party favors Archives - 2 Sisters 2 Cities

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on September 27, 2012

I’ve been a busy guest-blogger this week- today I’m guest-posting at the Scribble Shop blog. I shared a number of K’s amazing (looking and tasting) cut-out sugar cookies that she has made to celebrate special occasions. The post also has K’s favorite cut-out cookie recipe. My Scribble Shop guest post can be found here.

Scribbleshop.com has tons of arts & crafts supplies, as well as an extensive amount of cookie and cake decorating supplies. They have set up a special coupon code just for 2 Sisters 2 Cities’ readers to receive 15% off your order. Just enter promotion code: 2CITIES2 to receive the 15% discount. This promotion code is valid until November 1st! It’s the perfect time to start stocking up for the holiday trifecta coming up.

Do you enjoy making cut-out cookies? What’s your favorite cookie cutter that you own? My personal favorites are some of the Christmas cookie cutters that my Grandma used to bake cookies with.

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on March 11, 2012

Well hello everyone, long time no see. I am sorry it has been so long since I have posted, but I have been very busy with traveling to Las Vegas for a trade show for work. I got back early in the morning on Thursday and then went to work for the full day. It’s funny how such a short trip like that can affect your energy levels. I finally recovered after sleeping in late on Saturday morning.

Before leaving for Vegas on Monday, I did however throw a 60th birthday party for my boyfriend’s mom. She always goes out of her way to make holidays special for us so I wanted to do something really special for her to celebrate such a monumental year. During the week before, I planned for the party and made a list of all the things I wanted to do. My boyfriend had to bring me back to reality at some points with my ideas. What?? I really wanted a limo!!

On Thursday night I had a little energy after dinner, so I went ahead and made a half of a batch of cupcakes. I used the Magnolia cupcake recipe I use all the time. My boyfriends mom loves these cupcakes so I didn’t want to change it up too much. I had flower petal cupcake papers from Wilton’s which I got from my mom for Christmas. This was really where I came up with my theme for the party- since the wrappers were pink flowers, I wanted everything to be pink. My boyfriend’s Mom (lets just call her R) has lived the majority of her life with men, my boyfriend and his father/her husband. I thought a perfect way to ring in a 60th birthday would be a pink party since it is so feminine and pretty.

At Party City I bought:
–Pink Fluffy Pom Poms– I have seen these in Martha Stewarts Magazines and in her showrooms in NY
-Two tones of Pink streamers
-3 tones of pink balloons
– Pink napkins
–60th Birthday Plates– they had pink in them so I allowed them
– Pink birthday Tiara
–Pink Boa– this was just something I thought would be fun addition- nothing makes you feel like a princess or queen like a feather boa and tiara!
–Pink 60th Birthday Button– This button can be customized by age- I personalized it with a big pink 60!
– Wilton’s Clear Treat Bags
– Assortment of Pink Candy*
–60th Birthday Candles

At A.C. Moore I bought:
– An assortment of pink ribbons- in different shades and sizes. I found them all in the clearance bins for a dollar and the thinner ones were only 50 cents.

At the grocery store the day of the party, I bought:
-Assortment of Pink Candy*
– Assortment of 60 Pink Roses (I got about 30 regular roses and 20 small spray roses)

*Pink candy included- Pink Kit Kats (it’s Easter time so I was able to find these), Pink Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, Smarties, Pink Lollipops, Pink Starburst, Pink M&Ms, Pink Cotton Candy, Pink button candies, and Russell Stover Chocolate Marshmallow Eggs in a pink wrapper.

I placed all the candy into the candy bags and tied them with pink ribbons and created a tag with a personalized party message. I used a tag paper punch to cut these tags out and punched the hole with a heart shape paper punch.

I then made R her favorite dessert- Extreme 3-Layer Brownies and then frosted the Magnolia Cupcakes I had made on Thursday Night with a pink butter-cream frosting and pink sanding sugar.

Next I filled 2 vases filled with the assorted pink roses and tied thick pink ribbons around the neck of the vases.

Once I got to R’s house, I had her distracted in another room while my boyfriend and I decorated the dining room with the streamers, balloons, pink puffs, vases of roses, candy bags, and the plates of brownies and cupcakes. When she came into the room, we greeted her with the boa and tiara! She was so shocked and so happy about all the decorations. My gift I gave her even fit into the theme- a pink Swarovski crystal bead for her charm bracelet so she can remember her 60th Birthday Party!

Throwing parties can be easily put together with a theme and good planning. No matter the size of the party, people will notice all the details you put into everything. I love, love, love planning parties! :)

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Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on April 22, 2011

We had T’s baptism and baptism party last weekend and I wanted to give everyone a small favor to thank them for coming. While planning our wedding, I remember seeing people giving small pots of flowers for wedding or bridal shower favors. I decided (with my mom’s help) to replicate this for for the baptism.

Materials:
-terra cotta pots
-small flowers
-primer
-metallic paint
-extra soil
-wooden skewers (cut in half)
-colorful paper (to print flags on)
-ribbon to tie around flower pots (optional)

My mom, T, and I headed to a gardening store and picked up some small terra cotta pots. We also picked up some small perennials already planted in plastic containers. We scrubbed the labels off the pots and soaked them in water to allow the air pockets in the terra cotta to saturate. Then, we dried them off for a few hours before painting them:

Next, we laid out newspaper in an open area and spray-painted primer on both sides of the pots:

Once the primer was dry, we brushed on silver paint to each pot:

When the silver layer of paint was dry, we then started the process of planting the flowers. We first took broken terra cotta chips to put in the base to help with drainage. Then, we transferred the flowers from the plastic pots and added a bit more soil on top:

I created tiny flags that read “Thank you for coming!” using PowerPoint word art. I cut out each flag and sister C helped glue gun each flag to a small stick (1/2 of a wooden skewer). We then stuck a flag in each flower pot:

At the baptism, I made a tiny sign telling people to take a flower on their way out and left paper bags for them to carry the pots in:

It was a fun project and brought a little bit of early spring to the party!

-m