A colorful, balloon-filled birthday party! 5.6.13

This past weekend we celebrated my oldest daughter's 3rd birthday. She loooooooooooves balloons so I decided to keep the theme simple, and balloons it was! I started by finding a printable collection. I found Carolina's shop Pink Monkey Prints on etsy and she customized the invite and coordinating paper products for the party.
 
 
So I stuck with the color scheme of pink, purple and teal. This is a photo-heavy post so I'll stop chatting and start showing now!
 
Guests were greeted by what else - balloons!
 
 
 
Custom welcome wreath
 
 
Kids' table settings
 
 
 
 
 
 
Adult table
 
 

 


Dining room area setup
 
 
Food table
 
 
 
 
 
Drinks on 'water balloon' ice
 
 
 
Dessert station
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 And lastly a photo with me and the birthday girl! She had a great time!



Digging into her cake after blowing out the candles!.

You can find even more photos of this event on our facebook page.

Vendor credits:

Printables: Pink Monkey Prints
Cake & cupcake toppers: Claudia Cupcake Lady 
Balloon garlands: Jess Made This
Wooden spoons: Jazzy Apple Gal
Baker's twine & candy cups: Spiral Sage
Mini clothespins: DKDeleKtables
Balloon stamp: SayaBell Stamps
Chipboard balloons for wreath: Glitter Dust Designs



Our first downtown event! | 6.22.12

The heat didn't stop 5-9 Events from participating in yesterday's Discover Downtown Charles Town third Thursdays event! Fortunately, our location was shaded and the evening wind cooled things down a bit. I put together a little dessert display and gave out free cupcakes - if you weren't there, you missed out!


Here are a few pictures:




You can't see it in the picture, but my laptop had a scrolling slideshow running of past event pictures.

































































I'm brewing up ideas for the next event in July. I'm thinking of having some type of interactive activity. Any ideas???

Come visit us at Discover Downtown Charles Town! | 6.15.12

This week 5-9 Events signed on to participate in the Discover Downtown Charles Town events this summer! It's an opportunity for the community to get acquainted with small businesses in the area. There will be arts & crafts, food, kid's activities and we'll be there too! Make sure you come by, introduce yourself and get some free goodies. Right now the dates are set for June 21, July 19 and August 15. When I get more details I'll be sure to update you!

A simple Mother's Day dinner | 5.28.12

On Mother's Day I was blessed to be at home, so I wanted to host a nice dinner for my mother, grandmother and aunt. It was a hectic weekend, because I also had a bachelorette party and bridal shower the day before so I made most of the decorations ahead of time and also utilized make-ahead-meal recipes.

I utilized a free printable set from Love Party Printables which was featured on the Catch My Party blog. This gave me a 'cherry blossom' theme so I wanted to focus on flowers and make it somewhat like a garden tea party.


Here's a few photos of the setup:

The tablescape

Placesetting


Centerpiece


One of the favors was homemade caramel corn which my family always requests that I make! 



A custom art piece I made to carry on the 'cherry blossoms' theme, which now sits in my office! 


A view of the banner - strung with faux pearls ;)


 Close-up of straw flags


The other favor for the moms was a little flower pot to take home.



All in all it was a great afternoon. The moms enjoyed being catered to while the men were just happy to enjoy a fancy dinner. I served cucumbers topped with herb dip and a cheese ball with beer bread and crackers for appetizers. For dinner we had stuffed shells with a chicken and spinach alfredo sauce, baked shrimp scampi, mixed vegetables. Dessert was cherry pie a la mode and sock-it-to-me cake. Ugh, I'm drooling just thinking about the food again!

I hope all the mothers out there had a fabulous Mother's Day and that you were able to enjoy some pampering of your own!

Happy Memorial Day and an update! | 5.25.12

My, my - is it Memorial Day weekend already? I hope all of you have a wonderful and safe holiday and can enjoy this beautiful weather we're having in West Virginia. 

On another note, as of today I received word that my business application has been approved from the state and we are up and running! So contact me today for any last-minute summer functions as well as events into 2013. At 5-9 Events we strive to simplify your life while giving you the event of your dreams!

Where ya been??? | 4.13.12

Wow, can't believe it's been almost 5 months exactly since my last blog post. To say a lot has happened since then would be a dramatic understatement. To make a long story short, my husband left active duty military for the national guard and got a full-time civilian job. The new job led to us moving three hours away from the Hampton Roads area.


So I am happy to announce that 5-9 Events is back in the business of planning events - just serving another area. We are now available for events in the eastern panhandle of WV and Leesburg, VA. Please spread the word and stay tuned for all the latest news from 5-9 Events!!!

So you think you CAN'T plan a fab party? | 11.14.11

Hello there!!!

I know, I know - the site has been a bit quiet lately. I was hosting family for the past two weeks, so we were constantly running around town. I promise to make up for the lack of posts with some fun stuff this week...starting with my new series!

I have titled it 'So you think you CAN'T plan a fab party'? (aka, party planning for amateurs!)

As a professional party and event planner I often hear certain phrases by non-professionals as to why they are not able to put together creative, unique and fab events for themselves. And while being a professional event planner is not for everyone, I believe almost everyone has the capability to create awesome events. So over the next 5 weeks I'll tackle the top excuses I hear from friends and family.


Reason Number 1: "I don't have time to plan a fab party"

This is the most common thing I hear. As a wife and mom, I totally understand the everyday commitments we all face. If you work a traditional 40-hour job, that only leaves about 5 hours a day during the week to make dinner, help with homework, bathe kids, make lunches, iron work clothes, etc. etc. etc. Oh by the way, somewhere in there you'd like to spend time with your family! And the weekend comes which is packed full of soccer games, household chores, church and more. You're busy - I get. Trust me, I do.

With a little bit of pre-planning, you can find time. Here are some tips to fight the 'I'm too busy' monster:
  • Try setting aside 15-20 minutes each day 3 weeks prior to your party. You'll be surprised what you can get done with such little time. While you're watching your favorite show you can address invites, whip up favor bags or craft some custom decor.
  • If you're making your own food/desserts, make whatever you can ahead of time and freeze it. I have successfully frozen cookies, brownies, cupcakes (unfrosted), cinnamon rolls and mini pizzas weeks in advance for the past couple parties and photoshoots I put together. This saves you time the day before/day of the party for setting up/baking what you can't do in advance.
  • In keeping with the previous tips, set up your party decor before the day of. Yes it may feel weird to eat dinner for 3 days with a happy birthday banner above your head, but you'll appreciate having a shorter to-do list in those final hours before guests arrive.
  • Recruit help! Ignore the need to feel like supermom and ask friends and family to either contribute by making food, crafting party goodies or assisting with activities.
  • Hire help! Order all your food from a local restaurant, purchase pre-made invites, decor, favors, etc from sites like etsy, or find an event planner (like me!) to take care of some or all the details. By outsourcing portions or all of the party, you'll maximize the time you can spend on other things.


I hope these tips helped you realize how you can wisely spend your time to create a fab party. I'll end this post with a few quotes about using time wisely. Come back next week for another edition of party planning for amateurs!

Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.
Charles Richards

A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.
Baltasar Gracian

The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.
Michael Altshuler
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