Bridal Shower- invite

My best friend from high school is getting married in May! I am super excited for her.  She is the last of my best friends to get married and now it is time for us to all start having babies!!

Obviously because she is my best friend and we just happen to live in the same area I am throwing her a little "bridal shower".  This won't be your typical bridal shower, no this will be what we like to call it a... lets get her ready for her wedding night shower... hehe (winky face).  Yes, it will be a little scandalous, a little embarrassing for her and lots of fun!

I have not worked out all of the details yet, but I am excited to show off what I have done for the invitations.  All of the work was done by hand and very similar to one in found online with a few of my own touches.

what do you think?

More to come on the decorations, food and games.  If you have any ideas let me know! 

Party On!

Arizona.

Valentines day was Arizona 100th birthday.
I thought Arizona was boring and hot and ugly... until I moved to Idaho- where it is cold and cold and cold.
I never knew how much I loved my home state until I left.  Now I have been gone for 4 years! That is a long time and I miss my hot, dry desert more than ever.

Yesterday morning I woke up to a foot of snow on the ground.  It is beautiful, until you have to walk, drive and live in it.

I created this, because you don't shovel sunshine in Arizona, you may shovel rocks and dirt, but that is it.
Happy 100th Birthday Arizona.  Better late than never!

Arizona how I love you, miss you and all the wonderful memories that you represent.

But don't worry only 99 days (well less really, my friend is counting down till her wedding day) till I will be on your ground again.  My Best Friend is getting married and I will be there!

If you would like a copy of this printable that 8x10 email me perfecthostessblog@gmail.com

Party on!

Wedding printable

A couple weeks ago I posted a give away for a free customized printable.  A sweet girl, Hailey, won and asked me to do a design for her upcoming wedding.  Instead of a party printable, what I normally do, she asked me to put together a thank you card for the guests at her wedding.  Her and Her fiance wrote a cute poem and asked me to include it in the thank you card.

She wanted something like this:

With the colors and very long poem she gave me this is what I came up with it.  

I learned a lot in the process of making this.  I am grateful for the experience to be a part of her wedding.  

If you would like to have a design made I would be happy to do invitations or other party printables.  I do customized party printables for only $5.

Party on!

Valentines Dance Party- Sucess!

The Valentines Day party I helped throw last Friday was a great success. We planned for 80 and about 75 people showed up.  To read about the food for the party you can read the post here.  We had just the right amount of pasta, way too much pasta sauce (6 gallons of sauce for 80 people is too much!), we had too much salad, and not quite enough bread ( I thought 8 cheesy bread pizzas would be oodles) and we made about 3 cakes too many.  It is my number one fear when planning an event to run out of food so I am totally fine with having too much food.


Planning a party for 80 people can be quite stressful, especially when things do not go according to plan.
It takes a lot of patience and the ability to adapt.  Speaking of adapting, we had to do some major adapting when the pasta sauce showed up 10 minutes before the party started COLD.  Yes, usually when you get food catered it is warm, but Pizza Pie Cafe forgot to mention that the sauce would not be warm.




So... we had to improvise.  Luckily we had a kitchen to heat up the food, but unfortunately we

did not have pots or pans to heat up the sauce
quickly.  We did have two ovens and about 20 stainless steel bowls.  We set the ovens to 350 degrees split up the sauces and began the warming process.

One thing I love about throwing a party is delegating.  When was dealing with the pasta fiasco I had about 5 people ask me what they could do to help.  I was able to have them take care of the little things while I figured out what to do with the pasta sauce.

We were also very lucky to have a DJ at the party to help cover up for us while the sauce got warm.  They played a version of Battle of the Sexes.  It was pretty funny to see the husband and wife's reaction to each others answers.  

We decorated for the party using Wedding pictures of from guests at the party.  I think it was a great/ cheap way to decorate when you have a large group of good friends.  We also dimmed the lights to create a mood and put some lights up.  It is hard to make a church cultural hall look good on a budget and with limited resources, but I do think this was a nice addition.

Food: Better than whatever cake, Salad, Pasta, Cheesy pizza bread.  ( we are still waiting for the sauce to get warm)

Out DJ was awesome.  After everyone was done eating he began the dance.  He started by telling all the husbands that they needed to come line up before the dance started.  Then he told the wives to get up and stand by their husbands and then start dancing.  It was awesome because we all knew the husbands would not dance unless they were forced to.

3 year old love birds Lily and Jacob!

