Save the Date

Here's the Save the Date invitation Neil and I are sending out for our Gumbo Football Party. I know it's kinda early to send this out but with the holidays coming up and everyone making plans (usually up until the Superbowl) we wanted to get this out. I'm going to send out diy invitations in the mail about three weeks before the party. Still thinking about a design for those. I have a few ideas. More to come!

Pigskin Party Fun!

I am still planning a Gumbo Football Playoff party in January but I'm trying to decide if I want to theme the party with one of the playoff teams or just keep it a generic football party. My beloved New Orleans Saints are 8-0 right now....so proud! I'm hoping they keep it up and earn a place in the playoffs. If so, I might have to lean towards a Saints theme party which of course would tie in the whole Gumbo thing:)

Either way we're still going to have a football party and we're still going to center the party around a huge Cajun-style Gumbo. Can't wait! Here are a couple of things I'll probably have at the party.

I love these football lanterns from Oriental Trading. These will look great hanging over the appetizer table combined with other different colored and sized round lanterns (black and gold, maybe:) And some fun things hanging from the lanterns. Also, these individual football cakes from Baking Bites are adorable. They will be so cute on the table. Stay tuned for more!
Chocolate Football Cakes
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup coffee, warm
2 tsp vanilla extract

Fun Marshmallow Pilgrim Hats

I found these marshmallow pilgrim hats on the Disney site. These are made similar to marshmallow pops except they are attached to fudge stripe cookies. Cute, fun and easy to make! This website has a lot of great crafty ideas.

Modern Rustic Thanksgiving

A friend of ours is throwing a huge Thanksgiving feast at a VFW hall and I'm helping out by making the place feel more homey and decorating the food and dinner tables. I found this great pattern on istock photo. I love the colors and the modern/retro rustic (so many words to describe) look of the graphic. Since VFW halls have a natural nostalgic and rustic feel I thought this would be perfect. Oh, and I love apples! It will also add a hint of modernness to a bland hall.
I have a very small budget to work with so this will be a challenge but I think I'll be able to make it work! Check out the inspiration board above and stay tuned for more.

Pumpkins and Candy, Oh My!

I love candy buffets. They are so fun and colorful. What better time to create one then for Halloween of course. Here are a few photos from Marthastewart.com of inspiring Halloween candy displays. One of my favorite parts about candy buffets are the clean symmetrical lines you can create. It's great "eye candy".
And depending on the theme of your Halloween candy buffet add decorated pumpkins like these. Paint them silver, glitter them up, create candle holders or lanterns out of them or if you want to go for a more country style create yarn and twine pumpkins....very cute!

Black and White Halloween

I love this Ichabod pumpkin found on bhg.com. One of my favorite parts of Halloween has always been the Legend of Sleepy Hollow story. We watched the cartoon movie every year when I was in grade school.

This pumpkin would go great with a black and white themed Halloween party. Have people come dressed in Victorian era clothing just like the story. Create a gloomy look by layering things with spider webs and putting creepy things like black spiders and eyeballs in apothecary jars. And don't forget about the Headless Horseman costume!

Whimsical Ranch Wedding

Earlier this month my brother got married on a ranch about an hour north of Dallas in a town called Whitesboro. The bride wanted the decor to have a very whimsical feeling. The wedding was held outdoors under a tent (because it rained). The original plan was to have the ceremony in front of one of several ponds on the property. Everything still turned out beautiful.

The colors were purple and green. The flower arrangements and table linens were gorgeous. Even the flower girls dresses had little wings attached for a whimsical feel...so cute. Check out photos above. It was a night to remember. I wish I had more photos to share but I didn't take a lot of pictures. It was a busy weekend, especially being part of the wedding party. Oh and I love the mossy accents here and there.

Oktoberfest Celebration!

Last night was the long awaited Oktoberfest party. I had so much fun making and putting out all of the decorations. See photos above. The Bavarian flag was the inspiration. I purchased the flag pattern and the illustrations I used for the Welcome sign and Toilette sign from a stock photography website.

I bought the branches used for the centerpiece from the Home Goods store and spray painted them white. Then hot glued the pinwheels I made to them. Very simple to make and it turned out so cute! Even the mini kegs matched the decor'.

Everyone had a great time eating traditional German food, drinking German Oktoberfest beer and listening to German music. The party was a huge success!

Lederhosen Time!

So, this is the weekend of my friend's Oktoberfest Party! Very exciting. I'm putting the final touches on all of the blue and white decorations. It's going to be fabulous. We're going to have bratwursts, sauerkraut and spatzle to eat and German beer to drink. We had originally discussed purchasing a regular sized beer keg. We figured out a way to cut down on costs and left over beer. We're going to purchase a couple of mini kegs of German beer. These will also go great with the decor'!

Halloween Wine and Gift Tags

These Halloween gift tags from Bunco Betty's on Etsy look great on wine bottles. They would be great to put on wine or liquor bottles to give to a hostess of a Halloween party. Very cute!