That's what I have named my sweet friend and sorority sister from the Univeristy of Florida, Ashley Glover's party planning company. From the moment I meet Ashley, she was the Southern Belle "life of the party." She was always planning our "social" events at Alpha Delta Pi or our nights out. If she wasn't designing our new tee shirt for an event, she was organizing all of
The LaLa's for the perfect photo op for Flash. Her mission was for everyone to have fun and she NEVER wanted anyone ever to be excluded.
When she sent me these photos of some parties she had thrown recently, I knew I just had to post them. In true Ashley form all of her parties are dripping in Southern Charm.
Here's Ashley description of each party....
Finn's 1st Birthday Party:
My sweet nephew was turning 1 and his sweet mom let me plan the decor for his party! We had a crawfish boil for the adults, so we went with a nautical theme for the decorations. I started with the cute crab fabric and built my vision off of that...
I accented with blue & white seersucker, burlap and and then used the rope nets as the finishing touch (nets were from the Dollar Store). I handmade the pendant banner, party hat, cake pedestal (just covered an old hat box with seersucker fabric), decoupaged the FINN stand up letters, and printed out the "Finn is 1" stickers for the cupcake toothpicks and mason jars.
A friend made the cake with the precious fondant crab topper. All super easy and inexpensive if you have the time and patience.
I can't claim the "Bloody Mary Bar" idea, my sister-in-law came up with it and it was a sure hit for the grown ups!
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| Look at that DARLING FACE! |
60th Sock Hop:
My mother turned 60 this year so her kids threw her a 50's Sock Hop to remember. The guests were instructed to wear 50's attire and the outfits ranged from poodle skirts to Pink Ladies, Greaser guys, Marilyn Monroe, etc. We even had a prom king and queen!
There was a DJ with 50's music (karaoke included) and some guests even came prepared with choreographed group performances! We served diner-style food, such as mini burgers/sliders, hot dogs, popcorn, nachos and for dessert rum and coke floats!
Lilly Pulitzer Shower:
I chose this theme because my girlfriend is a serious LILLY PULITZER LOVER and we just knew she would appreciate all of the details! I bought some Lilly Pulitzer wrapping paper in different patterns and used it to hand make the cupcake wrappers, pendant banner (not shown) and the decoupaged monogram door hanger.
We used Lilly Pulitzer stickers and gift labels for the cupcake toothpicks and food labels (labels were inserted into real lemons). I made the diaper cake myself...accented it with Lilly fabric and pom pom ribbon, and then ordered the wooden monogram cake topper from
www.southernpropermonograms.com for only $10.
We purchased a lot of the Lilly Pulitzer party favors from TJMaxx and Marshalls, such as the tumbler glasses, drink umbrellas, garland, guest book, napkins, etc. I arranged the flowers myself, actually the pink camellias and azaleas came straight out of the yard!
Our dear friend
Sarah Boyd made the 3 skirted onesies out of Lilly Pulitzer fabric...she will custom make anything at your request, I even sent her some old Lilly Pulitzer fabric to cut up and recycle into the onesies!
Vintage TWIN Baby Shower:
I'm obsessed with all things vintage, Victorian, frilly and girly...you can only imagine that this theme was right up my alley. My girlfriend was expecting twin baby girls, so what better reason to throw a grown up tea party!
We noted on the invitation to wear a hat, so the guests donned their finest hats for some afternoon tea in the garden. I borrowed all of my mother's silver platters, tea sets, coffee pots, grandma's vintage china, etc. I went to local thrift stores and stocked up on mix and match china salad plates, milk glass vases, tea cups and saucers. If you have the patience to sift through second hand stores, you can find prize items for less than a dollar!
I used the demitasse tea cups for the food labels, with coffee beans inside each tea cup to secure the label. Most of the tea cups were 50 cents to $1.00 each at my favorite thrift stores. We served Lemonade and Southern Peach Iced Tea out of mason jars. The tea was infused with sweet tea vodka (of course!) Here is the recipe:
http://www.thebar.com/en-us/drink-recipe/southern-peach-iced-tea.aspx.
I borrowed the vintage "Pram" baby carriage from my sister-in-law to use as the perfect prop. I used as many mix and match dining chairs that I could get my hands on for the family style seating arrangement. I'll leave you with the poem I came up with for the invitation:
Tea parties, dresses, ribbons & pearls,
Elizabeth is expecting twin baby girls...
We're throwing a shower for the mom to be,
Please don a hat to our garden party!
All Parties and Photos By Ashley Glover Ocala, FL.
