's go see our boy perform at his preschool show!

Friday, December 17th- Another awesome Christmas light display! Let's go check out the "Christmas Street"!
http://www.christmasstreet.com/

Saturday, December 18th- Can you hear the jingle bells ringing? Let's go see the Polar Express in 4D!
http://www.aqua.org/4d-nowplaying.html


Sunday, December 19th- Today is the big day! I hope you've been nice... We will go tell Santa our wish list this year.

Monday, December 20th- Our town looks so beautiful for the holidays! Get in the car and drive around to look at the lights. When you see something spectacular, leave the family a thank you note!

Tuesday, December 21st- Invite your friends over to decorate gingerbread houses. Try not to eat all the gumdrops, please.

Wednesday, December 22nd- What would Dad like for dinner tonight? It's his turn to pick his favorite!

Thursday, December 23rd- A special day with Grandpa, Didi, Carly and Kyle!

Friday, December 24th- Merry Christmas, to our little Family! Enjoy the day and be good to one another. Wait to see if the Jammie Fairy will come tonight, then ask Daddy to read you "Twas the Night Before Christmas" before bed.

However you celebrate the holiday season with your family, I sincerely hope it's a magical one!

Kate

Under the Sea Birthday Bash!

My little boy Jackson turned three last month and to celebrate I put together an Under the Sea party that I hope he won't soon forget. Since the beginning of time, Jack has loved everything that involves the water. In fact, his first birthday was a rubber ducky themed party since he loved bath time so much! I guess his obsession with ocean life was then a natural progression. : )

The Dessert Table doubled as the Party Favor Bar. I wanted to cut down on the amount of sweets at the party since my "clients" were only three ; ), so I did the favor bar in conjunction with the desserts. The kids took a bucket and were able to pick and choose prizes to take home. Since we live in Maryland, home of the blue crab, I obviously HAD to use a crab basket as a cake stand and centerpiece.

Cupcake Cookie Toppers by The Cookie Jar

"Shark Attack Snack Mix. Includes Sharks, Fish and Life Preservers. Don't swim too far from the shore!"

Cookies to match the Cupcake Toppers, also by The Cookie Jar!

Fresh Sushi

 Many of the children had a younger sibling that came to the party. A beanie baby and a book were for our youngest guests.

And then our Menu:

Sand Dollars, also known as Pop Chips.

Sparkling Octopus Ink

A re-purposed Halloween Trick or Treat bag from PBKids became our napkin & utensil holder

And of course, nothing better to wash your lunch down with than "Freshly Bottled Ocean Water"

The Party Space, Game & Craft:

Jelly Fish floating above the table.

 "GOLD FISH BAR: Take a box and make a mix, Sea creatures are the perfect hunger fix!"

The kids each made their own "mini" ocean to take home.

So there you have it, we all had fun and I am now the very proud Mommy of a THREE year old!! Oh my gosh, how is he three already??... Look out for A Super Jackson Saves The Day Party... in another 11 or so months. : )

All photographs courtesy of Destinee Thurston, Cellar Door Photography!

Under The Paper Stars

On Thursday, I had the distinct honor of creating a dessert table for Paper in the Park's holiday Sip and See. Susie and Kassy run the most gorgeous little paper boutique you've ever seen. Every time I go in, I barely make eye contact with the ladies since I'm continuously scanning the store for more adorable items. Even better than the fabulous things that they carry, they create THE most adorable invitations and stationary you've ever seen. All in all, they're a dream store come true. : )

The ladies asked for an all white table with touches of silver. The all white desserts included; Marshmallows that I painted with glitter dust to give shimmer, Malted milk balls (not pictured), Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (okay, so chocolate is not white, but I wanted to add an additional taste and thought the cream cheese frosting would handle the white part), Meringues, Raffaello Almond Coconut Candies, beautiful logo Sugar Cookies by Allyson Jane and Miniature White Cotton Candy. Delicious!

I worked with a vendor that happened to work with organic sugar (all white) to create these miniature cotton candy clouds. These were so adorable and unique to the event... I will definitely work with cotton candy in again!!

We are celebrating my little boy's 3rd birthday on the 15th. I'm in full swing turning our house into an Under Water Wonderland.

Enjoy the weekend!

