IT WAS A YEAR OF PARTIES!

I thought it would be fun to join in the party that Cindy over at Romantic Homes is hosting. She has asked us to go through our photos and posts and do a review of 2009.

In doing so, I noticed 2009 was filled with parties, parties and more parties.

So, my review is going to be of all the fun parties I've thrown this year.


The first party of 2009 was Trinity's birthday party. Every year it's a different theme.

For her 8th birthday it was all about horses!

We went to a local petting zoo and had a BBQ, played games, opened presents and rode on the train. The high light was when all the kids got to ride on a horse.

For some, it was the first time they had been on a horse before.

It was a fun time and, per Trinity, "a birthday she will never forget".

It's almost time for her birthday party this year. Wow! She is almost 9 years old. Growing up so fast. The theme this year is going to be MAGIC!


The next party was a baby shower for a friend. The theme was "Welcome to the Nest Little One".

Of course that meant birds and nests were the main theme of the decor.

Since she was having a little boy (her 4th boy) the color was blue and brown.

My favorite thing of the whole shower was the cupcakes! Little bird nests with baby birds popping up. You can see them here.


Then came the darling Alice in Wonderland birthday party for my sister, Patty.

This was a surprise party. She didn't have a clue what we were up to. It was just our family as she made me promise not to have a big party for her.

However, the decorations were so cute. Thanks to Donna at Party Wishes. This is one of her parties you can rent. If you have not been to her blog you must go see it. She has the best parties in town!


Summer time was a great reason to throw a FUN IN THE SUN party for Trinity and a few of her girlfriends.

They ate, played water games, jumped on the trampoline as they squirted the hose and had a fun time.

We decided to have more of these smaller parties with just three or so friends over so she can have some quality time with her friends.

Our next girlfriend party is going to be a Barbie theme.


The annual Halloween party, I throw for Trinity, was a big hit this year. It was all about Pirates!

We had food, games, crafts, tattoos and so much fun! All the kids said they loved going to Trinity's parties because they have such a good time.

I'm already in the planning mode for this years Halloween party.


After all the fun with the kids on Halloween, I wanted to have a little party for adults. So I had a Witches Lunch.

It was nice to sit down and enjoy some time with my sisters and friend and it was decided we all want to do this every year.

The year closed up with a Christmas Cookie party for Trinity and a few of her friends.

Each girl got to make and decorate their own cookies to take home.

We had dinner, baked cookies and the girls all won awards for their cookies.

Next Christmas we are going to make Gingerbread Houses.

So that's about how my life is, if I'm not throwing a party, I'm planning one.

I have several in the works right now. Of course there is Trinity's Birthday party coming up in Jan. Then I am having a small Valentine's Day lunch for my friends and sisters, maybe a St. Patrick's Day tea party, an Academy Award party, a New York theme birthday party for my sister, Maureen, a Barbie party, a flip flop summer party, the annual Halloween party, a Witches lunch and a Gingerbread House party.

Oh my! I'm tired already.

The year 2009 was a good year. I hope 2010 is even better.

Now be sure to go to Romantic Homes and see everyone's end of the year reviews.

Happy New Year!

BIRD NEST BABY SHOWER

Finally the baby shower has come and gone. All that planning and shopping paid off as everything came out nice and the mommy was very happy.

Above is the invitation, with all personal info scratched out.

I got the invitation, water bottle labels, banner and picks used in the sandwiches from Etsy. I ordered them from Barbara. She was so helpful and designed these just for me to use.



This is not a good picture at all but the banner says WELCOME TO THE NEST. There are little blue birds on both ends that match the invitation.

It was really cute and went home with the mommy at the end of the shower.

The table was set with blue and white polka dot plates and the napkin rings were made to match the invitation also. The little bird was in the center of each napkin ring holder.

A little nest with blue Jordan almonds were on each place setting. Not only did it go with the bird/nest theme but it also kept the plates from blowing away.

