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Graduation Party Decorations With Inspiration From Pinterest, Etsy And My Own Creative Genuis

by funkidivagirl on May 23, 2013

My son graduated from high school last week. The weight of that sentence and my feelings around it is an entirely different blog post, probably one that will require a box of kleenx for both of us.

This blog post is about the graduation party that I threw for him. He isn’t big on celebrating; he doesn’t like to make a fuss about himself. My husband and I made him have a party for his 13th birthday , but otherwise he stopped having parties at about age 7. The only reason that he agreed to have a graduation party is because I reminded him that parties usually mean gifts. He figured the possibility of gifts was worth the annoyance of putting himself on display for everyone to congratulate and celebrate.

Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop prompted me to write this blog post: 5.) Pinterest Inspired! Share something you pinned and actually tried.

I started planning the graduation party back in January: finding a venue and hiring a caterer, photographer and DJ (seriously, I haven’t planned anything this big since my wedding). I would do the decorating, but I didn’t want the decorations to be girly (so no flower centerpieces) and I wanted to stay true to the modern aesthetic of the party venue, a gallery/loft-type of space. Naturally I turned to Pinterest for inspiration and ideas.

Pinterest didn’t have any good graduation party ideas for me, but I searched “centerpieces” and this one intrigued me. Can you tell that it is rock candy?

It looked easy and fairly inexpensive (I needed 6 centerpieces) and it was modern, cool and gender-neutral. I bought the vases from Ikea for less than $5 each and ordered the rock candy online. Although this wasn’t part of the Pinterst version, I added a couple of tiny battery lights to make the rock candy glow from within. Here’s my version on one of the party tables:

While the rock candy centerpieces were the only Pinterest-inspired party decorations, my crafting and creating didn’t stop there. The party space has a really awesome hanging decoration over the gift table and I had the idea of filling the empty glass balls with something in the party colors. To be honest, I looked in every local craft and paper store as well as online before I was resigned to making something myself. I bought the tissue paper from Party City for $.99 a pack, googled “tissue paper balls”, watched a YouTube video, and my daughter and I made 16 balls in about 40 minutes. It was definitely cheaper than buying anything and we had a good time crafting.

This is the gift table. I bought the box for cards from PartyCity.com and the photo frames from Ikea. That is my son’s graduation photo and a photo from his first day of Pre-K. A hole-punch, ribbon and a couple of old jewelry trees of mine made for a fun and whimsical display of photographs throughout his school years.

Remember my quest to finish my son’s school scrapbooks before his graduation? I did it! One album is Pre-K through 8th grade and the other one is his high school years. I displayed them on the gift table and peopled flipped through the albums at their leisure.

The dessert stand was another place that I wanted to be special and the bookcase was perfect for the display. I made signs listing all the dessert options. I had seen cupcake toppers on Etsy and considered ordering a custom design, but I decided to make them myself. I bought lollipop sticks at Michael’s for about $4 and I already had the cardstock. I found the college logo online, resized it in Pages and printed it with a high resolution. It was a little labor intensive, but not hard at all.

I must give my daughter credit for the candy bar; she loves candy so this was her idea. But in order to make this about her brother (who could have cared less about a candy bar) and not about her, the candy bar holds all his favorites. I already had the glass vases and I bought the candy scoops from The Container Store for about $2 each. The dessert stand was a big hit with everyone at the party.

We hired Halo Photo Booth and it was a fun edition to the party – everyone had a ball mugging for the camera. I ordered some photo booth props from a shop on Etsy and I painted a frame silver that I bought at Michael’s. Even better, Halo Booth made custom signs just for our party and to honor my son. Holding props and signs made posing for the camera even more fun. My favorite custom signs were with our Twitter handles and photos – that was pretty awesome.

Everyone who took a photo got a print to take home (or 2 or 10 – I think my daughter took about 50 photos herself!). Halo Booth even designed a custom frame.

The party was a blast! We had delicious catered food, an entertaining bartender, a delectable dessert and candy bar and a great DJ. There was dancing!

But the big hit of the party was the jazz band that I hired, The Majestics. That’s my son on violin. All of these kids are crazy talented. If you haven’t heard them before, take a listen to one of their past gigs.

This party involved months of planning, weeks of prepping and several hours of decorating, but it was so worth it. We had fun, our guests had fun and my son felt the love. He is the best son and he deserved to be celebrated in a big way.