Details of the Tea Party

I cannot tell you in words how excited I have been to gain blog followers and fans on Facebook as a result of the features on the Tea Party I put together. (23 followers is big news for little ole me!) I would like you all to think that it was nearly impossible to put together and I spent thousands getting it perfect. Neither of those things are true, however, so here are the do it yourself details!

First up, the butterfly lollipops. Did you know it's totally easy to make your own?? I had no idea either, until Jessica of Pen N Paperflowers posted a tutorial. (If ever there was a brilliant blogger/creative mind on this planet, it's Jessica of Pen N PaperFlowers.) The best part is, you don't have to scour the candy aisle looking for something to match your theme... Lollipop molds are made in hundreds (if not thousands) of shapes and sizes. I did learn a few things of my own after 3 failed attempts, so take these hints with you when you check her tutorial out... First, make sure you pile the candy up REALLY high, especially in fragile places. For the butterfly mold, it was the tips of the wings. If there isn't enough candy piled on, it will burn and turn the candy an ugly brown color.

Also, I found that by spraying a paper towel with non-stick spray and then lightly greasing the mold, I had better results than just directly spraying from the canister onto the mold. It takes only a very little amount of non-stick spray to get the lollipops to come out easily.

I won't lie. I thought the table cloth was adorable. The pink polka dots with the floral vintage fabric on top was perfect. And, I had good intentions of spending a long time sewing a nice table cloth together. But, I actually don't know how to sew and when my Mother In Law came to help me, we were unable to get the machine working. So, I simply placed the fabrics on top of the table. No cutting, no sewing. With coupons, fabric is many times just as affordable as a plastic tablecloth but with a much prettier result.

The chocolate tea cup, saucer and spoon was also a homemade detail. With another candy mold! This is also, totally easy! I did figure out another helpful little trick, though. If you just pour the chocolate into the mold, you will have air bubbles and the surface won't be smooth. I combated this by first painting on a layer of chocolate and then pouring the rest in. Yes, with a paintbrush... Just make sure your brush is high quality enough that bristles won't come off the brush and onto your mold. I'm not very crafty, so I bought edible flowers and using more chocolate, "glued" it right onto the side of the cup. Easy, peasy!

For the cupcake pedestals I followed the Executive Homemaker tutorial for making a cake plate. I cannot re-find the tutorial for the life of me! Here's basically what the tutorial says... Buy some kind of base, buy some kind of a plate and glue them both together with E6000. In my case, I bought candlesticks from Michael's and tea saucers from Goodwill. Total cost of the project, $20 including spray paint and the glue! (And that made 6 of them!) Click for an alternative and just as good tutorial, here.

The cupcake bouquet was painless considering the finished product. I cut a styrofoam ball in half, placed it inside of the tea pot, added my cupcakes on kabob skewers and filled in the empty places with hydrangea from my friend's yard.

Are you ready for the details on the tutu bench?? I bought about 10 yards of fabric, cut the tulle into  6" wide by 36" long strips and tied it directly onto the bench. Since tulle is stiff, that's all you have to do. Tie it on and it will poof out like a tutu. This would be especially cute for dressing up little girl's chairs for a princess party, or to make the birthday girl's seat extra special.
I also used a tutorial for making korker hair bows to figure out how to get ribbon to perfectly curl and then used the ribbon to tie up my lollipops. The flower pomander hanging from the tree was a find at a local model home clearance center for $5 and the white paper lantern came from the dollar store. I just glued on the butterfly to "cute" it up a bit.

So, there it is. Nothing too fancy about it and yet, it did turn out beautiful, if I do say so myself. : )

Next week I'm making my dessert table debut for a girlfriend's paper shop boutique and a week after that my little man turns 3. I hope you stick around to see the results!

Kate

Time for Tea!

When I read about Ava's Tea Party after finding the link via Pen N Paper Flowers, I knew it would be the perfect event to help launch CupKate's Event Design. A meaningful, happy day to celebrate the little spirits that we love so dearly. Using the artwork from the Ava's Tea Party website and many of the fabulous details from Pen N Paper Flowers' "Sunshine and Lemonade" party as my inspiration, below is my take on a beautiful tea at the park. You'll see many of my favorite personal touches including the Tutu Bench, cupcakes tied with ribbon, homemade chocolate tea cup, saucer and spoon as a party favor, personalized straw flags made with ribbon to remind everyone to drink with their "pinkies out", and best of all, the adorable children who celebrated with us. I hope you enjoy looking into our day as much as we enjoyed celebrating it!