5 Ways To Decorate With Balloons - No Helium Needed!

Picture Sources: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |

We just added balloons to our shop and I am so excited! I love balloons and think they are a great way to decorate for a party. They are instantly festive. However, sometimes it is difficult to find helium or you don't have time to run to the balloon shop to fill them up. Here are some easy ways you can use balloons to decorate without helium!

1. Blow up balloons and stick them to the wall to create a festive backdrop.
2. Use small balloons, or even bigger ones, along with lollipop sticks or wooden stakes, to decorate a cake. 
3. Hang balloons with some tissue paper poms for a beautiful backdrop.
4. Hang balloons from the ceiling for a magical soiree.
5. Use stakes and string balloons to set the tone for a cheerful celebration.

To view the balloons we now have available, visit our shop!

Attending Amber Housley's Inspired

Deliveries have been received, custom invitations have been delivered and plans for a very special birthday party are all set.  My schedule is cleared for the next few days and I'm ready to go! I'm heading to Nashville to attend Amber Housley's Inspired. For those of you that don't know what this is, it's "a one of a kind workshop experience for creative business women to grow, connect, and be inspired." I can't wait! 

It will be a bit quiet here on the blog next week while I'm focusing on the event. I'll tell you all about it when I am back!

Mermaid Party Invitations

My daughter is turning 4 this month and we are celebrating this year with a mermaid party! She loves Ariel from The Little Mermaid and chose the theme herself. It was fun creating the invitation, and it's even more fun planning the party! I'll be sure to post the pictures after we have the party.  In the meantime, if you are thinking of having a mermaid party yourself, you can purchase this invitation in our shop or check out some of our ideas on our Pinterest board.

Sweet Mondays:Sprüngli Luxembergerli

Happy Monday everyone! Today for your sweet inspiration, we have Luxemburgerlis, which are Switzerland's version of the macaron. They look a little bit like mini colorful hamburgers and come in all kinds of flavors. They usually have a flavor of the month based on what's in season (last month it was mango), some special ones like champagne, as well as classics like chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. It doesn't matter what flavor you choose, they are all yummy. They are smaller and fluffier than a traditional macaron. They are bite size and once they hit your tongue the flavors erupt and it melts in your mouth. Can you tell I love these?

The Luxemburgerli is made by Confiserie Sprüngli, which is one of the oldest chocolate factories in Switzerland. The Luxemburgerli was first made in the late 1950s and gets its name because the person who first produced them came from Luxemburg. The Swiss often add -li to the end of words to mean something small and cute (i.e. Schatzeli, from the german word Schatze meaning treasure). Today they are very popular and to enjoy it the best you have to eat them when they are fresh. There is a note attached to each box that says "Please Enjoy Immediately". If they stay out too long, they may lose their airy consistency. There is never a problem of them staying out too long at our house! 

These are pretty unique to Switzerland and I recommend trying them if you are here for a visit.  If you live here, you already know how good they are.  They are great for parties or get-togethers, and you can choose a mix of them or just the ones that match your party colors. They are sure to be a hit!

Camping Party Inspiration Board

Invitation | Trail Mix Printable | DIY Tents | Entrance Sign | Favor Boxes | Decorations

This time of year, when the kids go back to school, always makes me think of fall. How much fun would it be to have a camping party when the leaves are changing and the weather is cool enough for sweaters and roasting marshmallows over a crackling fire? And if it's too cold to sleep outside, then bring the party indoors and have a camp-in party instead!  Here's some inspiration if you would like to have camping party yourself.  Enjoy!

Birthday Cake Alternatives

I hope everyone had a great summer! I took a little time off from the blog to enjoy some time with family over the summer and it was great! From now on, I am planning on posting to this blog 2-3 times per week. Get notified via email of new posts by subscribing to this blog in the box labeled "Subscribe via email" that is in the right side column of this page. Then you won't miss a thing! And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming:

Sometimes the birthday boy or girl doesn't want a cake, or you would like something different, so you have to think of an alternative.  Here are a few ideas for you:

Clockwise starting from the top left:

1. Create a "cake" using a cupcake stand and cupcakes.  Here we made a sandcastle cupcake stand and filled it with beach-themed cupcakes.

2. Stack donuts and insert a festive cake topper to celebrate a fun birthday or a special day.

3. We showed you this back in July, but you can create an ice cream scoop "cake" just by stacking scoops of different flavored ice cream on top of each other to make a tower.  Add a candle and celebrate (but make sure you work fast or your cake will melt!)

Here are more great ideas that I found while searching around:

Make a cotton candy cake for something a little different

Make a watermelon cake for a refreshing alternative to cake

Make a cake by stacking Oreo cookies

Ice Cream Party

And finally, the big reveal! You saw the cake and the balloons, now here are the pictures of the small ice cream party we had at home to celebrate the end of the school year.  