I hope that some of my party ideas and crafts will inspire you to plan a party of your own!

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A Girl Walks Into Target….

by funkidivagirl on May 14, 2013

in Totally Random

….for lotion. And walks out with a porch make-over.

My porch before the trip to Target. I had scrubbed it free of pollen that morning.

My porch after the trip to Target (for lotion!).

The lights are on a timer and will look so festive come nightfall.

Even though this porch make-over wasn’t planned, it looks so much better than before!

Oh yeah, and I bought the lotion too.

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How To Make A Time Capsule For Your Baby

by funkidivagirl on May 13, 2013

in Word From the Mother

My son just turned 18 (I can’t believe it, I just can’t believe it!) and because his birthday was on a Monday, with school and an orchestra performance in the evening, we started celebrating the weekend before. One of the things we did to kick off his birthday weekend was to open the time capsule that I created for him the year that he was born. I can not tell you how much fun this was for all of us! He really got a kick out of how much time had changed in 18 years and I really loved the walk down memory lane.

This project was so much fun that I think that anyone who is pregnant now or just had a baby should really do this for your future adult child. It would make an awesome baby shower gift or activity – each guest can bring something to add to the time capsule. I bought this time capsule kit over 18 years ago and I’m not sure if this company is still in business, but this is a similar product and the one that I have put away for my daughter. You can also just buy a can with a lid at The Container Store.

My kit came with a booklet that the parents filled out about current prices of houses, cars, food, etc and our predictions about what those prices would be in the future. We also gave a snap shot of our life back then: where we worked, where we lived, how we spent our time. The most fun read was our predictions about future inventions and technological advancements: we were wrong about the flying cars, but right about most other things like “Pocket-size cellular telephones will become a staple item for all Americans – youth and adult” and ”We will be able to buy almost everything on the computer.” That seems like a “well yeah, duh” moment now, but remember, this was in 1995! If you make your own time capsule without a kit, you can write all this information in a notebook.

After filling out the notebook, I gathered items that belonged to that year. I put each item in a ziploc bag and then put everything in a trash bag before sealing the time capsule. I wanted to protect the contents from possible moisture and I am happy to say that each item was in pristine condition when we opened it. I did not store the time capsule in the basement or garage, but in my son’s closet. We have moved several times in his life, but the time capsule always moved with us and remained in great condition. When we opened the time capsule, here’s what we found:

a newspaper from the day he was born

a TV Guide (remember those?)

Sports Illustrated

People magazine’s year end issue – I bought this at the end of his birth year.

Entertainment Weekly magazine – bought at the end of the year.

Life magazine year end issue – these are so great to look at now!

Both of these men were headliners in 1995.

This is a Best Buy newspaper insert. Look at how ancient – and expensive – these computers were!

My husband went to the Million Man March: this is the program, a bumper sticker and a photo that he took while there.

The Tick and X-Men were my favorite comic characters in 1995. These issues are in mint condition. I want to read them, but my son won’t let me take them out of the wrapper.

I love, love, LOVE that I put these toys in the time capsule! As the first computer generated movie, Toy Story was a big deal. Even better is the fact that my son became obsessed with this movie at age 2 when it was released on VHS and that the Toy Story movie franchise is still going strong today!

Here are the other items that we had in the time capsule:

a VHS tap of current shows (too bad that we don’t have a VHS player to watch these!)
paycheck stubs and business cards from where we worked
a pack of unopened basketball rookie cards
a cassette tape of the sermon and program of my son’s baptismal day (we can’t listen to it without a cassette player!)
grocery store receipts
newspaper inserts from national stores like Toys R’Us, Target and Macy’s
Pogs, a popular toy
more popular magazines
postcards of his birth city (nice to have since we moved across the country when he was just a couple of months old)

I did make one mistake: since I didn’t put a sticker date on the outside like I was supposed to, we opened the time capsule 7 years too early. According to my original plan, he was supposed to open it at age 25, but I had forgotten and it wasn’t marked. Oops! Hey, who knows – in 7 more years cars could possibly fly and I would have been correct in all my predictions! Actually I think that age 25 is too long to wait to open the time capsule, but I wouldn’t do it before age 16 – between ages 18 and 21 are probably the best.

I hope that I have inspired you to create this wonderful keepsake for your baby. It doesn’t take much effort, but it is so special and fun to share together many years later.

