Happy Friday! Free Printables

A few Fridays ago, I made these printables and baked some cupcakes to give to my friends. There was really no special reason to do it, other than it was Friday, the weather was great and I love my friends. I thought it was a good way to let them know that they are appreciated. It made them happy! You can download the printables here, and put a smile on your friend's or neighbor's face today. Enjoy your weekend!

Party DIY :: Cardboard Handbags

Photo from Ikatbag.com

I love these cardboard handbags.  They would be great as party favor bags, as a craft activity at a party, or just for playtime at home.  Lorraine, of the blog Ikat Bag, made these for her daughter's Tea Party birthday.  She made the basic form and had the kids decorate the bags and make the beaded handles.  What a great idea and the kids looked like they had so much fun making them. Click here for the full post.  And while you're there, take a look at the rest of the web site.  There are so many great ideas for things to make.

Sneak Peek :: Indoor Camping Party

The invitations are going out today and I am so excited to share what I have been working on. My daughter is turning eight and wanted a camping party. She's never been camping before but we just bought a tent with the hopes of going sometime this year. Ever since she saw the tent, and set it up in her grandparent's backyard, she's been wanting a camping party. Because we live in Switzerland, where the weather is very unpredictable at this time of year and we live in an apartment without a backyard, we decided to have an indoor camping party. We'll make s'mores, go on a scavenger hunt, and play flashlight tag. She'll even get to have a few of her friends sleep over in a tent in the living room. I've been having a lot of fun working on the decorations for this and hope the party is just as fun for the kids. Come back soon to see the results!  

Cars Party

A while back, a friend of mine asked me to help her with a birthday party for her two little boys who were turning three and four.  She decided, or rather the boys decided, on the Cars theme.  Since it was a joint party and parents were invited, the guest list was for over 60 people.  Thankfully, my friend was able to secure a great venue at a school where there would be plenty of space.

The party was downstairs at this school so we had traffic cones topped with flags directing people down the stairs from the entrance.  We were lucky that the venue had a red wall.  It fit perfectly with the theme of red, black and white! Once the partygoers came downstairs, they found the tables set up and plenty of food waiting for them.

Naturally, we had to have a sign for Flo's V8 Cafe where the food was! We also used checkered flags to label the sandwiches.

Here are the cake and cupcakes.  We placed many of the cupcakes on a racetrack the boys had and decorated it with their Cars figures.

We made a few cars from cardboard boxes that the kids loved playing in.  I got this idea from here and it just looked like so much fun. It wasn't that difficult to make them either.  Don't the birthday boys look adorable in their jumpsuits?

We tied red and black balloons to the red and black favor bags and placed them inside of tires to use as decoration.  The favor bags had a sticker with a thank you message from the boys. As the partygoers left they got to pick a balloon from the tire.  

The kids had so much fun.  The eating area was next to a gym which was set up with balance beams, swings, and basketball.  They had plenty of space to run around and when they got tired,  there was an area where they could refuel by watching Mater's Tall Tales on video.

It was a great party!  Many thanks to my friend Emma for letting me help with the decorations for her boys party.  

Movie Party Invitation

A friend of mine asked me to design the invitation for her daughter's birthday party last January.  Her daughter was turning seven and she was going to take a few of her friends to the movies.

Each friend received the popcorn envelope above with their "ticket" inside inviting them to join her for an afternoon at the cinema.  

An easy party for parents and so much fun for the girls.  After all, who doesn't like going to the movies?

Cupcake Themed First Birthday Party

Is there a theme going on around here?  Like I said yesterday, cupcakes everywhere! This party has plenty of cupcakes and they were sooo good, if I do say so myself (since I baked them) :-).  I am getting ready to work on my daughter's 8th birthday party, who I can't believe is turning eight already, and came across these pictures from her sister's 1st birthday party last September. I've always enjoyed having parties and preparing for them. I love all of the little details. But this party is the one that really started it all for me.  I was, and still am, so inspired by all of the creativity out there on the web. It gets me very excited and I want to be a part of it. I discovered party printables when I was preparing for this party and hope to open my own etsy shop soon. I want to help people make their parties and events pretty. So, if you have an event coming up, I would be more than happy to help.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed setting up the party. Come back for more parties in the next few days.

This was the invitation.  I found the paper when browsing in a paper store and knew that I wanted to have that as my baby's first birthday invitation.  The paper came blank and I printed the details on it and added some glitter to the top.  The pink and white polka dot bow came with the pack and there was a slit cut into the paper to tie it to.

The welcome sign was placed at the entranceway and next to it I placed a cardholder with pictures from our baby's first year. It's fun to see the changes throughout the year.  I can hardly believe she was ever so small.

The banner was hung at the doorway to our dining room where the food table was set up. As always when I have a party, there was plenty of food to enjoy.  I am always worried that there won't be enough to eat.

Instead of a cake, I decided to have cupcakes and made my own cupcake stand to display them. It was very easy.  I simply wrapped cardboard boxes that I had in my recycling bin in wrapping paper and decorated it with ribbon.  I found the cute signs and cupcake toppers on this etsy shop, printed them out, and voila!...a pretty display.  The large cupcake at the top was for the birthday girl to enjoy.  She carefully ripped it to shreds while tasting little bits of it. It was so fun to watch!

And speaking of the birthday girl, here she is.  She had a homemade tutu and enjoyed her party very much!

Vendor Credits:
Cupcake Invitation Paper - Stevie Streck Designs, Inc.
Party Printables - Party So Perfect

Cupcakes Everywhere

It seems that cupcakes are everywhere these days.  I was in Zurich on Saturday and ate a delicious cupcake at a bakery called A Cupcake Affair. They only have cupcakes and they all looked tasty. Sadly, I only had one.  And after that, I was walking on Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich and saw this in the window at Louis Vuitton.  I love cupcakes, so this trend makes me happy :-).

Welcome

Welcome to Paper and Party Love! I love decorating and entertaining.  There’s nothing better than getting friends and family together to celebrate events in life.  With this blog, I hope to inspire you to create your own special events.  Check back often to find things like party ideas and inspiration, craft ideas, recipes and fun things to make your next celebration extra special.  Thanks for visiting and come back soon!