Posted on November 16, 2012 by Kara

Magic Elf Christmas Party

This MAGIC ELF CHRISTMAS PARTY was submitted by Maureen Anders of Anders Ruff. WHAT a cute party! I just love all the special elf touches! The little elf on the shelf is just darling, too! So many Christmas decorating ideas here…including darling ways to wrap gifts!

Items used in this party available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop:
Baker’s Twine
Cupcake Liners
Chevron Paper Bags Striped Paper Straws
Clear Favor Boxes
Gumballs
Whirly Pops
Clear Cellophane Bags
Decorative Paper Shred
Candy Sticks
Polka Dot Nut / Candy Cups
Ribbon

Here is what Maureen had to say about planning the party- ”The magic of the “magical” Christmas Elf is a tradition that my family has enjoyed for years. After all, how can Santa possibly watch over all little boys and girls? Our sweet little Japanese knee hugger elves are so precious and this year our holiday party was themed around their magic.

Adria and I always listen to Christmas music when we are designing – no matter what time of year. Can you tell that Christmas is our favorite holiday to design and style for? Our fabulous friend and client, Audrey, of Sweet Cheeks Tasty Treats brought us the i dea of focusing on the Magical Elf tradition and we loved it. This year we wanted to design and style a Magic Elf Christmas Party and incorporate lots of printables that people can enjoy and add to their traditions with their own Magic elves every year.

STYLING & DECOR
The party boasts the traditional red and green colors with added pops of aqua and light blue. The printables include classic patterns such as candy cane stripe with mixes of trendy chevron, ditzy dot and snow flake patterns.

We setup the party at the corner base of Adria’s stairwell which gave us a lot of flexibility with hanging decorations as well as the wall space. Also, stairwells always remind me of Christmas morning as we waited to be called down to see what Santa had brought us! Especially once we hung the garland and custom elf feet shaped stockings (from Aimee Broussard) to the railing.

When thinking of what elements and textures to tie into the styling, we immediately knew we had to use yarn to keep with the “feel” of those cute little elves and keep the decor playful and whimsical. We utilized the yarn thoughout the decor on the tree (yarn pom ornaments) as well as the Christmas gift packaging and Sugarbelle cookie displays (using the popular and so functional Blumeboxes!).

We thought of a craft that would help make our printable Christmas Posters (the set of 3 printable posters are available in the shop) really pop off the walls. We cut custom frames out of foam core board and wrapped them with yarn. This was a super simple (just a little time consuming) craft and one that was economical and made a big impact. We cut felt holly leaves and placed those as an embellishment on one of the frames with yarn pom “berries.”

Because elves are sometimes mischievous, we got a little crazy with the fun yarn pom string and dangled it around the tree and hung from the frames and doors. Little knee hugger elves were found all over the party to tie the theme back into the decor. They can be seen stuck in the gorgeous custom stockings (from Aimee Broussard Events), in the tree, on the frames, hanging from the yarn garland and tucked in the drawers.

When thinking of little elf treats, we decided to reuse an old pop bottle crate as a display for little treats. We spray painted it a bright blue to add a pop of color on the display. We filled it with green rock candy, red licorice, little containers of naughty and nice treats, lollipops, meringue elf hats (which we made!) and little printable notes to Santa. We placed some plastic (kid-friendly!) drink bottles from Smash Cake Studio filled with milk on top of the display with a printable wrapper and straw.

Keeping with the elf tradition, we wanted to show “naughty” and “nice” treats. We packaged red and white Sixlets in clear containers (from Nashville Wraps) and put our printable “Nice” label. We packaged black gumballs in the other clear containers and added the printable “Naughty” labels on those. These were placed around the table and on the cola bottle crate.

We also reused old card catalog drawers as displays for “naughty” and “nice” treats and labeled them with the appropriate printable party logos. The “naughty” treats included black rock candy, black licorice wheels, black gumballs and homemade “coal” (flatted marshmallows dipped in black chocolate and sprinkles). The “nice” treats included red and green ribbon candy, lollipops, gumballs and candy canes.

