{Parties} Office Christmas Party

I whipped up a quick Christmas party for my officemates. We scored the Cityscape bar a few hours before it opened to the public, ordered some pizzzas, and hung out and enjoyed the company and the the views.

I was decorating this out-of-pocket, so I tried to do it on the somewhat cheap with tissue paper flowers, personal decorations, and cute Christmas crackers and cupcake flags from Mara-Mi.

 The cupcakes were from Sugar Bliss, of course. Their "hot chocolate" cupcake is like pure crack to me. Or at least what I think crack would be like.

The views are so amazing.

{Paper, Parties} Oh, By Gosh, By Golly, It's Time for Mistletoe and Holly

We celebrated our family's December birthdays at our place...with a houseful of people! Twelve adults and four kids was our (then) record for guests.

I had been hemming and hawing and brainstorming for an affordable idea for this table for over a month and ended up putting it together with things that I had around the house an hour before guests arrived. Andy and I found these antique candlesticks at an antique store in Wisconsin over the summer. I was so excited to see that they hold the electric "candles" that I bought a few years ago and never got to use. The flowers were a holiday bouquet from the grocery store. Andy was so proud of himself for picking them out.

I learned the hard way at Halloween that no one pays attention to photo or numbered wine charms. I used my Silhouette to cut personalized "wine charms" for everyone. They were brilliant.

But the place cards...they're definitely in my top 5 of all time. I loved them!

Each guest had a unique-ish design. I had 14 in total.

Even the kids got place cards - although, not a single one of them cared.

{Paper, Parties} Global Warming-Inappropriate** Birthday Party Photo Place Cards

Christmas has been in full swing up in here -- even a 2.5 week battle with bronchitis* and sinusitis couldn't even bring us down this season. The real fun begins this week.

The first of seven parties that we attended this month was a celebration of my mother-in-law, who turned a number that shall not be named. We celebrated at Chicago Cut, as is our sorta-milestone-tradition, with our other sorta-traditions, photo place cards and cake.

The cake was from Sugar Bliss. I *totally* recommend them! I scored the parrot tulips at the deli in the East Bank Club. How lucky was that? I was way too sick to walk to a real florist.

I made the cake topper by layering die-cut snowflakes with 3D foam squares and attaching them to wooden skewers. Not ideal, but it worked in a 2 a.m.-the-night-before pinch.

For the place cards, I used my Silhouette to cut 5.5 circles with the guest's name and a hole for the photo. Then, I inserted the photo and some shiny white paper behind the name. I attached the entire piece to an ornament card and embellished it with an off-white ribbon and more shiny white die-cut snowflakes. The napkins are cheapos from Home Goods. They're OK. They shrunk to cocktail napkins in the wash.

*I am pretty sure that I broke or pulled something major when coughing. 

**When Andy and I selected this not-to-Christmas Christmas snowflake theme back in October, we weren't expecting it to be 60 degrees in December. 

{Paper + Parties} Nursery-Inspired Gift Wrap

When celebrating friends, I like to wrap their packages in their favorite colors or try match the event's theme. (Remember these Crate & Barrel boxes from my friend's weddings in 2010 and 2011?)

For my friend Tara's baby shower this past weekend, I was inspired by her recent nursery blog post when selecting the packaging for her gifts:

{"Nursery Ideas" from In This Instance}

What a happy, sunshiny place for a little babe! To mimic the feeling for our group gift, I selected some beautiful handmade paper, a Snow & Graham favorite picked up at a cute neighborhood shop, hangar 18, and shiny satin ribbons.

{Photo by Ami of Elizabeth Anne Designs and Entouriste)

Running around the city looking for the perfect gift wrap may be ridiculous, but what fun it is!

Progressive Dinner Party

A few friends and I participated in a Progressive Dinner party on Saturday. Inspired by Oh Happy Day and A Blog About Love, we visited three houses over the course of the evening. The first house, "appetizers" was taken down by the stomach flu, so we started at our place with Braised Short Ribs, Mashed Potatoes, and very burnt Brussel Sprouts. Then we moved on for the second course and dessert.

It was great fun and, since we only had to provide small plates of a single course, it was a breeze to "host" and set-up, which is just what Andy and I both needed after the hectic few weeks we've both had. I didn't take any pictures of the evening, but snapped a few during set up.

I hope we get to do more of these in the future!

Smells Like School Spirit

Andy and I hosted my college friends for dinner on Saturday. I reused the table runner that I made in 2010, pairing it with gold, black, and white napkins and some pennant place cards that I whipped up – in true Tina fashion – an hour before everyone arrived.

I’ve had the sewing bug, so I bought more Purdue-themed fabric to make napkins, but chose sleep over crafting.