My husband had to work so Lily was my Valentine that night.  We danced together.  I also got to be the "babysitter" while mom and dad danced.  I love holding babies and man does it make me hungry for one of my own.

The key to a good party is to:

1.Relax

2.delegate 

3.do not let the little things bother you.  

4. Make sure you enjoy the party as well. 

Planning a large party can be real tough, but enjoy and have fun!

Party on!

Happy Valentines day!

I have been trying for months to create this design.  With help from a good friend I am now able to do exactly what I have wanted to ( and a lot more in the process).

I just wanted to say Happy Valentines Day! I hope you day is filled with love, joy and lots of chocolates because mine will.

Party on!

Valentines {just another} Day

My husband and I are uber busy this semester.  I am taking 14 credits and working 25 hours a week.  My husband is taking 15 credits and working 40 hours a week.  Needless to say we almost never see each other.  Because Valentines day is on a Tuesday it will be just another day for us.

I really wish we had time to do something super mushy and cute, but unfortunately it will be just another day.  I am the type of person that will sit and plan and plan and plan and think about what I want to do, but the thinking is all that ever happen... at least when it comes to do something for my husband.

So.... If I had time, energy, or money to do something cute and special for my husband her are a few ideas of what I would do.

hearts to let him know I love him

"bedroom game"

Roses on the bed with a balloon tied to memories

14 days of Valentines

Make a fort, eat dinner, watch movies, and cuddle

A candle lit dinner for two

(this is from valentines day last year)

If only I had time to do something romantic for my sweetheart, but instead I got him these *SEXY* Pajamas

And he will be eating dinner out of tupperware at work on his lunch break while doing homework.  I am just grateful that I have him all to myself and the little time we have together.  

Happy Valentines Day! 

What will you be doing with your hubby?

Party on!

How to feed a Crowd

A couple months ago I was at the grocery store with a girl I worked with at the time.  We were buying food for an ice cream social we were having at work.  We had a certain amount of money we had to spend and we needed to be able to get enough ice cream and toppings for the employees.  The girl I was with automatically picked the cheapest quart of ice cream she saw and moved onto the ingredients.  What I realized then is if you are not used to buying for a large group of people you may not know all the steps and tools the stores offer to allow you to make sure you are getting the most for your money for the amount of people you need to serve and how much to get per person. 

I would like to share some tools I use when I am planning on feeding a large group on a limited budget. 

1.     First you need to figure out how many people you are feeding.  A general rule of thumb when planning how much food to buy depends on the event.  If you are throwing a party that is a nice sit down dinner and they RSVP plan for that many and then add an couple additional plates just in case.  If you are doing an event that does not require RSVP like an ice cream social or a church event, plan for half and add a few extra. 

For the party I am throwing this week there are about 130 people that are in the group that were invited.  I am planning food for 80.  One of my biggest fears in life is to run out of food at a party.  It is always better to have too much than not enough. 

2.       Now you have decided how many people to serve for it is time to map how much you need to purchase.  Looking at the label is the most important part.  Know how much is in a serving will help you to know how much to buy.  Always look at the label. 

3.       There is also a really great tool the store provides to help you know which brand or size is a better deal.  Just because the price is cheaper doesn’t mean you are getting a better deal.  Most stores will show you the price per ounce or per item. 

Take a look at this picture below.  The top picture looks like it is cheaper, but if you look the top picture is only for 300 forks and the top picture is for 600 forks.  So in reality for only 21 cents more you are getting 300 forks. 

4.       Just because it is cheaper to make yourself does not always mean it will be.  You have to take in consideration time and the cost of time.  Often store products may be cheaper if you are limited on time, help and resources.

5.       Often products are cheaper at different stores, but if you are driving across town to get one product just because it is a few cents cheaper doesn’t mean you are really going to save money.  Once again time and gas needs to be a factor when planning on a budget.

6.       Be wise when planning.  It is called planning for a reason. Make sure you are researching out to the products to know what the best deal is.

I hope these tips will help you better serve food for your next party or event.  Planning food for a large group is not as scary as it looks. 

What tips or questions do you have about planning for a large group?  I love to hear your comments!

Party on!

Party Printables Giveaway Winners!

Congrats to the Dark Family and Hailey for winning the party printable give away! Contact me at perfecthostessblog@gmail.com so we can start planning your parties!

If you are interested in party printables! I would be happy to help you design something for a very small fee!

Valentines Day Party Invite

The invitation I design for the party I am planning for next weekend!

what do you think?

Party On!