One of Lainey’s friends brought rocket balloons to her party and they were such a huge hit, I had to write about them.

A must-have for a kid's party!

Rocket balloons are really simple.  They’re just colorful long balloons and a hand pump.

You use the pump to blow up the balloons.  Then you let the balloons go and they fly super high in the sky and make a funny noise.  Simple, and yet the kids LOVED them.

We used them right as the party was starting to bring the kids together.  It worked like a charm.

The only downside was we used up all the balloons pretty fast so make sure you buy replacements.

Trust me, rocket balloons are a cheap, fun way to get your outdoor party started!

The party went off without a hitch!!  Lainey had a great time, we had a great time.  It was a lot of work, but well worth it.  Here are some pictures to show you what it looked like.

Setting up before the party.  Everything was in Lainey’s favorite colors — pink and purple.  The day couldn’t have been more beautiful and if you look in the distance, you’ll see the ocean.

The birthday girl arriving at her party…

Lainey and me before the party started.  Notice our party beads.  All the kids got pink and purple party beads as a welcome gift when they arrived.

One of the guests brought rocket balloons, which was a great addition to the party.  Here’s David surrounded by the kids as he works the magic rocket balloon launcher…

Goofy Gil, the entertainment, who really got the party started…

And it wasn’t called “Lainey’s Dance Party” for nothing.  Serious dancing occurred.  When I asked Lainey what her favorite part of the party was, she said, “The dancing!”  I did my job.

And to any three year old (and most adults), the most important element… the cake!  This one was from Susie Cakes in LA.  It was well worth the expense.  Beautiful and delicious.

At the end of the party, I gave out these gift bags.  To seal them, I got stickers made at Kinko’s of the picture on the Cocodot invitation.  Inside was a pink glow stick, some Silly Putty, and some Wikki Stix.

All in all, it was a really great day!  And to make sure Lainey remembers this when she’s 20, I’ve got the pictures to prove it!

I came across this blog post and thought this was a great way to throw a party without having to pay for it.

Instead of an official Sweet 16, with invitations, food, and the lot, this guy sent out a text,  said that he was having his Sweet 16th birthday at a certain local skating rink with the date, time, & how much it cost to get in.

This way his friends had to pay for their own admission, but the parents provided the birthday cake.

It was a night of skating, cake, and a little dancing at the end of the evening thrown in by the rink.  Brilliant.

Via Free Birthday Treats Blog

So Lainey’s 3rd birthday party is this Sunday and I’m excited.  Even for this “nothing special” party at a local park for 25 kids and 35 adults, it’s amazing the number of lists I have going, and the amount of time I’ve spent planning instead of blogging.

Now that it’s all set, here are the details… For the kids, I’ve ordered pizzas from Rosti, a tasty local Italian joint up the street, and for the adults, as I mentioned earlier, I ordered the most awesome 24 inch sandwiches from Bay Cities Deli.  Delish!  To go with the sandwiches, I bought a case of Kettle Chips on Amazon.  I’m addicted to Amazon Prime.

I splurged and got the cake from Susie Cakes.  It should be pink and purple with lots of hearts.  Direct orders from a 3 year old.

For entertainment, it’s still Goofy Gil and we’re thinking an hour of crazy dancing.   Let’s burn these kids out.  And to make it festive, mardi gras beads in hot pink and purple for everyone (including the parents if they’re game).

And as for party favors, I initially wanted to put together a mix CD of Lainey’s favorite dance songs, but it got a little complicated, especially with song rights and duplication, so instead I bought pink and purple glow sticks, some Wikki Stix, and some old fashioned Silly Putty.  To be honest, I bet these go over better with the discerning toddler crowd.

In this economic climate and because we are starting a business, I’ve been trying to keeps costs down, but all in, this casual, low-key, (but hopefully still awesome) party wasn’t as cheap as I’d planned.   This is why we will soon be creating a simple-to-use party budgeting tool to put up on the site.  I promised my husband I will be the first to use it.

If I were having a Quinceanera, I would want Hugo Benson of Hugo Benson Photography to be my photographer.  He’s based in San Diego and doesn’t come cheap (his packages starts at $2,000), but he gives his Quinceaneras the experience of a lifetime and turns them into bona fide celebrities!

Hugo is one of the main photographers for both Quinceaneras Magazine and My Quince Magazine, so he says 99% of the Quinceaneras he shoots end up in print.

His photographs are both gorgeous and one-of -a-kind.   He uses eye-catching backdrops and interesting props to show off his clients, and he designs his pictures so they look like professional modeling shots.

And to top it off, he’s a really nice guy who takes pride in his work and understands that to be a great Quinceanera photographer his job is to make his clients look and feel like princesses.

Here are some “modeling shots” from his Quinceaneras’ Signature Photo sessions…

And his breathtaking Quinceaneras in their gowns…

So if you live in Southern California, are having a Quinceanera in the near future, and have the goal of being famous someday, start by hiring Hugo.  He’ll give you your first taste of stardom.

So the invitations to my daughter’s party are out.  The responses are trickling in.  While my intention was to keep it small, I don’t think I’m going to be successful.  Now I’m planning on about 30 kids, 45 adults.  That’s a lot of mouths to feed.  So for my menu…

45 inch sandwiches from Bay Cities Deli in Santa Monica.   They make big Italian sandwiches on fresh baked slightly sour, slightly sweet bread.   Their “godmother” and “caprese” sandwiches are their most famous.  We’ll order a few of both and maybe a turkey and cheese.

I’m also ordering about 8 pizzas for the kids, not sure from where yet, and a big fruit platter.  The question is do I need a big salad too or is that overkill?  Any thoughts please comment.

