I added a graphic impact with bold black and white striped tablecloths throughout the party.  I wanted a playful centerpiece for our dinner table, so I added black dot stickers to the side of a white vase to look like a dice.  A pomander of red carnations filled the vase and made a bold statement.

I tied the napkins with a little tag featuring playing card characters, and each placesetting included a cupcake accessorized with a fondant dice from Two Sugar Babies housed under a mini glass dome.

I created a small dessert table that would be readily available to guests so they could grab desserts in between hands.  Desserts included poker chip cookies from Allyson Jane, brownie bites accessorized with fondant dice, a jar of red hot candies from Candywarehouse.com, and cupcakes decorated with mini playing card cupcake toppers (which I whipped up in about 2 seconds!).

I hope you enjoyed viewing my ideas for hosting a fun game night.  What are some of yours?

A muddling bar, a S’mores roasting station, a “bobbing for bling in bubbly game”,  as well as the gorgeous gift baskets at each place setting which held goodies for the perfect Sunday morning are some of the details that I fell in love with.  For more details, click here.

1. A simple plaid napkin can add a touch of preppy pattern to any table setting.  For Christmas, I wrapped a metallic bough of holly around it as a festive napkin ring.
2. Source plaid accessories for your home.  I came across this darling reindeer, covered in a black and white plaid fabric at my local Home Goods.  He’s the perfect addition to my home this season!
3. A plaid runner is a great way to add just a touch of pattern to your table setting.  I like mixing this plaid with my quatrefoil plates…the mix of patterns looks fresh to me.
4. You can recreate the plaid pattern in a monochromatic way by layering items atop one another.  My example for this is the small table gift I placed at everyone’s placesetting.  I wove a combination of wide and skinny satin ribbon in a plaid-like pattern to achieve the look, without the actual busy pattern.

We set the table with a crisp white tablecloth and topped it with paper placemats featuring our mod fish pattern, a green napkin and a coordinating blue striped placecard.  The centerpiece  was probably my FAVORITE part of this party….it literally cost me next to nothing to create, and I think mad a huge impact.  I took basic glass cylinders that I had sitting around the house, and created white fish vinyl decals using my Silhouette machine.  I filled them with water, and used gel food coloring to add the bold color.  So simple, right?

We set up a “bubbles bar” with both punch and bottles of key lime Italian soda wrapped with fish labels.  Blue balloons were attached to the wall behind the bar to create the look of bubbles floating away.

A bold polka dot grid patterned backdrop anchored our dessert table, and there were so many darling sweets.  First off an AMAZING cake covered in cake balls by Velvet Cream Bakery (DIY tutorial coming later today!).  I love the ombre effect of the shades of blue, as well as how it resembles little bubbles!  The cake topper of fondant fish and bubbles was created by Two Sugar Babies, as were the darling cupcake toppers.

Color-coordinated candy and jumbo marshmallows were placed in candy jars with coordinating tags, and we used these fabulous new tilt bowls from Crate & Barrel for pearlized gumballs in blue and green.  I made blue jello “shots” using my votive candle holders (also dressed them up with a fish vinyl decal), and stuck a cupcake topper in them for some visual interest.

Darling fish cookies by Allyson Jane were lined up to look like a little “school of fish” and cake pops by Velvet Cream Bakery stood up in a white pot full of gumballs and looked like they were floating!

We thought we needed a creative party favor….you know, besides the candy!  So we filled up small bottles full of bubble bath, wrapped them with a custom label, and tied on a coordinating gift tag.  Darling….and useful!  The mod fish collection by WH Hostess is one of my favorites, and (although just added to the shop recently) is quickly becoming one of our most popular.  It’s perfect for a baby shower or kids birthday party!  You can see the complete collection in our shop.

Make sure to head back later today to view the DIY cake pop cake tutorial by Charynn of Two Sugar Babies.

Read on for some serious eye candy, and all of the details as told by Christi, herself…..

For my birthday this year, I decided to celebrate with a close group of girlfriends.  I wanted the theme to be unique and one that people looked forward to.  I decided on a flower arranging party!  Many times, my husband will bring home flowers for me from the store and I haven’t the slightest idea how to arrange them. I know other ladies feel the same way! I asked my good friend, Elizabeth Munger, who happens to  be an amazing interior designer who often arranges stunning flowers for her clients, to come teach us simple steps and tricks.

Gray is such a popular color right now, looks fabulous with just about every other color out there.  I went with the color scheme of emerald green and gray and loved how everything turned out.  Kelly Lyden of The PartyDress and WH Hostess always does a phenomenal job with her designs.  I told her my color scheme and that I wanted to incorporate a chevron pattern and she ran with it.  Kelly designed all of the paper goods for the party, from the invitation to the food tent cards, to the favor tags and all of the signage.

After the flower arranging fun, we moved to my dining room where each girl was served champagne and had a small cake all to herself!  My favorite local bakery made individual two tiered cakes for my friends and I could not have been more pleased with how they turned out.  Kelly now offers a service where you can order fabric to match any of her designs!  I  ordered fabric in the gray and emerald green chevron print and had a friend turn them into napkins for the table.  The napkins really made the table pop!

I created a macaroni and cheese station with lots of toppings options.  Who doesn’t love comfort food with a creative flair?! The toppings included favorites such as sun dried tomatoes, chives, bacon, sautéed mushrooms, truffle oil, and many more!  A Skinnygirl Margarita is my drink of choice, so naturally, this was the signature drink I served.  Kelly created the cutest sign for the beverage area along with white straws with flags in all of the patterns we used throughout the party.

Desserts were served on my coffee table which was near the flower arranging area. Serving the sweets there brought people out of the kitchen and into the living room so we could begin.  On the dessert menu was cookies, meringue, small donuts and rice crispy treats.

Elizabeth did such a great job teaching us how to take store bought flowers and turn them into a beautiful arrangement that could last for days!  On the way out the door, the girls took home the arrangements they made along with one more sweet.  They had the choice to take home cake pops in strawberry or s’mores flavors. We had such fun with this unique theme and I am so happy I branched out and invited friends over for a fun night in!

Photography by Ellenzilla

Cookie and cupcake decorating served as an activity, and the main attraction was the bake shoppe dessert table. You will have to head back this afternoon for all of the sweet details!