I made the place cards from a kit I ordered from A Cottage Industry.

There wasn't really much room on the tables to decorate. I had purchased lots of things I didn't even use.

There was room for a bird house and some bird salt and pepper shakers as well as another little decorated nest on this table.

The other table had a bird candle holder but I put a little nest with Jordan almonds in there, tiny blue bird salt and pepper shakers and a little floral arrangement with a nest and egg in it.

I was surprised that most people actually ate their Jordan almonds. I thought perhaps they would have been left behind but I was happy to see they weren't.

No one took their nest home even though they were told they could. That's OK though as I can always use them for another party now.

I loved the water bottle labels. They had a picture of the blue bird on the invitation and it said Welcome to the Nest Little One.

We had a hard time finding water bottles to use these on but in the end they came out OK.

The drink table was also decorated with a tiny bird holding down napkins from blowing away and the little white birds holding a vintage baby picture. Also there was a big nest on the table but I didn't get a picture showing that

In the morning as we were setting up it was actually raining. We were in shock! What were we going to do

Well thanks to the lady who let us use her back yard to have the party, because her son knew people who worked for the police department and they let us use their pop up tarps to keep the rain off us.

Even though it stopped raining before the actual shower the tarp allowed us to get out there to decorate while it was still raining. We only had one hour to get everything put together as we kept waiting for the rain to stop.

This isn't a good picture at all but I just had to show you that I finally got the drink dispenser I had been dreaming about. I had seen them on several blogs and was on the hunt for one. I was so happy when I found one

It held pink lemonade which is what almost everyone drank.

We had lots of food. There was something for everyone. Some of the things we had was cheese and crackers, chips and dip, veggie trays, grilled asparagus, candy, pickles, olives, fruit salad, macaroni salad, pasta salad.

I tried to use some items to go with the theme on the food table as well. Like this little bird bath that held blue M&Ms.

This bird held artichoke/spinach dip. I think this bird was really meant to hold a plant but us bloggers know we don't have to always use things as they were meant to be.

Vintage baby pictures were also used on the food table.

Oh yes! We had sandwiches too. There was ham & cheese, Turkey and cheese, chicken salad, roast beef and veggie sandwiches. Like I said, we wanted to have something for everyone.

I used the cupcake picks in the sandwiches since I didn't use them in the cupcakes. They were really cute too.

That is the mommy to be eating. Next to her is Trinity. She just got her braces on. Poor thing couldn't eat the sandwiches

She was a very big help along with the little girl who lived where the party was. They both helped give everyone drinks, picked up the trash, handed out the party favors and served the cupcakes.

They enjoyed being there with all the grown ups and had fun helping out.

This is the mommy with some of her gifts.

After we all ate and played games, the mommy opened up her gifts.

We played three games and the winners all got presents that were bird theme. One was a bird house, one was wind chimes with a bird house on top and the last one was a bird decoration to be used in the garden.

We thought it was a fun idea to have the gifts match the theme.

I showed you the cupcakes yesterday but I wanted to show you the cupcake server I found at TJ Maxx. I thought it was so pretty with all the crystals hanging from it. I also thought it looked sort of like a tree and with the cupcakes looking like little nests they were darling served on this.

I have to share something about the cupcakes that made my day. I was standing around the corner and heard the guest talking about the cupcakes. Of course I couldn't wait to hear what they were saying.

One said they were the cutest cupcakes she had ever seen. One said they were the first cupcakes that taste as good as they looked and one said her favorite cupcakes have always been Sprinkles until she tasted these

Wow! That made me feel so good. I know people always say nice things when they know you made them but these remarks were made when they didn't know I could hear.

I forgot to take pictures of our party favors but I got these darling little soaps that looked like an egg in a nest. Only the ones I had were blue to go with the theme.

Even the little box they came in were cute. They were white with blue and there were little birds, nests and flowers on them.

I think everyone had a nice time and the Mommy was happy. So all the hard work and long days planning was all worth it.