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!

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!

10 Things to Make with Cupcake Liners (other than cupcakes)

If you're like me, you have a lot of extra cupcake liners around. I always use them for one set of cupcakes and then have just a few leftover. Or, I will use them for one occasion and need another style for a different occasion.  Either way, I've ended up with a lot of cupcake liners.  I've had a lot of parties lately and that means even more than the usual amount of extra cupcake liners are lying around.  I searched Pinterest for what to do with them, and here are 10 good ideas I found.  Hope it helps you find something to do with all of your cupcake liner "leftovers"!

Image source: A Pretty Cool Life

1. Make party hat cupcake toppers like these from A Pretty Cool Life.

Source: Family Chic

2. Pretty up your gifts with a colorful gift topper. This idea is from Family Chic who says "10 cupcake liners, a stapler, a pair of scissors and a few minutes are all you need to make this simple gift topper." Sounds like a great way to make something look special in a short amount of time!

Photo Source: Spoonful

3. Make these fortune cookies and put them in the kids' lunch boxes for a special lunch time fortune.

Photo Source: Saved by Love Creations

4. Take an old frame and make it fresh again by adding cupcake liner rosettes. Gorgeous! Get the tutorial at Saved by Love Creations.

Photo Source: Real Simple

5. Get creative and make a lei with all of your extra cupcake liners.  This is a great idea not only for Halloween but for all of those summer parties coming up! Get the tutorial from Real Simple.

Photo Source: Muffin Tin Mom

6. Make a handmade card for Father's Day or to send to a loved one.  Such a great idea from Muffin Tin Mom!

Photo Source: The Craft Train

7. Use this cupcake liner flower garland to decorate a room.  So pretty and fresh.  Plus it will last a long time! Get the tutorial from The Craft Train.

Photo Source: Project Nursery

8. If you don't want to have a garland of flowers, make them to put in a vase like these from Project Nursery.

Image Source: Confetti Sunshine

9. I love these DIY award ribbons.  This would be perfect for a horse party or give them to the winners of your birthday party games.  I'm sure the kids would love to wear one of these and say "I won!". Get the tutorial over at Confetti Sunshine.

Image Source: Martha Stewart

10. And last but not least, use them to cover your drinks at your next BBQ or anytime you dine al fresco.  It helps to keep the bugs out of your drinks and looks cute too!


Of course, you could just save the liners for your next party. But then you can't buy new ones ;-)

5 Simple Easter Table Decorating Ideas (and a Free Printable Banner!)

Easter is almost here and as most of us are busy, you might not have had time yet to think about decorating for Easter brunch or dinner.  I am all about keeping it simple and easy, especially around the holidays. There is enough to do with cooking and getting everything ready. But if you have friends and family coming over for dinner, I am sure you would like to decorate a little to commemorate the holiday. I wanted to share some decorating ideas with you that you can do with items you can easily get at the grocery store or probably already have around your house during this time of year.

1. Use a dyed egg as a place card. I wrote a name with a gold pen on an egg and placed it in a shot glass to hold it up. You can also just place it on top of a plate to keep it simple. 

2. Decorate with flowers.  I bought some tulips at the grocery store and placed them in a large vase and put them in the center of the table. It makes a big impact and is very simple to do. You can also place two or three flowers in small vases and place them around the table or at each place setting.

3. Download a printable Easter banner and use it to decorate a side table where you can place your drinks or desserts. I made the one you see above and you can download it for free here!

4.  Use dyed eggs (either from the grocery store or ones that you decorated) and fill a vase with them to bring color to your table. I love all of these bright colors!

5. Make an easy table centerpiece/dessert using cupcakes, eggs, and chocolate bunnies. Use the chocolate bunnies as cupcake toppers and decorate around them with eggs and Easter grass.

I hope that helps and that you can find simple ways to make your Easter table a little less ordinary with these simple decorations!

Halloween Decorating Ideas

Happy October! Since it's only a month until Halloween, I thought I would share some home and/or party decorating ideas that I found.  It's not that easy to find Halloween items in Switzerland, since it's not a highly celebrated holiday here.  However, it seems to have gotten more popular in the last couple of years, with more stores offering Halloween items, but the selection is often limited.  One thing you can always find at this time of year are pumpkins.  I love going to the roadside stands or to the local farmer in my town to get them. And of course, they are in all of the grocery stores too. They make great decorations not just for Halloween but for Fall as well. And pumpkin soup is good too!

Since it's not always so easy to find things here, I found some simple DIY decorating ideas that are possible to make with supplies that are easily found.  Check out the ideas and links to tutorials below:

1. Spray paint pumpkins.  This is one that I made last year.  I took pumpkins and spray painted them black and silver and stacked them on top of each other.  I also found some plastic spiders and spray painted a few of them silver.  I then glued them onto the pumpkins. So easy!  You can view the pumpkins and the rest of the decorations from that party here.

2. I love this idea and have actually done it before.  Cut out mice silhouettes from black construction paper and tape them onto your steps.  Download the mice templates and see the full tutorial here.

3.  Make spooky pinwheels.  These would make a fun centerpiece on your dining room table. Make a few and put them in a vase and you have a fun decoration. I'm sure the kids will enjoy making these with you.  See the full tutorial here. And if you need striped straws, you can find them in our shop :-).

4. I love these ghostly dresses made out of chicken wire. I wish I had a yard so that I could try this out (I live in an apartment).  I think these are great! Follow the link to see the ghost that was also made out of chicken wire and placed in a forest setting. I know I would be very spooked if I saw that while walking in the forest!

5. Wrap your front door with streamers (or maybe even toilet paper would work) and cut out some eyes with regular paper to make a mummy.  This would be fun for the trick-or-treaters that come to your door.

6. Make pumpkin and ghost decorations out of balloons. This is an easy one for the kids to make.  It would be fun to make a few of these to hang around the house.  And as a bonus, they last a lot longer than real pumpkins. You can make these now and they will still be around for Halloween.  Here is the tutorial with downloadable printables for the face.

7. These are such cute painted jars.  I have lots of spaghetti sauce jars that I could use to make these. It's one of those decorations that are not spooky and I wouldn't mind having around the house for a month. At night, you could put candles inside them.  Check out how to make them here.

8. This rat and spider wreath is so creepy, but it's also pretty stylish.  Go here to find out how it's done.

I hope you enjoy making some of these projects.  I know I'm going to give a few of them a try!

Picture sources: 1. Paper & Party Love | 2. MarthaStewart | 3. Smart School House | 4. Be Different, Act Normal | 5. Honey & Fitz | 6. Catch My Party Blog | 7. Eighteen25 | 8. Catch My Party Blog