Naturally we had to have an ice cream stand.  This is a cardboard market stand that we bought at IKEA a while ago.  We covered up the red and green stripes that are on the bottom and the top of the stand with paper and added some cut out ice cream cones to decorate our stand. My younger daughter loved this and enjoyed giving out the ice cream from her "store".

This ice cream van is available in our real store and it is so cute! I used it along with some baking/treat cups to hold the toppings and the ice cream cones.

And that's the end of our ice cream week.  Have a good weekend everyone!

DIY Ice Cream Balloons

As I said on Monday, it's ice cream week here on the blog. Here is a fun DIY that you can use to decorate for any themed party.

For our ice cream party, we decorated balloons with ice cream stickers to match the theme. I made these stickers by drawing the cones in Illustrator and then printing them on adhesive paper. Then I used my Silhouette to cut them out. I made a couple of them bigger and also used them to decorate our ice cream stand (more pictures of that on Friday!). 

I love how these turned out! You can do this for all of your themed parties. Find (or make) some stickers in your theme and simply stick them on plain balloons. It's fun for the kids to do too and they can feel like they helped to set up for the party. Plain balloons are still great, but decorated ones are so much more fun!

Sweet Mondays: Ice Cream Scoop Cake

This week is going to be all about ice cream.  School is finally out for summer and my daughters and I decided to have an ice cream party.  They helped to decorate and got out all of the toppings for the ice cream. It was a fun way to celebrate the end of the school year. More pictures from the party will come this week.

In the meantime, here is the "cake" we made for our little party.  All we did was scoop ice cream into a tower and put some toothpick flags on them to make it more festive.  And if you wanted to use that idea for a birthday, you can just put a candle on top. But make sure you work quickly...it melts fast!

To serve this, you can just pass out spoons and share the ice cream.  You can also take the scoops off the "cake" and serve it in bowls or cute ice cream cups. Don't forget the toppings!

Make A Store Bought Cake Pretty

Sometimes, there isn't time to bake a cake for a party or a get-together. And although some store-bought cakes can be pretty tasty, they don't always have the look that you are going for. Here I bought a cake from my local grocery store (the Migros, for those of you in Switzerland) and dressed it up using some items from my shop. Sometimes all it takes is something small to turn an ordinary cake into something special. Hope you enjoy the examples and it brings you some inspiration for dressing up your cakes!

Here's a great option for a birthday cake.  Just use these birthday bash toppers for an instantly fun birthday cake!

Add pinwheels to a cake to add instant fun to an afternoon tea or get-together. 

These cute drink umbrellas don't have to just be for your cocktails. Why not add them your cake too? Use them for a surf or pool-themed party, or have a cake-and-cocktail party so that the cake matches the drinks!

Wrap this pretty greaseproof paper around your cake and add some twine and you've got a pretty cake in two minutes flat! Just remember to take off the paper before you cut it.

Get creative and combine a couple of the options to make a cake perfect for any of your summer celebrations.  What's great is that you don't have to be in a hot kitchen baking all day and your guests will think you worked hard to make such a beautiful cake.  Whether you tell them your secret or not is up to you!

DIY Rainy Day Party Games

I was going to save this post for the fall when there are more rainy days, but here we are in July in Switzerland and it's cold and rainy! So I thought I would publish it now in case anybody is having a party soon and needs some ideas of what to do with the kids inside. For those of you in the warm sunshine (so jealous) you can pin this for later!

I've put together a few of my favorite games that we've played at family parties. You can quickly put these together using items that you probably already have around the house.  They are "minute-to-win-it" games that are fun for kids and adults alike.  Each person only has one minute to complete the challenge, so it ensures that no one gets bored watching the others play!

PS: Please excuse the picture quality. They were taken at last year's New Years Eve party at night!

Game #1 - Make it stick

Items needed:

• Peanut butter
• Slice of bread
• Ping pong balls (as many as you can find)
• Plate (optional)

The object of the game is to throw a ping pong ball and make it stick to the bread. To set it up, spread peanut butter on a piece of bread and put it on a paper plate.  It doesn't have to be on a plate, but it makes for easier clean up afterward.  Place the plate on one edge of a table. Have the player stand on the opposite edge to begin playing. Have one player at a time throw ping pong balls at the piece of bread. Each time a ball sticks to the bread, the player gets a point. Only one ball should be thrown at a time but they can throw as many balls as time allows (within a minute). The player that gets the most balls to stick to the bread wins. Tip: Have a rag close by to clean the ping pong palls…it will get messy.

