Beach Ball Pool Party Reveal! {New to the Shop}

I know I have been a little MIA lately, but I am thrilled to show you this cute party I styled for a client who requested a beach/pool party for her friend's son a few weeks back.

My client already purchased invitations when she contacted me, so although these weren't used for the party, I went ahead and created some for the shop:

Guests were served hot dogs off the grill and an assortment of sides, like Cheetos "beach balls" and Doritos "shark fins".

Bent straws taped to the side of cups turned an ordinary drink into a scuba mask and tube. 

We lined the hot dog plates with tissue paper and stamped parchment paper. This was such a fun, easy, and free (I already had the stamp) way to dress these up. 

The dessert bar was dressed up in the same bright fashion:

We made "Sea glass lollipops" by melting jolly ranchers in the oven and sticking lollipop sticks in them. I love the organic shape they all took on. 

Blue jello was given a punch of color with these cute "beach ball" candies I found at the dollar store. 

The cupcake wrappers were one of my favorite things in this party package - they look like little sand buckets complete with handle! We blended up graham crackers to create the 'sand' on top of the cupcakes. The shovels were piped using yellow candy melts using the same tutorial I used for the spider webs I created for Halloween. 

For added decoration we placed large vases filled with sand on the table. Placing a small sand castle mold in them added a fun and playful look without the mess :)

To really dress up the table and just make it more fun for the kids, I created these accessories to attach to regular paper plates. I love how this turned something inexpensive (the plates) into something custom. 

Outside guests were treated with fun games such as water balloon and water gun fights, a sand box, and a small pool. 

Outside, the guests were served "grown up" cocktails as well - champagne and popsicles! Such an easy (and yummy!) treat. 

We staged our favor table to match the dessert bar since they were close together. The backdrop was made using colorful tissue streamers twisted up. Such an inexpensive idea, but it totally adds that color that this party needed. 

Guest left with sand buckets, pool noodles, and lots of other goodies. We dressed up the noodles with some extra water bottle labels.

But, let's face it : the lollipops were the star of the show ;)

Simple bags filled with shark crackers (also found at the dollar store of all places!) were made a bit more colorful with small sand molds (found in the dollar isle of Joann's):

I have had this valentine idea pinned for almost two years now, and I thought it would make such a cute idea for the gift table: 

I had a blast styling this party. How could I not with all these bright colors?! It was definitely the perfect way to start the summer :)

This party package is now available in my shop!

Invitations

Party Package

Here is a rundown of where I found all the items: 

Striped Paper Straws

Glasses used for "Beach Water"

Rainbow Paper Lanterns

The sand buckets, shovels, and paper lantern lights were all purchased from Five Below

Pool noddles, Rainbow Lollipops, water guns, and misc. candy was purchased from the Dollar Tree.

Happy Monday, ladies! Hope your summer is going well :)

xo,

Rachel 

Styled :: DIY Party Favors, Napkins, & Cups

Hi there!

This weekend was our daughter's birthday party, so we have been busy little bees over here!

I wanted to share with you some really simple ideas I used to make some of the cheap party supplies and favors I bought a lot more fun and special. 

I started this Styled series because I really want to show how easy it is to create a unique and beautiful party. It's really just taking something ordinary and adding those details that make it stand out. 

Almost all of the projects I am showing today used printables that I created, but they can ALL easily be substituted using scrapbook paper or even wrapping paper. 

First up, some cheap bubbles I grabbed from the dollar store got a face lift with some labels I made. This could easily be wrapped in some pretty craft paper and embellishments or even fabric. In fact, as I just typed that I am a little sad I didn't go the fabric/twine route!

A great way to stock up on cheap favors is to shop to the clearance items after any major holiday. I got these crayon boxes on a super clearance from Target after Valentine's Day and new that with a little imagination they could be really cute. 

To create your own label, first take apart one of the boxes and trace around it onto your decorative paper. Allow a little extra on the sides to overlap. Add stickers, ribbon, or other decorative items. 

Cayden really wanted to hand out little notebooks in her goody bags, so I knew I needed to come up with a cost effective way to make some cute ones. 

The party store is a great go-to for bulk favor items, so I grabbed a bag of small notebooks and gathered some of the scrapbook paper I had leftover from the envelope liners we made for the invitations. 

All you have to do for this project is trace around the cover of your notebook, cut, and glue. 

I added snowflake punches to go with our party theme, but you can easily swap out the shape for any other one. 

I love the little cups that have been popping up in Target's party isles. They are the perfect size for serving up ice cream, fruit, or other small servings. I even used them to serve our ice cream in our construction party. 

Adding your own custom wrapper is an easy and cheap way to make these look custom made. To make your own, I would use the same technique I listed for making the crayon wrappers: take apart a cup and trace (make sure to allow extra room on the ends so you can overlap!)

Add a pretty spoon (I used washi tape to hold ours) and you're set!

This last project was super easy and added a really cute detail to the party. 

Using a stamp and some acrylic paint, add some detail to your basic paper napkins. 

Easy Peasy, right?

xo,

Rachel