THREE Birds Reggae Birthday Party

I didn't throw Marisa a birthday party last year, so I was agonizing over what her birthday party theme would be this year. Toy Story? Princess? I just couldn't decide. So I asked Marisa what she wanted for her birthday and she said, "cake," "balloons," and "the thing that makes the sound when you go [makes blowing sounds]." That wasn't really much help on theme, but I took note. Then suddenly Marisa started singing "Three Birds," by Bob Marley. (Marisa has been listening to reggae since she was in the womb, so she can pick out a reggae beat on the radio and instantly yells out "It's BOB MARLEY!" ;) She makes us proud. hehe.) Anyway, I heard "three birds" and a light bulb went on since it would be Marisa's third birthday.

The great thing about this theme is that you can find the reggae colors, (red, gold, and green) just about anywhere, it's great for tropical backyards that have seen one too many Hawaiian themed luaus, and the colors and the music are great for boys and girls, men and women - it's universally pleasing. I had a TON of ideas for this I didn't get to execute and will share later, but for now here's what did go down...

First, the invitation. The invitation is always the starting point for me. In my head, I initially thought of drawing up three little birds and hanging cutesy birds and pom poms and stars everywhere...but as I started designing, I was inspired by a picture of Marisa on the beach and decided I wanted to go with more of a relaxed Island-of-Jamaica-vibe that featured the reggae colors. I decided to change up the wording to the song to create text for the invitation, and added a special die cut to the design to make the invitation a little more special. (*Note: This would also make a great ONE LOVE first birthday party invite!)

For decor, I just wanted to do something clean, simple, and laid back using old school party tactics. Balloons and streamers, home made food, home made cake, and good music. Red, Yellow, and Green balloons provided our pops of color and I created a backdrop of streamers alternating in the reggae colors for the dessert and drinks display. I also added some old reggae records and a few souvenirs we had picked up in Jamaica years before. We used grass table skirts to line the fence around the yard for an island feeling and went with crisp white tablecloths and wood chairs. Reggae music playing in the background set the mood. Unfortunately, as I was also the hostess, I couldn't get a good picture of backdrop for the buffet table, but it was made by purchasing and hanging red, yellow, and green plastic tablecloths from Party City and then topped with coordinating streamers in a messy way to almost mimic dreads. Instead of my usual buffet cards, I went with a simple chalkboard menu just as you might see in Jamaica.

Activities centered around water play so I provided water guns for the kids, a silly water hose with 12 nozzles that sprayed water everywhere in the yard, a water table, and of course there was the pool. I also bought party horns which the kids loved, and couldn't resist setting up a "Lively Up Yourself" photobooth. It's always fun to include props in a photobooth. I included some baby sized dreads from BabyToupee.com (you must check out their other wigs in addition to "The Bob."!!), a rasta beanie, sunglasses, and a Jamaican drum. We used two Jamaican flags for the backdrop. (Unfortunately in my rush to set up as Mommy, hostess, and photographer - I didn't place it in the greatest spot, and we had a few issues with the wind blowing up the flags. This, however, provided much entertainment for all the kids!

The food. I'll let you in on a secret...I really wanted to do this party just so I could serve "Buffalo Soldier Wings!" Here is the full menu:

-Buffalo Soldier Wings (ordered from Wing Stop, plus some plain chicken nuggets for the kids)
-One of Jamaica's staple dishes, "rice and peas" which is coconut rice with beans - very easy to make and cost effective. I experimented with my own method and will try to post that recipe later.
-Island Pork Tenderloin - everyone RAVED about this and it's also ideal for making for a crowd. Get the recipe HERE.
-Reggae Froots (a play on reggae roots) which were mini bamboo skewers of strawberry, pineapple, and kiwi chunks
-Rasta Pasta - tri colored pasta mixed with a bag of iceberg salad, cherry tomatoes, and pepperoncinis (*I left these out so the kids could eat it.) Serve with Italian or Ranch dressing.
-Rasta Pops - I used juices this time, but next time would make my own purees to add to the juice for brighter colors.
-Rasta Cake - I was inspired by a rainbow cake tutorial and made a three layer cake using white cake mix and dyed each layer to create the rasta colors.

And of course, we had to have some Red Stripe Jamaican beer on hand!