On top of those drawers, we put a drawer on its side and lined it with patterned paper. We then made green Meringue Christmas Tree treats and placed them on baking cups (from Smash Cake Studio) that we trimmed and put upside down to add height. We also wrapped an old $1 store mailbox with red yarn and used it as “Santa’s Magic Mailbox” display where the kids could put notes to Santa which were printables from the collection.

The Christmas tree was decorated with various sized yarn pom ornaments. We had the kids help us make these in the colors from the printables. We also strung the white yarn pom string around the tree as garland.

Last year we featured our printable North Pole mitten advent calendar idea and this year we introduced a new idea for an Advent Calendar – printable Advent Calendar Hangtags that fold closed and can be used for ornaments (write activities for your family to do each day of advent! Arden enjoyed opening the one that said “eat pancakes for dinner”!) Get creative and come up with 25 fun activites to do with family. Another use for the Advent Calendar Hangtags could be to wrap small gifts and place them hidden around the house or tree – each day of advent they can open the appropriate gift. This year I am doing 25 new books to help add to our library!

We also wrap ped several gifts for under the tree with yarn. We added our printable tags from the magical elf collection. The collection includes “insepcted by elf #” tags as well as cute santa tags and elf tags. We think the elf tags would be so much fun to use every year.

Another craft was the yarn and patterned paper Christmas Trees. Those were so fun to make and we layered yarn and scraps of our patterned paper to make adorable tree decorations.

Cookies for Santa were left on a plate and a diy cake stand (wood plaque + candle stick base) with a little printable note. How amazing are the Elf cookies by Sugarbelle!?

Adria’s holiday card was hung on the tree, too. We designed our signature holiday photo hangtag Christmas card to match the elf theme. We trimmed and punched a hole and added The Twinery twine to the tag and hung as part of the decor on the tree.

FASHION
The kids came to the party wearing a dress and a tie from B. Bell e Couture. Arden was wearing a precious snowflake hair accessory from Drop of Honey Bowtique. Later, the kids got cozy in custom pajamas by Great Stitch that featured embroidery based on designs from our Magical Elf printables. They loved them! I especially love finding unique and special pajamas for my kids to wear on Christmas eve and these were perfect!

THE DESSERTS
We enlisted help from a few fabulous bakers. Got What It Cakes made festive snow cone mini cupcakes (that we displayed in printable party cones out of the dresser drawer). Sweet Cheeks Tasty Treats made whimsical cake pops that were stuck on paper straws, which were perfectly displayed next to a magical elf in the other dresser drawer.

The amazingly talented Sugarbellemade gorgeous elf and christmas gift sugar cookies. We displayed those gift sugar cookie pops out of fun Blumeboxes that we wrapped with pom yarn garland. We also displayed reindeer chocolate pops from Nicoles Treats o ut of the Blumeboxes. They looked so precious and festive and were an unexpected way to show the treats.

Favor boxes were shown with green candies and a white chocolate reindeer pop from Nicoles Treats and tagged up with a cute printable.

The desserts we made included the Elf Hat Meringues and the Christmas Tree Meringues. Those were so simple to make and the kids loved them! They added to the fun decor as well.

THE PRINTABLES
The printable Magic Elf Christmas party invitation, banner, posters, tags and Coordinating Printable Collection are available in the shop here. We also offer our signature Hangtag Style Christmas Photo Card to match!”

Recreate this party:
Production and Styling: Anders Ruff
Magic Elf Printables: Anders Ruff
Professional Photography: Becca Bond Photography
Snow Cone Cupcakes: Got What It Cakes
Cake Pops: Sweet Cheeks Tasty Treats
Custom Elf & Gift Sugar Cookies: Sugarbelle’s
Chocolate Reindeer Pops & Santas: Nicole’s Treats
Custom Embroidered Christmas Pajamas & Bottoms: Great Stitch
Custom Dress & Tie: B. Belle Couture
Custom Stockings: Aimee Broussard Events
Snowflake Headband: Drop of Honey Bowtique
Floral Boxes to display Gift Shaped Cookies: Blumebox
Label Material: Online Labels

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Kara

Camp Christmas Holiday Party

This adorable CAMP CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY PARTY was submitted by Lauren Haddox of Lauren Haddox Design! Such a darling Christmas party theme, don’t you think?! I just love all of Lauren’s ideas!

