Posted on May 8, 2013 by Kara

BOOK GIVEAWAY! Kara’s Party Ideas! 3 copies, 3 winners!

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TODAY I AM GIVING AWAY THREE COPIES OF MY BOOK, KARA’S PARTY IDEAS!

Kara’s Party Ideas is available in many bookstores, Amazon, as well as The KPI Shop {WORLDWIDE shipping}!

Kara’s Party Ideas showcases THIRTEEN fabulous party themes from start to finish…with instructions, tips, tricks AND PRINTABLE INVITATIONS & PARTY DECOR valued at over $150 {included on a CD that comes with the book}, so you can re-create the parties, or use the ideas for different events & celebrations! The possibilities are endless! This literally is THE book for ALL things PARTY!

Keep scrolling to see how to enter…

Want some sneak peeks?! Well here is some eye candy straight out of Kara’s Party Ideas…

Beautiful photography by Valerie Hart & Lyndsey Fagerlund.

Are you dying to get your hands on the book?! If you simply can’t wait, you can find the book on AMAZON HERE, MY SHOP HERE {for worldwide shipping} or at Barnes & Noble and other book stores.

HOW TO ENTER THE KARA’S PARTY IDEAS BOOK GIVEAWAY:
{3 WINNERS WILL BE SELECTED! OPEN WORLDWIDE}
Each person can leave up to 4 separate comments {increasing your chances of winning!}. One comment per task completed. Entries will be verified.

1. MANDATORY ENTRY- Subscribe to the free KPI Newsletter using the form at the bottom of the KPI Shop HERE {green sign up button} & come back to this post and leave a comment saying you signed up.

2. BONUS ENTRY- Share the giveaway info on Facebook or Twitter and come back here & leave a comment saying you did so.

3. BONUS ENTRY- Add Kara’s Party Ideas to one of your circles on Google+ & come back here & leave a comment saying you did so.

4. BONUS ENTRY- Follow Kara’s Party Ideas on Pinterest & come back here & leave a comment saying you did so.

Good luck! Giveaway ends Tuesday, May 14th at 11:59pm. Winners will be announced within 48 hours.

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Kara

HUGE Announcement!! Kara’s Party Ideas Australian Tour + Conference!

Kara's Party Ideas Australian Tour KPI Conference - Australia 2014 Kara Allen

Yes, it’s true!! I am beyond excited to announce the 2014 Kara’s Party Ideas Australian Tour + Conference!!

I will be headed to the beautiful Australian shores in February & March of 2014. I will be part of Confetti Fair (touring all over AU) and will also be holding exclusive Kara’s Party Ideas workshops + conferences in the same cities! Brisbane, Melbourne & Sydney are already in the works….and a few surprise cities will be announced soon!

Tickets will go on sale mid- year, so be sure and check out Kara’s Party Ideas, Sugar Coated Mama & Confetti Fair on Facebook to keep up with all the Kara’s Australian tour gossip!

A HUGE thank you to Sugar Coated Mama & Confetti Fair for hosting the Kara’s Party Ideas Australian Tour!! You two are beyond fabulous…I just love you and can’t wait to be in Australia together!!

xoxo,

Kara

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Kara

DIY Cinco De Mayo Pull String Piñata’s + FREE PRINTABLES!

Do you have any fun activities planned for Cinco de Mayo?! How about a quick and easy activity that will really excite your kids?!

Make these fun and adorable DIY CINCO DE MAYO PARTY HAT PULL STRING PIÑATA’S in no time with a few simple items! Follow my easy tutorial below…

Side Note- Speaking of Cinco de Mayo, you can download FREE CINCO DE MAYO PARTY PRINTABLES in the KPI Shop HERE! Tags, Cupcake Toppers, Mustache Photo Props & more!

ON TO THE DIY PIÑATA TUTORIAL…

You will need:

Candy (cute colored candy pictured above from Kara’s Party Ideas Shop)

Party Hats (package of plain party hats on sale here)

Card Stock or Construction Paper

Tissue Paper

Bakers Twine or String (Bakers Twine on sale here)

Toothpicks

Party Fringe (available in all colors here)

Hot Glue Gun

Step by step DIY instructions:

Step One- Trace a circle shape the size of the bottom of the party hat.

Step Two- Fill hat with candy.

Step Three- Cover bottom of party hat with small piece of tissue paper. Glue with hot glue around bottom edge of hat.

Step Four- Poke hole in middle of round card stock circle and pull twine through hole.

Step Five- Tie string around toothpick and pull tight.

Step Six- Cover toothpick side of circle with hot glue.

Step Seven- Attach circle piece to tissue paper / bottom of party hat with hot glue.

Step Eight- Wrap party hat in paper fringe (available in all colors for only $3 here). You can alternate colors or leave all the same color. Whatever your heart desires!

Step Nine- Attach string or yarn to the top of the party hat with hot glue.

And VIOLA! You now have a fun pull string piñata!

BONUS- Use the piñata as a party hat once the candy is out of it!

And don’t forget, you can download FREE CINCO DE MAYO PARTY PRINTABLES in the KPI Shop HERE! Tags, Cupcake Toppers, Mustache Photo Props & more!

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Kara

Harry Potter Party for Parenting Magazine!

I was so excited for the April issue of Parenting Magazine! I had the honor of styling a Harry Potter themed birthday party for both the Early Year and School Year April issues!

