Flashback: Entertaing Decor

There isn't much going on at my house that is worth mentioning this week. So I figured this was as good of a time as any to do a little flash from the past post. But instead of home décor, Im turning the wheel sharply and careening into entertaining instead. Its more about decorating for entertaining so that’s sort of on topic. Right?

Get it? Flash + Back. I crack myself up!

Over the past few years, I've had great fun helping a couple of close friends throw some parties. I just lurrve parties so I really love to help do the whole thing up. On average, I've had one big party a year. But this year is notably barren of any big shindigs. That is good in some ways - I don't end up losing sleep for weeks before doing all those last minute projects that take so much longer than I expected. But I admit, I miss the zing of it too.

So onto the topic of this this post.

(Insert sitcom flashback music here)

Back in 2007, my very fabulous and beautiful friend was preggers (same friend I mentioned in this party post). Woo-hoo! A traditional bottles & pacifier themed baby shower was just NOT going to cut it. (Sorry, this is a pet peeve of mind - baby showers are for the MOTHER, not for the baby. Go ahead and do something a grown woman can really appreciate!) Along with her mom, we did up something a little more grown up to celebrate.

As usual, the hardest part is always finding the venue. It had to be in the area, be an attractive place but not too expensive. They also had to be willing to deal with all of my special requests. Trust me, that is a really tall order around here. For some reason, most places tend to be too expensive, ugly, inflexible or a combination of all three! After much searching, we found Central Lounge. Chandeliers? Dark Wood? Lighted Marble Bar? Sign me up! I didn't bring my wide angle lens for the party so this photo from their website will have to do.

After we found the place, I got to work on the invites. Fitting with my friend, it was all about the drama and sparkle. So off I went to make the invites. These were easily one of my most favorite invites ever. They were also one of the most time consuming too…but I tend to lose sight of that kind of thing when I have an idea in my head. A few papercuts and hot glue gun burns later, I had these.

Now on to the decorations. Budget was tight so fresh flowers were definitely out of the budget. Instead, I did my best to glam up some pretty manzanita branches with bronze spray paint and hanging crystals.


And candles went EVERYWHERE. Seriously people - there is no easier or cheaper way to turn up the style in any space. Not to mention candlelit makes everyone look twice as good.
Little handcut tags adorned with chandelier crystals hung from one big branch

The "concept" (sorry, I hate the word theme…it gives me chills) was 'a special delivery' so we carried that term through a lot of different elements like the décor

…the wishing well,

…and the favors.


You can probably tell by now but once I have an idea, I really bash it in the skull until its completely all over everything :) I could go on and on about all the little things here but I'll stop. Hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane! If you want to see some more, there are a few more photos here.

Postscript #1: For all those professional party planners out there - kudos to you. I would suck very hard at that job as I don't do well with decision by committee. I like to call the shots and then do what Im thinking up, no questions asked.

Postscript #2: For those of you outside of the tri-state area that think a baby shower at a restaurant is unusual, think again. Showers here tend really huge (50 + people is pretty standard by my count). Not sure if that’s a function of families being larger here or houses being smaller requiring an outside venue. Either way - there is no getting around you need a lot more space than you can fit in your living room.

Postscript #3: These photos aren't that hot. I was really running around like mad that day so I had no time to really pay attention to the shots I was taking. A little big regretful about that but hey - what can I do?