Vendors and Credits:
Printables- Lauren Haddox Design
Photography- Katy Marshall Photography
Cookies- Silly Gilly of Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Items used in this party available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop:
Polka Dot Nut / Candy Cups
Clear Cellophane Bags
Baker’s Twine
Striped Paper Favor Bags
Scalloped Edge Cupcake Wrappers
Striped Paper Straws
Milk Bottles
Take Out Boxes

Lauren said this about planning the party- “I had WAY too much fun designing and styling everything for Camp Christmas! It seems like camping parties are so popular right now so I thought what better way to celebrate my absolute favorite time of the year than with a camping Christmas Party??!!

The party started with everyone gathered around the “tissue paper” camp fire. This was a play date with lots of little ones so a real fire was out of the question. And we live in south Louisiana where it can be hot Christmas day! The kids sat on hay bales and roasted their s’more pops as we sang Christmas carols. The s’more pops were a big hit for the kids!

We sat outside for a picnic lunch of PB&J’s, fresh fruit, veggies and trail mix. I found woodland animal ornaments at Tuesday Morning which added a special touch to each place setting. The mommas enjoyed hot chocolate from the hot chocolate bar with lots of fun fixings and blueberry scones while the kids played in the back yard.

I designed a Nature Scavenger Hunt as an activity for the party. I placed snowflakes and beetles around the yard and there were plenty of leaves and gumballs for the kids to fill their baskets. I purchased the wood baskets at Hobby Lobby and added yarn balls and a name tag for each guest. After the scavenger hunt, everyone got to take a picture in the Camp Christmas tent.

We finished the party by decorating ice cream cone “Christmas Trees.” Icing… candy… the kids LOVED it!!!

The ENTIRE printable collection is available in my ETSY shop for $15. Collection includes, cupcake toppers & wrappers, water bottle labels, blank place cards, favor tags, napkin rings, hot chocolate bar sign, 3, 5 & 8 inch party circles, straw flags, mini candy bar wrapper, Hershey bar wrapper, Nature Scavenger Hunt card, 20×20 Camp Christmas sign and a Merry Christmas banner! (Collection can be personalized for $30).”

Vendors and Credits:
Printables- Lauren Haddox Design
Photography- Katy Marshall Photography
Cookies- Silly Gilly of Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Kara

Santa’s Kitchen, Christmas Baking Party

Curling up by the fire in an cozy rustic cabin sounds divine right now. I fell in love with this SANTA’S KITCHEN- CHRISTMAS BAKING PARTY submitted by Karen Ayars. I wish I had a cabin to host a fun Christmas party in! Karen did a fabulous job. I love how she used cupcake tins & pans as party trays & stands. From Karen- “I hosted this party in our family cabin, something very rustic, simple and small. I used things we had in our own kitchen to decorate the table. The main focus was the kids making some Christmas goodies for Santa.” Vendors: Party Styling: Karen Ayars Photography: Jeff Tureaud Printables: 9 to 5 Mom Gingerbread and Stocking Cookies: Baked Perfection Coal Cake Pops: Cera’s Sweet Shop Santa Claus Hat Cupcake Toppers: Krazy Kool Cake Designs

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Kara

Gingerbread House Decorating Party

Have you decorated some Gingerbread Houses this Holiday season? How cute is this GINGERBREAD HOUSE DECORATING PARTY submitted by Nicole Wills of Tradewind Tiaras, Inc. A Christmas party doesn’t get much better than this. Who doesn’t love getting together with family & friends to decorate gingerbread houses? So fun, and YUMMY.

My favorite part of the party- The clever “MIXIE STICKS” {like pixie sticks- paper straws filled with flavor add-ins for your cocoa}!

Here is what Nicole said about the party- “My family has made thousands of gingerbread houses over the past 36 years. Yes, thousands. We have this thing down to a science, and it just wouldn’t feel like Christmas without the amazing scent of gingerbread filling the house and a city of sweet little houses covering every available surface. This past weekend we hosted the first of four gingerbread house decorating parties we’ll be throwing this year.