Every time I plan a party, I’m always amazed at how many details there are and how much work the whole thing is.

For my daughter’s 3rd birthday party, my goal is to create a hip, fun, and relatively simple shindig, with low stress.  A tall order, I know, but here’s how I’m thinking of doing it…

The party will be at a local park.  I’m limiting the invite list to just school friends to keep it manageable, however, we’re still talking 25 kids and an equal number of adults.

I’m sending online invitations from Cocodot, my new favorite online invitation site.  For $20 you get something like this.

Made with Cocodot and some simple Photoshop

I’m serving pizza, salad, and a big fruit plate, but still deciding where the food is coming from.

For dessert, initially I was thinking I’d bake cupcakes, but now I’m talking to some bakers I found on Craigslist to see if they can do it for a reasonable price.  Otherwise, I might splurge on a cake from Susie Cakes, my favorite bake shop in LA.  I might not be able to control myself.

An array of cakes from Susie Cakes.

For entertainment (this is LA after all), and since my daughter LOVES to dance, I’m calling it her  “dance party” and I’ve hired Gil Santoscoy, aka “Goofy Gil” to get the kids grooving.  He’s a kids’ theater and movement teacher and he’s fabulous — funny, silly, but always in control (even with seriously out-of-control three-year-olds).  Trust me, the man has a gift.

Goofy Gil is beyond great for kids' parties

And for favors, I’m thinking of buying a slew of mardi gras beads to pass out during the party and then as a little gift for the kids to take home, getting CDs made of my daughter’’s favorite dance songs — some Laurie Berkner, some Dan Zanes, some Yo Gabba Gabba… It’s gonna rock (especially if you’re a toddler).

Okay, so this is what I know so far.  As I move forward, I’ll keep posting.  And if you have any thoughts or ideas on how to make this party simple but awesome, I’d love them!

(Isn’t it funny how we’ll go to such lengths to throw a party for our kid who won’t even remember it when she’s 25.)

I love this… an entire blog dedicated to people throwing Twilight-themed and New Moon-themed parties.  It was started by Tara who was turning 30, wanted to throw a Twilight-themed dinner party, couldn’t find a lot of ideas on the web, so she started her own blog.

Tara's Twilight Party Blog

Some pictures from her Twilight-themed 30th birthday party.

Tara's invitation

Her table setting

And some other people’s Twilight and New Moon party pics.

A Twilight birthday invitation

A Twilight Sweet 16 cake

Twilight themed drinks

Twilight party favors

So if you want to throw a Twilight-themed party and get great ideas, learn where to buy  party supplies, find cool inspirations for favors, invitations, and decorations, Tara’s Twilight Party Blog – A blog dedicated to Twilight Saga Parties is the place to be.

I was just talking to Christine Long-Plotkin, who recently added her wedding photos to our site.  She got married in November 2009 in Los Angeles, and threw a $30k wedding on a budget of $13k.

Christine and Jacob under the big trees in Topanga Canyon

How did she do it?  With a “can do” spirit, by finding people who were willing to work within her budget, and by enlisting everyone she knew.

First, she found an outdoor restaurant in a magnificent setting called Inn of the Seventh Ray, that was flexible on cost. They have no alcohol license, so it was beer, wine, and champagne for everyone.  Plus, they bake their own wedding cakes so there were no cake cutting fees.

She hired a cute, bubbly, actress friend of her sister’s to be the MC and DJ, gave her a laptop with prerecorded songs, a script, and let her do her thing.

She used officiant, Matthew Linzmeier, who was a friend of the family’s.

Her mother took a flower arranging class and became the florist.

She found a college kid named Andrew Lee, studying photography and used him as her photographer.

She called in a favor with a graphic artist friend of DKNG who designs band posters, and had him design their invitations in the form of posters.

Their invitation designed by a graphic artist who does band posters

Her husband’s mother made the cake topper.

And since Disneyland is a special place to both Christine and Jacob, Christine blew up vintage Disneyland posters, had them printed at Shutterfly, and used them as table themes.

Christine said it wasn’t the fanciest wedding, but that wasn’t what they were after.  They wanted something beautiful, meaningful, and personal.  And that’s what they got.

Her one splurge… her $3,000 dress because who doesn’t want to look like a princess on her wedding day?

So many of the parties I write about are big parties, so it was fun talking to party planner Chris Nease, owner of Celebrations at Home in Richmond, Virginia, about some of the smaller events she throws, and the creative things she comes up with to make her parties special.

She just put together a candy table for a preteen’s birthday, and her inspiration… a shower curtain.  She wanted to do something fall and fun, so when she saw the $16 red and brown shower curtain at Walmart she knew she was onto something.  Using the colors as her guide, she included chocolate milk (in recycled Starbucks frappuccino bottles), chocolate bars, licorice, Whoppers, Hershey’s kisses, and chocolate covered donuts.  But the best part, it looked professional and fabulous and cost less than $150 for the whole shebang.

Candy table in red and brown

Chris says her favorite kinds of parties to throw are cocktail parties — drinks and appetizers.  In fact, she just threw a Ladies Night “Let it Snow” Christmas party for 13 of her closest girlfriends, where everyone brought an appetizer or bottle of wine and she provided a dessert/favor bar.  Simple, yet fun.  Here are a few pictures from the event.  See more pictures on her Catch My Party page.

The dessert and favor bar

The wine glasses with snowflake stickers

The centerpiece was a manzanita tree spray painted silver surrounded by poms and carnations

As Chris says, she’s a regular person on a budget, so she understands how to throw parties with that warm, stylish, creative touch, while not blowing the bank in the process.  Check out her blog to get many more fresh, inexpensive ideas.