Celebrations
Obligatory Halloween Post
Halloween
Its my least favorite of all holidays.
Halloween ushers in fall. This southern girl hates cold weather. I utterly loathe being scared. I don’t particularly appreciate the ramifications of limitless sugar in the house. And, I despise the color orange! So every year, it pretty much boils down to us rummage through the dress up drawer and piecing together a costume. There is no shortage of tutus and tiaras at our house, so theres always something to choose from.
Here even more so…. In an Asian community apartment complex, there’s not a lot of neighborly trick-or-treating going on. Pumpkin carving is out because the only pumpkins we’ve located here had a heavy price tag of 2,500 baht on it (about $75!!). But, as this years holiday drew close, the kids had grandiose expectations about their disguise with Halloween events scheduled at school.
Slightly begrudgingly, I went out on October 30th to the only costume store I knew of….an overpriced hole-in-the-wall with a 50% off price tag on an Elsa dress. With the discount, the imported gown would have “only” been $65!! (Sorry Evie….not gonna happen!)
I texted Tristan to talk him through the pre-teen boy options.
“Mummy?”
“No, I was that 2 years ago”
“Alien?”
“Nah….thats ok mom”
“Magician?”
“Mmmmm…..ok, sure”.
(…….want to guess who woke up Halloween morning and decided they didnt want to dress up?)
Abi on the other hand didnt plan to dress up. That is until about 9:00 the night before Halloween.
“I know what I want to be! Lets make a Maleficent costume!”
(Sure Abi, let me just wave my fairy-godmother magic wand and that’ll materialize right away) 🙂
Oh, she is SO my daughter. Lets wait until the last minute and then not only do it, but do it big!! (Bless her future husband!)
And being the sensible mother that I am, I totally thought it was a brilliant idea 🙂 . Im not going to lie, I didnt really mind. Because honestly, how many more years is this sweet girl going to let me make her halloween costume? I know my days are numbered!
A headband, two styrofoam cups, aluminum foil, wire coat hanger, an old ratty black Tshirt, a glue gun (3 burned, blistered fingers) and 2 hours later, we had our finished product. I think she nailed it!
And then there is Gigi’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde impersonation…..
A Cherubic Angel on Friday…
And a little devil on Saturday….pretty much sums up Gigi at a glance 🙂
This girl. My Evie….the child who spent her toddlerhood terrified of anyone who came at her in scrubs! My baby who celebrated her first birthday in the hospital and has had more blood draws than I can count.
Evie salutes the wonderful nurses and caretakers who loved on her those first tumultuous years. We thank God for the sweet nurses at Lexington, Richland and MUSC that she now adores!! Evie won a costume contest wearing this little number and landed herself a nice gift certificate to sports camp! Woop woop.
Britain as a witch and Izzy as an Indian princess. How I love the diversity among these sweet sisters. Lucky girls to have each other and to share life together!
And now………let the negotiations begin!
My Big Fat Pink Party
UPDATE!!
We have a winner. Shanna Uptergrove, please send me an email and let me know which company you’d like a shopping spree at!
I was informed today by an expatriate friend of another nationality that the whole Big Fat Greek Wedding Pink Party thing is very “American”. For months, Gigi has been talking about her birthday. When you asked what kind of party she wants to have, she’s exclaimed “pink“!!
We all blame our mothers for what’s wrong with us….the same should be said of what’s right with us. (…..and Ill let you determine which category this would fall into. 🙂 But, the whole obsession with color-coordinating and resourceful creativity and memory making and celebrating-to-the-tens is a trait inherited from my very talented mother. She is the queen of parties! Sure, maybe a little bit overboard, but you only turn 3 once. So, this is not a “mommy wars” post, but a confession really of my need for a creative outlet sometimes. Completing a paper bunting banner or wrapping washi tape around candy jars is the only sense of accomplishment I get somedays. The best part was, there were some super sweet evening spent with my big girls royal-icing butterfly cookies and assembling invitations and making memories together!
My dream job would be being a party coordinator…..give me a theme and a budget and let me plan. I was reminded again that 75% of the fun actually is not the party itself…. “my thing” is the planning and pinning and preparation.
Quirky, I know…thats just me!
Let me preface this by saying just a few things:
1) Gigi is not getting another birthday party until her sweet-16
2) I had a LOT of help! Ive apparently handed down the generational sin, ahem……”party planning inclination,” because Britain and Abi were huge helpers with all of this!
3) Pink. Im over it. Don’t need to see that color again for a good, long while!
4) I have the best momma-friends! They were totally good sports with the fact that I fed their children inordinate amounts of sugar and then sent them home to try and get through the dinner hour with bellies full of junk! (Ive done worse….I sent live goldfish home as party favors one time years ago!)
Some of my favorite vendors collaborated on this party to help execute my “vision in pink”. Im excited to share them with you and highlight the element they contributed. Scroll to the bottom to enter to win a giveaway from your boutique of choice!
Invitations created with washi tape from Beve
plastic utensils adorned with washi tape from Beve
Fancy flags and skewers wrapped with washi tape. Straws also from Beve
We LOVE Beve paper straws!
Outfit from Dayspring Dresses
funky pink balloons from Beve
We had a cupcake station with a mountain of iced cupcakes for the girls to decorate as they pleased. Tons of sugar sprinkles, glittering crystals, edible pearls and delicate sugar flowers. As you can imagine, there was no moderation. Some serious excessive “sprinkling” going on. Another wonderful reason to have had the party outside!
Cupcakes supplied by Happy Oven BKK
All cupcake embellishments provided by Happy Oven BKK
Birthday Girl’s cake provided by Happy Oven BKK
Party favors Gigi style…..a tutu, froo-froo feather boa and matching hot-pink headband.
Again, my apologies to the moms who are going to be finding feathers scattered throughout their house for the next month. These things shed!!
What a sweet group of girls we are blessed to call “friends!!”
Tutus, Headbands and Boas from The Hairbow Company
Chic paper favor bags and washi tape decorated clothes pins from Beve and tutus from The Hairbow Company
Headbands from The Hairbow Company
Photo Booth paper fans from Beve
Feather boas from The Hairbow Company and paper decorative balls from Beve
Thought it would be fun to share a little party package with someone.
Simply click the links to “like” the following pages on Facebook:
Designer wholesale party supplies – paper straws, chic favor bags, paper fans, decorative balls, washi tape and printed balloons.
Customized cakes and cupcakes for themed parties, showers and teas prepared with quality ingredients. Also providing catering services designed to fit each party function.
Boutique hair accessories, ballet tutus. wings, ribbons, leotards, boas and everything girly-girl at affordable wholesale prices!
Quality handmade boutique children’s clothing, coordinating sibling lines and Mommy-and-Me classics.
After liking all 5 pages, leave any-ole’ comment below to be entered to win a $25 gift certificate to use at your choice from the 4 participating boutiques.
Happy 3rd Birthday to our swee n’ sassy, pretty in pink, girly girl Gigi!! We love you baby cakes!
6th Birthday Tradition