Now, at these parties, we have a truly obscene amount of candy. And as much of the icing gets squirted directly into little mouths as makes it on the houses. No real need for a dessert table, and we mostly focus on serving savory foods as an antidote to the sugar overload. But I came up with a really fun idea this year–no dessert table, true, but the backdrops to the food and beverage tables WERE a dessert display! I’ve always had a soft spot for folk art paintings, and decided that I wanted my table backdrops to be reminiscent of a winter country scene in that style of art. I created layered, somewhat 3-dimensional hills out of Styrofoam sheets, and created all of my buildings and trees out of sugar cookies on sticks. All the buildings, trees, sleighs, snowmen, and Santas you see are cookies pops! I hung red curtains (from our living room–I love recycling elements in new ways) on either side of the backdrop both to cover raw edges and make it look like we were gazing on a wintery country scene outside a window (much more festive and seasonal than the view of our 70 degree Phoenix backyard). The beverage station was a ton of fun. I made homemade hot cocoa and mulled cider, and had Styrofoam hot beverage cups (with lids! Lots of kids!) with custom homemade cup cozies that matched the party decor (a take-home favor). The beverage table also held my favorite part of the party. I came up with the idea of what I call “Mixie Sticks.” They look like that old candy favorite, Pixie Stix, but they’re actually flavor add-ins to mix in your cocoa. I made cinnamon, mint, and espresso mix-ins for the cocoa. Kids and adults alike had so much fun customizing their cocoa flavors, and one little girl reported that the cinnamon was excellent in the mulled cider, too!

As each family left the party, they made a stop at the photo booth near the door. Nobody could leave without me getting a photo of the magnificent gingerbread creations and their artists!”

Vendors:

Party Styling- Tradewind Tiaras

Snowflake Shirt- Modern Frills

Paper Printables- Frog Prince Paperie

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Kara

Cocoa & S’mores Penguin Holiday Party

And up next, an adorable COCOA & S’MORES PENGUIN HOLIDAY PARTY submitted by Jennifer Rogers of Cio Prints. Oh, I just want to squeal at the look of this. So, so, so cute. How fun is a S’mores & Hot Cocoa Bar?! LOVE the dipped spoons. Here is what Jennifer said about the party- “This party was a perfect fit for a little girl with a love of all things penguin. It was a small get together for a few friends before the winter break. We did something small that would entertain and include some traditional holiday fun with a twist. The choice was obvious, a hot cocoa bar and s’mores yum. A few of the activities included letters to Santa, pin the nose of rudolph, face painting, and penguin bowling. We ended the day by making a visit to the hot cocoa bar where kids got the chance to choose from a number of wonderful topping: whipped cream, caramel, chocolate syrup, marshmallows, sprinkles, peppermint crumble, and chocolate chips. Instead of cookies or cake we chose to do s’mores. With a parents help everyone toasted their marshmallows and chose from chocolate, cinnamon, or honey graham crackers. To top things off they got to choose from cookies and cream or milk chocolate candy bars. Other items on the tables were peppermint pretzel sticks, s’more marshmallows, chocolate dipped spoons. For favors there were take home s’mores kits, cocoa kits with mini marshmallows, chocolate Santa mustache pops, letters to Santa, personalized crayons with childs name on them, penguin cups and cuddly stuffed penguins. Since it was a Christmas party we thought it would be fun for all the kids to be Secret Santa’s for each other. We took photos of everyone saying shhh then printed them on tags that said, “Ho Ho Ho I’m your secret Santa. This party was inspired by the new “Happy Feet” movie and a little girls love of penguins. The kitchen and den were decked out in red, white and black with cuddly penguins everywhere. We wanted to give everything a winter wonderland look, kind of like the arctic environment where penguins live. We chose things that were holiday classics or simply nostalgic in the idea of what childhood is. That is why we chose a cocoa and s’mores.” Penguin mugs, trays, and sleigh: Target Penguin shaped cups: Walmart Reindeer antlers: Michael’s Printables: http://www.cioprints.etsy.com

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Tag Archives: Children Christmas Party

Magic Elf Christmas Party

Camp Christmas Holiday Party

Santa’s Kitchen, Christmas Baking Party

Gingerbread House Decorating Party

Cocoa & S’mores Penguin Holiday Party