The Party Dress » placecards

Creative Window Seating Chart

Kelly — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:25:25 +0000

When it comes to seating a large party, whether it be a wedding, birthday party or even charity event, placecards can be quite an expense. I love the idea of creating a visually appealing seating chart for guests to view during the cocktail hour. Take a few creative cues from this one made from old windows. Back the windows with a solid fabric, and write on the window panes with a paint pen. Simple and stunning!

Image via The Knot

Mod Hanukkah Dreidel + Free Download!

Kelly — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:00:39 +0000

Our colorful paper dreidel placecards will dress up any Hanukkah dinner table. So simple to make with our free downloadable template, all it takes is a little cutting and gluing. Click on the image below for the free printables, and enjoy!

TPD Magazine: Mod Hanukkah

Kelly — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:00:07 +0000

Hanukkah is known in the Jewish religion as the Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication, and Feast of the Maccabees. It is a festive holiday of revived hope, faith and spiritual light. A special time of year for the Jewish community, Hanukkah it lasts for eight nights and is the perfect time to celebrate with family and friends. I created a festive holiday party full of ideas for the latest issue of The Party Dress Magazine.

Updating the traditional blue and white color palette with a bold blue, green and brown, I created a collection of paper goods that mixes a colorful chevron pattern with a mod clover pattern in blue and white. The patterns are playful and festive and really pop against a crisp white backdrop. Our ideas for a tablesetting include a textured white tablecloth, a navy blue charger plate, and a paper dreidel placecard. (make sure to download our free printable template!)

After lighting the Hanukkah Menorah, you might want to serve a variety of latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly-filled donuts). Cheesecake and blintzes are served as traditional desserts, but we always love a good dessert table! Keeping with the crisp blue color palette, we created a monochromatic display of blue candy. We carried our chevron pattern into the display with both candy jar tags and labels on old-fashioned salt water taffy sticks, and add a touch of the clover pattern in as tray liners on the plates that held cupcakes decked out with fondant Jewish stars from Two Sugar Babies. With eight nights to celebrate, Jewish families can plan a variety of celebrations to entertain family and friends. We hope you enjoy our modern spin on the holiday!

Parties by WH Hostess: Modern Silhouette

Kelly — Tue, 31 May 2011 09:00:13 +0000

We were beyond thrilled to have been asked to contribute a party to the latest issue of Nesting Newbies magazine! I know when I shared the magazine a couple of weeks ago, I promised more images soon…..well, I’ve been busy! But I’m back today with a few posts to show you the amazing details that made up this darling party.

The ladies at Nesting Newbies asked me to put aside the character themes and the princess wands, and create a party that was truly me, my style. Using a series of crisp black and white patterns, and a bold Kelly green, our modern barbie silhouette got a sophisticated update! To define the vertical space of the party room, I hung a pennant banner amongst playful pom pom garlands (which I made with green ribbon and small, black and white pom poms I found at Michael’s) above the tables. (but at a lower-than-normal-height, so the kids would feel like the space was all for them!)

Small tables, perfect for a tea party, were set with custom made white denim tablecloths that had a large black swiss dot ruffle at the bottom. I made coordinating cloth napkins, and set the table with Kelly green glasses and silverware, black plates and my signature centerpiece – white pots full wheat grass and a floral pomander, and topped with centerpiece sticks. Don’t you just love that one, single pop of hot pink in the centerpiece and on our birthday girl!? (who was also wearing a darling stripe hair bow by Mel-Belles)

One of my favorite details of the tablesetting were the placecards on the back of the chairs. Perfectly proportioned to child-size chairs, the guests were delighted to see their names on them! There are still so many details to come! Head on back this afternoon to see the details of the dessert table!

Photography by Sisterazzi Photography

Preppy Mod Baby Shower: Tabletop Details

Kelly — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:00:36 +0000

I had so much fun styling this preppy mod baby shower for the premiere issue of The Party Dress Magazine. It combined some of my favorite things right now…..the color yellow, the Greek key pattern, beautiful pink tulips and a modern dessert table that I could spend hours drooling over!

Inspired by our Preggo Baby Shower Collection, the table held a few special details that I think could provide you with inspiration for any type of Spring party. We carried the Greek key pattern from the invitation into the table linens by making table runner out of our new “fabric by the yard“. I think it would have been a really busy tablecloth had it be an all-over pattern, but by using two runners over a crisp white tablecloth, it helped to break up the pattern and create a modern look. I always like adding a vertical element to my tables to really define the space. Eyelet paper lanterns added a sweet, preppy touch without taking the attention away from the colorful table.

I got creative with my napkin treatment by stuffing the green napkin (held with a pink gerber daisy napkin ring) inside the over-sized, plaid mug. The mug was going to be used to serve a Spring soup in, and it freed up some room on the table, too. The pink placecards added a nice pop atop the patterned runners, and tied in the accent color from our gorgeous centerpiece of pink tulips. I just fell in love with these tulips….they are called parrot tulips and have amazingly beautiful feathered edges. And if anyone is wondering….that centerpiece took 4 dozen tulips!

We used some darling accessories for this tablesetting, and they all came from Crate & Barrel! If you are looking to re-create this look, you can find these products here: white eyelet paper lanterns, yellow salad plate, pink gerber daisy napkin ring, yellow plaid mug.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more details on the delicious and darling dessert table!

Hanging Placecard Display

Kelly — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:00:38 +0000

I’m totally swooning over this hanging placecard display from Salt Harbor Designs……..it somehow looks both classic and modern….pure perfection!