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Shopping For Summer Shorts (That Don’t Show Everything)

by funkidivagirl on May 8, 2013

in Fashion & Beauty

I know many women “of a certain age” who have sworn off shorts, but I live in Georgia and it’s really hot in the summer; shorts are a necessity in my opinion. But finding a pair that isn’t too short, yet still looks good on me is a chore.

And shorts are getting shorter every year! AllSaints, my most favorite of brands, has a pair of truly laughable shorts out this season. I think they might have pulled them off the shelf, because I can’t find a photo anywhere. Picture denim underwear and you have a very good idea of what these shorts look like. Really, who wears shorts like that?

Conversely, I don’t look good in long walking shorts either. Or shorts that hit mid-thigh. I look best in shorter shorts – but not too short. Like I said, it’s a chore.

Every year I comb the stores looking for the perfect shorts. Anthropologie is always a good place to start. The shorts in there are are always the right length, but this season I didn’t find anything; the shorts either didn’t fit me well or they weren’t my style. But if you’re looking for shorts, try them.

A couple of years ago I bought the perfect pair of shorts from Bloomingdale’s, made by Splendid. They are linen and relaxed, yet can be dressed up. I can’t find those anymore; I should have bought more colors back then. I love those shorts!

Last year I bought a pair of white shorts from Club Monaco at the end of summer and since they fit so well, I tried Club Monaco again this year. I didn’t find the same shorts, but these Club Monaco Marianna City Shorts are great. I bought a pair in black. These will be my dressy shorts and will look cute with a nice tank top or one of those silk loose tops that seem to be everywhere right now.

photo credit: Clubmonaco.com

While buying a new pair of jeans this week, I came across these Hudson Croxley Mid-Thigh Denim Shorts. I don’t know why they call them “mid-thigh” because they are most certainly not mid-thigh, they are short. But I think they are a respectable length. When I tried them on, I asked the sales woman to tell me the truth, reminding her that I was somebody’s mother; I can’t be looking like a video chick! She assured me that I was okay and well within mom-acceptability.

photo credit: Bergdoffgoodman.com

Mission accomplished (for this summer, anyway). Now, if the Georgia temps will just rise above 70 degrees, maybe I can wear a pair of my new shorts!

I’m linking up with Monday Mingle and What I Wore Wednesday.

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Shopping For A Pair of New Jeans

by funkidivagirl on April 24, 2013

in Fashion & Beauty

Shopping for jeans, blah, it’s almost as bad as shopping for swimsuits. In addition to finding the right fit for your body, with so many brands and styles out there now it’s just so confusing – bootcut, skinny, super skinny, straight, boyfriend, low-rise, mid-rise and now they have re-introduced the hi-rise jean. While I am happy to see the super low-rise go away (we have seen enough muffin tops and butt cracks), I’m not thrilled with the hi-rise jean either; sometimes it creates a long-booty look that it’s flattering at all.

I wanted a pair of spring jeans in a light wash so I went to Neiman Marcus, where they have a wall of jeans, all brands and styles. I made the mistake of bringing my daughter with me the first time and bought a pair of jeans that I regretted as soon as I got home; they were just wrong in so many ways. The next day I went back to Neiman Marcus (alone) and returned those jeans. Then I tried on about 10 pairs of jeans at my leisure. First I tried on my favorite brand, Hudson, and then a few pairs of J Brand. I also threw in a couple of pairs of AG, Joe’s and Rag & Bone. I am really loving Rag & Bone’s tee shirts right now, so I thought the jeans were worth a try. Finally I narrowed it down to two pair:

First, this pair of J Brand Mid-Rise Skinny Leg in Beryl

photo credit: jbrandjeans.com

And this pair of Rag & Bone Slim-Fit Skinny Jean in Monument

photo credit: ShopBop.com

In the end I decided that the wash on J Brand jeans was just to 80′s for me, a bit too stone-washed. Back then you couldn’t tell me that I wasn’t the fashionista in my Guess stone-washed jeans and jacket, but that trend is best left as a memory, at least for me. The Rag & Bone jeans were a light enough wash to be on trend and much different than any of the very dark wash jeans that I currently own. They will look equally as good with a silk top and heels or a tank top and flip flops. And they fit great. I feel good about these.

My jeans shopping is done for the season – I’m glad that’s over!

*Today I’m linking up with Monday Mingle.