A Chalet Chic Dinner Party and a Giveaway!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of going to a dinner party at a chalet up in the mountains.  Since one of my good friends was hosting the dinner party, I helped her to jazz up the dining table a bit by designing a set of dinner party printables. I created a menu, place cards, paper napkin rings, and wine glass flags. The whole house, which is a gorgeous chalet and decorated beautifully, was lit with candles. It made for a very cozy and chic evening. Read on for more pictures and to see the giveaway at the end!

Since the printables would go perfectly with a Christmas or winter theme, we made a Christmas sangria to go with our dinner that was excellent!  We used red wine, cranberry juice, grand marnier, cointreau, sprite, cinnamon sticks, star anise, fresh cranberries, apples, oranges and strawberries. It was delicious!

We had such a fun night and since it is so close to the holidays, I decided to make a printed set of these and host my first giveaway!  You will receive eight 5 x 7 inch blank menus, a set of 8 paper napkin rings, 8 wine glass flags, and 8 placecards.  All you have to do to win the set is to leave a comment below letting me know what event you would use these for if you won. If you want to, you can also like my facebook page, but that is not necessary for entry. And it doesn't matter where you live, I'll mail it to you :-).

The winner will be chosen at random (by random.org) on Saturday, December 1st.  

If you would prefer not to wait to see if you won this giveaway, these are available as printables in my Etsy shop.

Party DIY :: Cupcake Stands

Even though I have many cupcake and cake stands, sometimes none of the ones that I have fit with the table that I am decorating.  So, I've found that making my own cupcake or cake stands helps to solve the problem.  They are really easy to make and don't cost a fortune either. You'll find many tutorials out there already, but here's what I do:

First, I gather my supplies. For this, you will need a glue gun, a candle holder, and a plate.

Once the glue gun is ready, place some glue around the top rim of the candle holder as shown above.  Then, before the hot glue gets cold, center the plate on top of the candlestick.

 And that's it! Please note that this is not a permanent solution. The glue will eventually wear off the plate.  The good news about that is that you can reuse your plates and candle holders to make more stands!

You can use this method to make many different kinds of stands.  You can make multi-tiered stands, or use bowls instead of plates and use them to display chocolate or candy. You can also spray paint the candle holders to match your plate for a more seamless look. There are so many possibilities. Have fun!

Expat Expo This Weekend

On Sunday, November 11, Paper & Party Love will be exhibiting at the Expat Expo in Luzern. For those of you not familiar with the Expat Expo, it's an english-speaking exhibition that is held a few times a year around Switzerland. I'm so excited to have a table there and get to meet some of you.  It will be at the Transportation Museum, so it should be a fun day out for families.  Take the kids to the museum and then come to the second floor conference center and say hi!  I'll have some new Christmas items like gift tags, advent calendars and wine labels, as well as some party items from the shop.  Hope to see you there!

Expat Expo Information:
Sunday, November 11, 2012
11:00 am - 5:00 pm
Museum of Transport Conference Center, located on the second floor above the main entrance
Lidostrasse 5, Luzern
Admission is free to the conference center!