Game #2 - Stack it up

Item needed: 

• Plastic or paper cups (as many as possible, but I recommend at least 25)

This is a fun game you can play alone or in teams. Everyone gets the same amount of cups. The team that is able to stack their cups the highest (and have it stay up until it is measured) in one minute wins. When we played this game, the kids wanted to play it over and over. They tried many different ways of stacking to see how they could make the highest stack. Of course, the parents wanted in too! Definitely lots of fun. If you only have one set of cups, have the players take turns. It's best to use a lot of cups so that you can get it really high. Tip: A good way to see who has the highest stack is to having a measuring tape handy.

Game #3 - Drop, Sink, Clink

Items needed:

• Some coins
• 2 - 3 Vases
• 2 - 3 Shot glasses (or small bowls)

This was super easy for the kids and most were able to get many coins in! Find a few vases and fill them about halfway with water. Drop in a shot glass until it is fully submerged. Add more water if needed. Give the kids some coins and have them try to drop them into the shot glasses. The smaller the opening of the shot glass, the harder it will be to get the coin in. The one who gets the most coins in the shot glasses within a minute wins. Tip: I recommend placing the vases on the floor and not on the table as a longer drop for the coins is more challenging.

Game #4 - Sock Grab

Items needed:

• Socks (as many as you can find).  If you're like me, you have a whole drawer full of socks that are missing their pair…these are the perfect socks to use.

I don't have a picture for this one, but it's very easy to set up. Place a pile of socks in the middle of the room. The object of the game is to see who can put the most socks on one foot.  The game ends after one minute or when there are no more socks to put on, whichever comes first. Tip: Try to provide socks in different sizes…we laughed every time someone tried to put a baby sock over an adult sock.

You can have a winner for each game or, if you play the games at different times throughout the party, you can keep score for each child and the one who has the most points at the end wins a prize. Either way, I'm sure they will have a blast playing these games! 

The ideas from most of these games came from Pinterest and Google searches. You can even find some videos of these types of games on YouTube. Enjoy!

Strawberry, Lemon & Mint Infused Water

In keeping with our strawberry theme this week, I thought I would share with you a yummy alternative to soda for your summer parties.  It's very easy to make and looks pretty too!  It's great to serve at a get-together with your friends or to keep in the fridge to sip on throughout the day.

Ingredients:

The following worked well for me.  Feel free to adjust amounts depending on your pitcher size and personal preferences.

• 6 Medium Sized Strawberries, Sliced
• 1/2 of a Lemon, Sliced
• 4 Mint Leaves, Torn
• Water (you can also use sparkling water if you prefer)
• Ice (optional)

Instructions:

1. Place strawberries, lemon and mint in a pitcher.

2. Add water (and ice if you are using it) to fill up your pitcher.

3. Serve and enjoy!

That's the end of our strawberry-themed week. I hope you enjoyed it! In case you missed them, take a look at our Hello Summer Strawberry Cake and our refreshing Strawberry Popsicle and Prosecco Drink. Enjoy the weekend!

Strawberry Popsicles + Prosecco = A Refreshing Summer Drink!

Next up in my week of strawberry themed posts is a refreshing adult drink perfect for your summer parties (change the straw color to blue, and you've got a great drink for a Fourth of July celebration). It's a bit unexpected as you don't normally put popsicles in your prosecco, but it is really refreshing and gives your prosecco a yummy strawberry flavor. It also has the added benefit of keeping your drink cool longer.

There are a couple of ways to enjoy this drink. You can wait to drink this until the popsicle has melted all the way. Or, like I did it, drink some, then eat some of the popsicle, then drink some more, and so on. The bubbles mixed with the fresh strawberry taste makes a great combination. This works well with any sparkling wine or even sparkling water (for those who don't want to drink alcohol or for the kids).

The best thing is they are so easy to make:

1. Puree strawberries and freeze them in a popsicle mold for a minimum of 6 hours. I replaced the popsicle sticks with straws before freezing. 

2. Place the frozen popsicles in a glass and pour prosecco over them.

3. Serve immediately and enjoy! 

I promise your guests will enjoy this, especially on a hot summer day. Or just make it as a treat for yourself!

Sweet Mondays: A Hello Summer Strawberry Cake

Summer is officially here! My family and I picked our own strawberries at a farm this weekend. We enjoyed talking to the other pickers and sharing recipes. We had so much fun that by the time we knew it, we had a big boxful!

Since we had so many strawberries, I made a few things with them that I'll be sharing with you this week. First up is this cake that I made to bring to a summer BBQ. It is a strawberry cake, from scratch, that uses strawberry puree in the batter.  The frosting is a strawberry buttercream, also made with fresh strawberry puree, and as my friend said, it tasted "amazing".

I wish I could take credit for the recipe, but I can't.  I used this recipe and followed it pretty closely. The only changes I made were to add a layer of strawberries in between the cake layers, and to add a strawberry "flower" on top of the cake. I also made a "Hello Summer" cake topper to tie it to the summer theme and to make my cake a little less ordinary.