As a favor, I went old school again and made a CD for all of our guests. It was Sebastian, the crab from the Little Mermaid, singing reggae songs. It uncluded his rendition of "Three Birds" as well as "Under the Sea."

The party was a blast. Thank you to all of our guests for celebrating our special three year old. :) Stay tuned for more food/drink ideas for this theme! All stationery, photography, event design and styling by Jackie Culmer Photography and Design.

Butterflies and Blooms: Spring Tabletop Inspiration

Happy Easter everyone! Here's some last minute inspiration for your Easter table. I helped a friend pull this together one afternoon last week for her Bunco group. She had already purchased the burlap at JoAnn's Fabric store to create a runner on top of her simple white table cloth, and had various white and glass vases from IKEA and Michaels. You can recreate this look with any flowers with large blooms in this color scheme, but we used mostly ranunculus, with a few mums, roses, and freesia. Butterflies can be purchased at Michaels.

Ben's Wild Rumpus

I'm so happy to share this first birthday party with you. This is my first full party production as Jackie Culmer Photography and Design! Ben's mom, Judy, chose my full party package which included design and consulting on concept, invitation, custom party signs and tags, decor and styling, shooting the event, and finally, a mini share site of the party's slideshow, and album design. When Judy first met with me for her consultation, she wasn't sure what sort of theme she wanted; she just knew she wanted it to be fresh, unique, and modern. I came up with the idea to center the theme around the classic children's book, and now movie, Where the Wild Things Are.

The decor took cues from the movie with natural wood elements, moss, and twigs. We didn't want it to look too wintery as this should be a fun occasion in the spring, so I chose to pop in yellow as a throwback to the monsters' yellow eyes in the book. This turned out to be a perfect fit for the venue, The Little Prince Kid's Cafe, which had multi colored wood floors and nice, bright white walls and furniture. The cake table I styled served as the main focal point for the party. The cake was created using the invitation I designed for Judy, and elevated on a "tree stump" riser to bring in more of the woodsy feel.

I incorporated a few sayings from the book and movie to create custom signs to display around the event, including "We'll eat you up, we love you so!" around the cookie favors and buffet table, and a custom buffet menu that had the quote, "...from far away across the world he smelled good things to eat." On the invitation, we used "Let the Wild Rumpus Start" on the front, and "he sailed off through night in day in and out of weeks and almost over a year to where the wild things are" on the back which included directions to the venue.

As part of Korean tradition, Ben was given five different objects to choose from (a stethoscope, microphone, money, golf ball, and book) to predict his future. I created a sign incorporating a phrase from the movie and tags to customize this special event. Guests were given a raffle ticket and invited to place their ticket in whichever jar/object Ben might choose. Ben chose the golf ball (which I'm sure made his father VERY happy!) and a winner was chosen from the corresponding jar to receive a copy of Where the Wild Things Are and two plush dolls.

It was a fun day full of loving family and friends. I was honored to be a part of it! Happy Birthday Ben! If you are interested in the party package or just photography for your small event, please contact me at jackie@jackieculmer.com or visit http://www.jackieculmer.com/.

Happy Halloween 2010!

Happy Halloween! The winner of our Hocus Focus Costume contest is...drumroll please...WOODY, JESSIE, AND BUZZ! Congratulations to the Toy Story family on winning your free session with Jackie Culmer Photography, 8x10 print, and $50 credit!

Thank you to everyone who attended the Hocus Focus Halloween Portrait Party and to all of the readers who stopped by to vote! I'm also thrilled to announce that the Hocus Focus Party to launch Jackie Culmer Photography and The Silver Spoon and Paper Plate blog was featured on one of my favorite blogs, The Hostess with the Mostess, as "Quite possibly one of my favorite Halloween parties ever." HWTM is an amazing resource for party design and inspiration and I'm completely overwhelmed by all of the wonderful comments and feedback. To see details from the party, visit HWTM here or see my original post with tips on putting together your own party here. Also, check out my very first feature on Hostess with the Mostess, a Twilight themed bachelorette party!

If you are interested in custom event design and/or photography for your next holiday party, bridal shower, baby shower, or birthday, please contact me here! I offer unique packages that include mini photography sessions to use in invitations, save the dates, thank you cards, and as design elements for your party, custom graphic design to create items such as favor tags, cupcake toppers, buffet cards, etc., event photography, and custom album design in the end to create a wonderful keepsake of your memorable day.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween! I'm off to carve some jack-o-lanterns and take my daughter trick or treating for the very first time!