Being a part of the editorial advisory board for Parenting has been fabulous! When Sabrina James (Style & Fashion Director) asked me if I would like to work on another fun project for them I just couldn’t resist! I will admit, when she asked if I would do a Harry Potter party my first thoughts weren’t all warm and fuzzy. It was a party theme outside of my comfort zone, and a theme I had never done. But now, it’s one of my most favorite parties to date!

If you haven’t yet, be sure and grab a copy of the April Parenting Magazine to see the full spread along with other fabulous parties styled by The Tomkat Studio & Oh Happy Day!

Photography by Valerie Hart.

Decor

The party was set out on Harry Potter inspired items like an old steamer trunk, some vintage suitcases, a british inspired telephone booth shelf and a book themed end table.

Candles were hung from the ceiling with fishing line to create a floating candle effect.

Old books are an easy way to stage a lot of the party food/decor. They go along perfectly with the Harry Potter theme, too.

The printable lightning banner, paper ties, argyle cupcake wrappers, invitation, Hogwarts Express sign and food labels/place cards are all part of the Harry Potter printable collection in the Kara’s Party Ideas Shop.

Invitation

This Harry Potter fill-in-the-blank invitation is a simple download from Kara’s Party Ideas shop. Roll it up and attach it to a white balloon, acting as the “delivery owl” from Harry Potter. Use a black permanent marker to draw an owl face onto the balloon. I weighed down the invitation with a vintage key.

Popcorn Bar

Since children will be watching Harry Potter at the party, provide a fun popcorn bar! This one included caramel corn, original corn & kettle corn. Parmesan seasoning and salt were set out for added flavor. Find the wooden scoops, signs & popcorn baskets in the Kara’s Party Ideas Shop- www.KarasPartyIdeas.com/shop

Butter Beer

Cream Soda acted as “Butter Beer” at the party. To create the foaming effect simply add vanilla ice cream to each drink.

Hogwarts Express Sign

Bring the feel of the Hogwarts Express Train Station into your party with this printable sign available in the KPI shop.

Butter Beer Candy Favors

Small glass salt and pepper shakers perfectly resemble mugs, so they were filled with butterscotch candies and labeled as “Butter Beer Candy Favors”. A vintage key was attached to the top of each jar with twine.

Owl Glasses

If a few simple steps, make these darling owl glasses for the kids to wear at the party.

- Pop out the center eye pieces of inexpensive glasses or sunglasses (available at the dollar store).

Attach white and brown feathers to each side of the pair of glasses with hot glue.
For the nose, cut a diamond shape piece out of orange card stock and make a crease down the middle. Glue the piece in-between the eyes of the glasses with hot glue.

Harry Potter themed birthday party idea via Kara's Party Ideas | KarasPartyIdeas.com #harry #potter #decorations #printables #invitation #party #supplies #idea #cake #cupcakes #activities (44)

Hanging Key Activity

These darling chocolate keys were made with a key candy mold from the KPI shop & melted chocolate. The keys were hung from a broom with twine. A child held up the broom as children tried to eat the keys with their hands behind their backs or at their side.

Party Activity- Magic Potion Station

Clear plastic gumball tubes from the KPI shop were filled with lemon lime soda. Three small honey jars, also from the shop, were filled with different flavored Koolaid drink mix. Koolaid is perfect because it’s a very light color, so the children can’t tell what flavor it actually is. The kids spooned the Koolaid into their tube of soda & watched in amazement as their color was revealed!

Paper Ties

These darling HP inspired printable ties are available in the KPI shop and are simple to print and cut out. Attach the ties to inexpensive elastic headbands and put the ties on guest as they arrive at the party.

Candy Stick Wands

Rock candy sticks from the KPI shop were placed in an owl vase as “Candy Wizard Wands”.

Honey Dukes Candy Shop

Small burlap bags from Kara’s Party Ideas shop were set out for the kids to fill with various types of candy from “Honey Dukes Candy Shop”, including actual Bertie Bott’s Every Falvour Beans, also available in the KPI shop here.

Owl Cake

Make this cake with fondant or gum paste pieces, cut to resemble leaves or feathers, and layer the pieces up the side of the cake. This cake was made by the talented Marcee, owner of Dippidee.

Owl Cupcakes

Easily make these cute owl cupcakes with vanilla icing, mini vanilla wafers, chocolate chips, almond slices and cashews. The argyle cupcake wrappers are from the Kara’s Party Ideas Shop here.

Golden Snitch Gumballs

Gold gumballs from the KPI shop were put in a jar and labeled as “Golden Snitch Gumballs”.

Golden Snitch Cookies

These were made with store bought banana cream cookies and yellow card stock. Simply cut the card stock into wing shaped pieces and insert the ends of the “wings” into each side of the cookies.

Chocolate Frogs

Simply make these with a frog candy mold from the KPI shop and melted chocolate. The frogs were set a top of an open book for added HP charm.

Party Favor- Truth Serum

Cute miniature glasses with cork lids from the KPI shop here were filled with water, mimicking “truth serum”. What mother wouldn’t love her child to come home from a party with this! The tags are part of the HP printable collection in the KPI shop.

Gowns

Inexpensive children’s graduation gowns look just like Hogwarts gowns! A gown was given to each child as they arrived at the party. The gowns are available in the Kara’s Party Ideas online shop here.