Birthday Rockers In the House Tonight!

Our Pop Flower Birthday really turned out better than we imagined. And thanks to photography by the very talented Kat Riley, we have some great inspiration to share with you today. All items will be available through our Etsy website.

Party Styling Tips:

1. Mix and match prints. I love designing patterns that we can mix and match. By designing all the paper details with different prints, you build in instant interest. So for example, instead of just using one pattern paper for your placemats, think about using 6 different patterns that coordinate. You can make it work by sticking to a strict color pallet. Here it was teal, lime green and dark blue.
2. Anchor everything with a neutral – in this case the neutral is white, but the neutral could also be a color. By using lots of white and clear glass (table clothes, flowers, plates, streamers, wine glasses, candle holders etc.), your eye has a place to rest and the colors pop even more. If we would have used blue or green table clothes the patterned papers would have blended in and the party would have lost its crisp, clean, modern feel. Using our placemat example from before, when using different patterns be sure to anchor it with a neutral, solid plate – it will tie your table together.
3. Simple materials like ribbon can add that extra WOW detail. Here we added an abundance of curling white ribbon to our cupcake topper, favors, tabletents, etc. The playfulness of the ribbon makes everything more festive and fun. We kept it white in line with rule #2 above – colored ribbon would have taken away from all the other colors we were using.
4. Cupcake toppers don’t have to be limited to a circle or square. They also don’t have to be on short sticks or only used on cupcakes. Here we cut out inspirational words (love, hope, joy, wisdom, prosperity) and the guest-of-honors name. We also cut out the flowers and even made some typical square toppers, but they weren’t used on cupcakes. Instead we put them in tall vases used as candy jars. By using 6″ and 11″ sticks for varying heights and adding curling ribbon, our three different topper styles bring the unexpected to this ever popular and typical party detail.
5. Design your buffet tables in zones. Styling a nice buffet or dessert table can seem like a daunting task. How do you make it look professional and not just a clustered mess? We say think of the table in zones of 3-5. Our dessert table was designed in 4 zones with 3 flower arrangements dividing the zones. So it went from left to right: Zone 1: Candy jars; Zone 2: Mini Cakes; Zone 3: Cupcakes; Zone 4: Wine Bottle Favors. We created interest in each zone by adding a different paper topper or label. We also added height to short items by adding taller than usual toppers or elevating the plates.
6. Simple flower arrangements doesn’t mean boring. We created 6 flower arrangements for under $20. How did we do that? We made sure the vases were interesting (paper wrapped spaghetti jars and soup cans). We used only 3 flowers all in one color (each vase used a couple stems each of white china mums, white stock and white lisianthus). We added a pop of the unexpected (we found blue glittered leaves and organic stems at Michaels thanks to their Christmas section).

Please enjoy all our pictures. Again, photography was by Kathryn Riley Photography. Thank you Kat!

Party Credits:

Styling, Flowers and Paper Designs: Tonality Designs – Available on Etsy

Photographs: Kathryn Riley Photography