Hocus Focus (Part 2) - The Details

A good starting point for any party is to come up with a focused theme. For this Halloween Party, I wanted a theme that was kid friendly, but also a little more sophisticated for the adults to enjoy as well. My first thought was, "what sort of backdrop was I going to provide for the portraits?" I knew I didn't want to do the standard bales of hay with fall leaves and orange pumpkins, because you could go to the pumpkin patch and get that picture. I was inspired by the Disney movie "Hocus Pocus" and decided to tie everything in to a witch's house.

Top Left:

The set featured a beautiful green, petite french chair from Found, Vintage Rentals. We surrounded it with bird cages, antique books, and props from Inviting Occasion and my own collection. I wanted muted colors so the childrens' bright costumes could pop out in the pictures. Consider using faded fairytale pumpkins and white pumpkins to decorate your doorstep this year for a more vintage Halloween feeling. I found great prices on these pumpkins at Trader Joe's. Roger's Gardens also has a beautiful displays to give you ideas during Halloween, and pumpkins in ghoulish greens and greys.

Top Middle/Right:

On the buffet table, I used apothecary jars to display "potion ingredients." Three heads of cauliflower floating in water with a few drops of green food coloring became zombie brains, a ball of white tulle served as bottled swamp fog, sand doubled as graveyard dust, and a garland of natural vine with fake flies and bugs throughout looked like twisted tigs.

Bottom Left/Right:For the entrance, I wanted a big impact so we went a little more "glam witch" by using luxurious black feather boas as a backdrop for the candy bar and sign in table. I found the purple glittered hanging chandeliers and candelabras that we hung upside down at Target for just $2.99 each! The candy display featured a handmade spellbook (by Larrissa at Inviting Occasion) and various potion bottles filled with water dyed in various colors. Here's a great money saving tip on the candy bar (especially now that it's Halloween.) Buy the value packs with several different types of candy and separate them out by color. It makes a bigger visual impact to have several different sized containers of candy. It's all about the presentation, so stack them on a cake plate, or line them up neatly on a long rectangular platter. Also, try to create different levels when setting out food. Use cake plates and create "risers" using boxes or even cake pans turned upside down and covering them with cloth.

My last tip for your Halloween decor is to create vignettes when decorating. Instead of trying to fill every single spot in your home, just focus on a few areas and group your decorations together. What will your theme be this year?

***Special thanks to Larrissa of Inviting Occasion for use of her props, assistance with decor installation and set design, Celeste for the mini spider web cupcakes and acting as greeter, Kat and Ashley - my assistant witches, and Mali Workman Photography, Maria Meier Photography, and Jennifer Shultz Photography for taking additional event photos.

Cupcakes are so last year...

Well I've been off to a bit of a slow start here on the blog, but with good reason. I have spent the last week designing tags and table signs for a very special spread in the upcoming January issue of Ceremony Magazine. Yesterday I worked with my talented-super-genius-friend Larrissa Rehder of Inviting Occasion, her incredible team, and Heather of 24 Carrots Catering & Events to help set up for a photo shoot of the latest in dessert buffets - donuts!

Donuts? At a fancy wedding or event? Yes, donuts can be chic and add a whimsical, unexpected touch to your dessert bar. Think beautifully glazed donuts with pearl toppings and sprinkles in your wedding or party colors, warm miniature donuts with shots of espresso to cap off the night, or bite sized donut bon bons (okay, donut holes) filled with gourmet jams or simply powdered in sugar. Though you'll have to wait for the magazine to come out to see our fabulous donut spread, consider making your own special treats for a Halloween get together this year.

Here are a few recipes to get you started:

Pumpkin Doughnuts with powdered sugar glaze and Spiced Sugar Doughnut Holes

Maple Orange Glaze and Chocolate Glaze Halloween Doughnuts

It's a party and you're invited

Welcome to my very first post on The Silver Spoon and Paper Plate! I hope to bring you photography sneak peeks, party design tips, entertaining ideas, and share life as a mom in Orange County, CA.

To celebrate the launch of Jackie Culmer Photography and The Silver Spoon and Paper Plate Blog, I'm hosting a fabulous Halloween Portrait Party for my dear friends and family. Stay tuned for design tips, party decor, and menu ideas for your Halloween celebration!