White flowers would have looked great, but I couldn’t pass up these brilliant yellow tulips. It was such a gray, slushy day when I bought them, so they stopped me dead in my tracks…spring was taunting me! I told my friends to pretend that they were "Old Gold" tulips, not University of Iowa tulips.

I also put some bud vases in beer cozies and used them as accents throughout the house.

I am ashamed to say that I actually thought of this myself and ordered the cozies online. That’s right. You get pure ass and class with me.

We have another dinner party with friends this weekend. I cannot wait! Andy is making braised short ribs for the first time. I'm so happy that I married someone who can get it together enough to cook.

A Sparkly Brunch

I hosted a super cute brunch for my girlfriends this weekend. Our group has some important December and January Birthdays and one newly engaged friend. I thought a sparkly, confetti-themed brunch celebrating our good friends and good will would be a great way to kick-off the new year.

I scheduled this spontaneously right before the holidays. I was inspired by a sparkly party that I saw in a 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living that had lots of sequins and paillettes. This evite design sealed the deal on the theme.

I picked up red, purple, and fuchsia glitter wrapping paper from Paper Source, I happened to have a gold Chilewich runner from a sample sale, and I found a pack of eight fuchsia napkins at Home Goods for 99 cents. It was party kismet.

Whole Foods had these PERFECT fucshia and purple flowers.

I used my circle punches to make "confetti" for the place cards and napkin rings. Each place card and napkin ring had a unique pattern.

 

I also made some party hats with the glitter paper and crowns by stapling crepe paper fringe onto dollar store crowns.

I started making some "HAPPY" signs to hang above the mirrors, but, as always, time got away from me. I didn't get past the "H" and "Y."

I forgot to take a photo of the food spread. The menu included:

• Mimosas
• Orange LaCroix and O.J.
• Bacon, Leek, and Gruyere Quiche
• Ham, Shallot, and Cheddar Quiche
• Vegan White Bean Quiche (made by my friend)
• Hashbrowns
• Mixed Greens served with Fresh Vinaigrette Dressing
• Fresh Berries
• Bread and Butter

It was the easiest meal I've ever hosted! I had intended to make fresh brownies and sticky buns, but that Friday snowstorm threw a loop in my plans. I got some delicious bakery from Whole Foods, which was a million times better than anything I could have made myself.

I sent everyone home with a Godiva chocolate candy bar wrapped in glitter and more "confetti."

Our casual brunch turned into a four hour luncheon! It was so fun and a great respite from the snowy weather.

P.S. I used some scraps to make "Thank You" cards for the hostess gifts I received. I think that I want to make some "Tina" cards like this. Might as well use up the glitter spares before they become soooo 20XX.

My Dad is 60!

A wrapping paper table runner. 

Place Cards...

 ...turned Party Hats!

 Each party hat had a photo of my dad and the wearer.
(Except for my bro.)

My dad's had a pix of him and his aunt/mom.

Andy and my mom were the only ones who humored me and wore their hats,
as my dad and brother were worried about "ruining their hair." They are both total curmudgeons.

 My #60 fell off in the car. :(

To make the hats, I unassembled a cardboard party hat and traced it onto 12X12 and 8.5x11 cardstock from Paper Source. I used crepe paper streamers to make fringe decorations. I used my Sillhouette SD to cut the 60s, which I attached with floral wire and scotch tape, and the blue ovals for the photos, which were attached with foam squares.

Our First Thanksgiving

Andy and I hosted our first Thanksgiving this year. We celebrated Thanksgiving Day at his aunt's house and hosted my family on Friday. It was such a great time. I hope that we get to host again someday.

 

I was so proud of us for pulling off our first big meal. Neither of us had ever made a turkey before, but it came out without a hitch thanks to a melding recipes from the Betty Crocker and America's Test Kitchen cookbooks.

I am a total stuffing-with-sausage convert. I can't believe I had never eaten it that way before. We had all of the fixin's and my family's traditional holiday dishes: Polish sausage with sauerkraut, homemade finger dumplings, and lazy man's pierogi (our's is minus the sausage).

 

I always get so distracted when guests arrive and forget to put out food. I finally wised up and hung a menu and "To Do" list to manage my giant task list and all of the different cooking times and temperatures. This was BRILLIANT and I can't believe that I've never done this before. I saw Andy checking the list and crossing stuff off all afternoon. I'm doing this for every party. It's so much easier than using my phone.

For the table, I used a table runner that I got on clearance at Crate & Barrel a few seasons ago. And because I am nothing, if not predictable, I whipped up some place cards using leaf patterns that I downloaded and cut with the Silhouette SD.