I highly recommend trying the recipe. It really does taste as good as it looks. 

Coming soon: Strawberry Popsicles with Prosecco!

Circus Party Pictures

I love it when my customers send me pictures of their parties. This one is from a lovely customer here in Switzerland who had a circus themed party for her daughter's 8th birthday.

Above, she made a photo booth using red and white polka dot fabric as a backdrop and used party hats from our store as part of the props.  She even personalized them. So cute!

The thank you cards matched the invitation and they looked great on the giveaway bags.

I love how she set up the table with the hats and the popcorn boxes. It looks so festive and ready for the kids to get their food and eat! 

Thanks to Julie for sending her pictures and letting me share! It looks like it was a fun party.

Mini Ice Cream Party-In-A-Box

I have some friends who are having birthdays this week and, since they are far away and I can't be there to celebrate with them, I thought it would be fun to send them a mini ice cream party-in-a-box. I included everything they would need for a mini ice cream party at home -- cute ice cream cups, colorful spoons, candles to blow out and balloons to decorate. I even included some paper ice cream toppers to decorate the ice cream.  On the inside of the box cover there is a mini ice cream banner so that when the recipient opens it, it's immediately a party!

How fun would it be to receive this? To make it easy for you to send one of these boxes, we are making them available in our shop.  We can ship it directly to the person of your choice and we'll include a hand-written note with a message from you.

If you don't have any birthdays coming up, this is also a great item to take to a summer play date or to a girlfriend's house for a night of ice cream!

View it in our shop!

Party Hat Ice Cream Topper

It's getting hot outside and that usually means that we'll be having lots of ice cream.  Instead of having your ice cream plain, why not make a party out of it? Top your scoops off with these fun party hats made out of ice cream cones, sprinkles and gumballs! 

Ingredients needed:

Ice cream cones

Sprinkles

Chocolate

Mini gumballs

Instructions:

1. Cut off the tops of your cones to create mini cones.  Then cut off the pointy end of the cone to make it flat so that the gumball can sit on top of it.

2. Pour your sprinkles into a bowl.

3. Melt the chocolate either in the microwave or using a double boiler. I used white chocolate in the picture above, but you can use whatever chocolate you prefer. Once it is melted, scoop it into a small bowl.

3.  Take one of the cones and dip the wider end first in the chocolate and then into your bowl of sprinkles.

4. Dip the other side of the cone into the chocolate and then into the sprinkles.  Place your gumball on top and you are finished!

5.Scoop your ice cream into a cup or a cone. Top with your party hats and enjoy!

These are so much fun for an ice cream party, on top of cupcakes for a circus-themed party, or just for a special treat with ice cream at home.

Sweet Mondays: Flamingo Cupcake Toppers

There's not really too much to say about these except, aren't they cute?  I am participating in a summer market this Friday and was thinking about selling these toppers as a set with the cupcake liners. Naturally I had to try them out and see how they look. Hope you enjoyed seeing this sweet inspiration for your Monday.  Have a great week everyone!

Summer Party Themes

Summer is almost here and for some of you lucky ones, you have already started your summer break. We only have 5 weeks of summer vacation here in Switzerland and it doesn't start until mid-July!  I'm already dreaming of sunny skies and warm nights and thinking about what summer parties we can have.  In doing that, I took a look at some of the themes I've designed and thought I would share with you some ideas for your summer parties.

1. Pool Party

If you have access to a pool, a pool party is a great idea for summer.  It's a fun theme for both kids and adults, and it's really simple to set up.  All you need is a pool, and the kids are kept busy and are happy swimming.  Always make sure someone is watching the kids in the pool to be safe.  The food is easy as well.  You can BBQ or have easy finger foods like mini hot dogs and chips. It's definitely an easy-going party and is perfect for summer! See how we styled our pool party for more ideas.

2. Nautical Party

Summer is the time to be by the sea, so why not have a seaside nautical inspired party? We used our red, white and blue printable collection to have a party by the sea. If you can't be by the sea this summer, bring it to you by decorating with lots of red, white and blue, and adding some anchor or nautical decorations to your dessert tables.

3. Camping Party

This is a fun one for the kids! I know I always wanted to sleep under the stars in the backyard, and how much more fun would that have been if my friends would be there too! Set up some tents in the backyard, roast s'mores, tell ghost stories and you have a recipe for a great party. And if the weather doesn't cooperate, you can always have it indoors.  We had our camping party indoors.  You can take our ideas and bring them outside for more fun!

4. Ice Cream Party

What is summer without ice cream? Have an impromptu ice cream party for friends and enjoy chatting and catching up. Isn't that what summer is for anyway?