DIY: Finial Placecards

Kelly — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:00:26 +0000

L-O-V-I-N-G this colorful idea from Better Homes and Gardens. Using wood finials from the hardware store, they updated them with a coat of paint and a cute placecard. A quick, simple project, you can use these painted finials as placecards, sign holders or even buffet cards. Brilliant!

See the full tutorial here on bhg.com.

Holiday Table Challenge: Scout – A Mom’s Guide to Stylish Living

Kelly — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 10:00:01 +0000

I’m so excited to share today’s Holiday Table Challenge entry…..not only is it absolutely charming, but it was also done by a good friend of mine. Let me introduce you to Melanie Knopke – a stylish mom living in Kansas City, a former retail buyer (we were co-workers and became great friends very quickly!) turned blogger. She currently writes for the Kansas City Star, as well as her blog, Scout – A Mom’s Guide to Stylish Living, where she offers up style suggestions, great new finds and ideas on how to get the best for less. Mel has impeccible style, and her taste shines thru in all of her posts…..Scout is a staple on my daily must-read list!

In her “free time”, Melanie makes a darling collection of girl’s hairbows. Gorgeous ribbons, fabulous embellishments and so reasonably priced! I love giving them as gifts to all of my little girl friends. You can find these darling bows in her etsy shop, Mel-Belles.

When I asked Mel to participate in our Blogger’s Holiday Table Challenge, she immediately came up with a fabulous theme…..”Belles and Bows” – a hairbow-making party for her nieces. I came up with some cute paper goods for her, and wait until you see where she went from there! Read on for all of the lovely details, as told by Melanie:

I am not a professional party planner by any means, but I love to throw a great soiree whenever given the chance! Being that I am the only girl in a house of boys, I thought it would be fun to get my nieces together and throw a very girly tea party! I make hair bows, and my nieces love to do crafts, so I also let each girl pick out ribbon and some sparkle to make one of their own. It was great to have a few hours of total girl time and I think my nieces had a blast. Here are some of the details…

Ribbon is an inexpensive way to dress up a table. Kelly had given me the trick of using ribbon for a runner, and it always looks so cute! I also used ribbon to wrap up the bottom of the napkins and secured them with a small pin and then a flower hair clip (the girls promptly put them in their hair!) My favorite part of the table is the chairs! I got the idea from my friend Susan who had seen this on HWTM blog. I cut strips of fabric, and used some ribbon as well to drape down the back, then I just tied it together and tied on a silk peony. It’s an extremely inexpensive way to make a chair look fabulous.

I was on a budget for this party, so I really spent some time searching out inexpensive ways to make the table look festive. I found the tiny tree and canister in the dollar section at Target. The pink sparkly trees and pink glass bottles were from Hobby lobby and were $3.99 and $5.99 (half off, of course!) and I bought an assortment of ornaments at Target for about $8.99. The silk flowers were $10 a bunch at Hobby Lobby as well. The cut glass canisters were all mine handed down from my grandmother. I have already used them so much, and I think they make the table looks so pretty and feminine. I found the adorable glass plate and cup set on Etsy from the vendor Halvorson’s. They are so gorgeous, and I can’t wait to use them again.

For the sweets table I used big gumballs, candy cane candies, M&M’s, a sweet chex mix (made with white chocolate chips, peanut butter and powdered sugar)and marshmallows dipped in white chocolate and pearl nonpareils to make snow covered marshmallows.

Parties by WH Hostess: Engagement Celebration

Kelly — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 04:27:38 +0000

I hosted a little engagement dinner party for my sister and her fiance over the weekend. Newly engaged, it was time to pop the bubbly and celebrate! Since the cool weather seems to be headed our way, I decided to host one last dinner party in our sunroom. The room is primarily white (with a few navy and yellow accents), so it was the perfect backdrop for a bold black, white and yellow color palette.

Seeing as though I just got home from Hawaii, I had to whip this party together quickly! But I still had time to do a few cute touches…

Placecards – no matter what size your party is, I love placecards! It adds a pop of color to your table….kind of like an accessory!
Statement Centerpiece – I chose to stick with one type of flower (sunflowers) and using an unusual vessel. This footed bowl from Rosanna was perfect! Check back tomorrow for a full tutorial on how to arrange this type of centerpiece!
Conversation Starter – my husband and I had found these darling books a while back and had been holding on to them for awhile, waiting for the right occasion to pull them out! “Don’ts for Wives” and “Don’ts for husbands” from 1913. Let me tell you, some of the quotes were hilarious! Placed on the bride and groom-to-be’s plates, they made for funny table talk, and a humorous intro into Marriage 101!
Dessert Presentation – It’s amazing how some polka dot ribbon, striped cupcake wrappers and initial cupcake toppers can dress up dessert! Sometimes it’s those little details that really pull the look together.

Now that we have toasted the happy couple…..let the wedding planning begin! But first, head back here tomorrow for the full tutorial on my sunflower centerpiece!

Tropical Dinner Party

Kelly — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:00:59 +0000

Hot, summer nights have me dreaming of tropical vacations! The next best thing? A tropical dinner party, of course!

I love the idea of creating a sophisticated version of the traditional luau theme – bright, floral linens with modern, orchid centerpieces, tropical cocktails served in martini glasses, and an outdoor location decorated with the modern-day tiki torch – the lantern!

Head on back tomorrow to see our vision for a kid’s tropical luau party!

Images: invitation (paperculture.com), centerpiece (weddingchannel.com), drinks (gemmacomas.com), table setting (instyleweddings.com), paper umbrella placecards (bethhelmstetter.com), picnic (brightideas.com)