Posts of Christmas Past

Happy Friday! Happy December!

I am a beach baby...I love being at the beach, I love warm weather, I love summer. Love. 

But I also love Christmas. I love the movies, music, spirit, baking, card sending, gift hunting, parties and socials, decorating.

To kick-off this holiday season (which I actually did November 12), I thought I would share some of my favourite blog posts from past Christmas seasons!

• Politically Correct Christmas Carols
• Christmas Party Ideas
• Five Christmas Songs
• The Night Before Christmas
• Ninja Turtles, Art Supplies & Totally Gross
• Christmas Movies Part 1 and Part 2

Legally Blonde Movie Night Checklist

A few months ago, one of my sorority sisters mentioned she had never seen Legally Blonde. My reaction, was a resounding "WHAT?!". How was it possible that she had never seen this movie?!  I told her that we would have to do a screening of the movie.

Due to busy schedules, our Legally Blonde movie night is on our 'to do list'. If we plan it right, we might be able to do an outdoor screening. I outdoor movies- on the side of your house or on your garage or if you don't have a blank wall, on a sheet- make my list of favourite summer activities. 

I was recently inspired to create my own movie night. I knew right away that I wanted to centre my movie night around Legally Blonde. With some help from Pure Flix, below you will find my list of essentials to help create the ultimate movie night in.

Legally Blonde is a light hearted, fun movie with lots of colour- especially pink! I want  the food and drink for movie night to align with this.

First of all, I want my guests to be comfortable! Whenever I have people over for a girls night, I have a strict pajama/yoga pants/comfy clothes policy. Not only do I want my guests to dress comfy, but I also want them to be comfortable, so I pull out all of the pillows and blankets that I own. My guests are free to use what they would like and sit- or lie- where they want.

What's a movie without popcorn? Sure, you can have regular, old popcorn...or you can have birthday cake batter popcorn! This is super easy to make, really yummy, and the sprinkles add a lot fun to your popcorn! While popcorn is a movie essential, I know that a lot of people like to snack on candy while watching a movie, so I like to set up a candy bar. My go-to movie candy includes peanut butter M&Ms, red licorice, Malt Balls, and Peppermint Pattys. I usually ask my guests to bring their favorutite movie candy to be added to the candy bar.

Whenever I have people over, I like to have a signature drink. The signature is usually a pink flamingo. I like this drink as the signature drink for this movie night because it's pink and fits the feel for this screening, plus it can be made as an alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink.

I make sure to have pink paper plates and napkins set out for my guests. I will decorate the food & beverage area with signs related to the movie- Bend and snap, Delta Nu letters, the stylized Harvard 'H'. You can print these out from a computer and either stick them on the wall or fit them into dollar store frames. Just something fun to tie elements of the movie into our night. I'm sure if you search 'Legally Blonde decor' on Pinterest, tons of ideas and how to's will come up.

Finally, I like to have a little gift for my guests so that they can remember the fun night we had. I like to give something practically and that they will use. I tend to gift drinkware to my guests- they can use it during movie night and then bring it home. You can usually pick up cute glasses at a dollar store or on etsy.

There you have it...my must haves for a Legally Blonde movie night!

From The Archives: Bedtime Stories Baby Shower

A number of years ago, I hosted a baby shower for a co-worker/friend. The theme was Bedtime Stories. As an event planner, I get to host, design, consult, plan, etc on tons of events throughout the year. This baby shower was one of my favourite events that I worked on. 

Since it's been so long since this baby shower took place, and because a number of my friends have either just had babies or are pregnant, I thought I would go into the Dreams and Colour Archives and share the posts related to the Bedtime Stories Baby Shower!

 

Theme & Invite Decorations Food & Drink Games Book Recommendations & Gift Ideas A Special Keepsake

This is a really fun, classic, gender neutral baby shower theme...I would love to host another shower with these theme!!

Currently- August Edition

I have decided, after years of blogging, that I would jump on the 'currently' blog posts. I always enjoy reading other blogger's 'currently' posts, so I thought I would do my own, so here we go:

  Watching

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 I am Chelsea Handler fan and I am loving her new show, Chelsea, on Netflix.   Reading

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I actually just finished reading this book for Book Club. It's a cute read and a great book club book.
Listening

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 I am a Charlie Puth fan and I currently have him on repeat. Planning

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The Social Committee at work is planning a silent auction as a fundraiser, and I am planning to put together a 'must have' box as an auction item.  Feeling

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 I love summer and this warm weather we are having...but I feel like I am melting- it is so hot! Lot's of extreme heat warning this year. I am not complaining...I just wish I could be beach/poolside 24/7 in this weather.  Wanting

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 I am on the hunt for a condo...I'm ready to make the transition from "renter" to "owner", Loving

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Iced Coconut Milk Mocha Macchiato...so, so, so good! And a great summer drink!

July

Currently- July Edition

I have decided, after years of blogging, that I would jump on the 'currently' blog posts. I always enjoy reading other blogger's 'currently' posts, so I thought I would do my own, so here we go:

  Watching

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Gilmore Girls. I didn't get into this show when it was on TV, but I have been watching it on Netflix- currently on Season 5.

  Reading

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 A co-worker and friend lent me this book. I'm about 100 pages in and love it!
Listening

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I am listening to "Can't Stop The Feeling" by Justin Timberlake on repeat...love this song and it's a fantastic summer song too! Planning

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A food truck event for later this month!! It should be pretty fun!!   Feeling

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I had some shocking and upsetting news late last week. Yesterday (which is when I wrote this post) was the first time I was really able to process that news. My heart hurts more than I thought it would. But I know things will be ok, everything happens for a reason, and that things will work out the way they were meant too.  Wanting 

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I am on the hunt for a 2017 agenda. I usually get a Lilly Pulitzer agenda, but am thinking about trying a Kate Spade agenda this year. I wouldn't mind being the owner of the Kate Spade agenda pictured here. Loving

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I am so loving this amazing beach weather we have had this summer!!

Christmas Party Ideas

There are so many things that I love about the holidays, but on of my favourite things is the social aspect! I love spending time with my family and friends, and connecting with people I haven't seen in awhile; some of them since the previous Christmas!! 

 

When I think of Christmas party's, I think back to the annual party a friend hosted for years, the highlight of our social season. It was held at his parents house, there was a snowman with a drink luge, awards, hourly drink specials, guitar sing a long, ugly sweaters...it was a fantastic time!! As we grew up, got jobs, moved away from home, and started our own families, this annual kick-off to Christmas came to an end.

Luckily, there are a ton of different kinds of parties you can host during the holidays. Here are three of my favourite.

Gingerbread & Champagne Who doesn't love decorating a gingerbread house or gingerbread people?! I have done this with adults, and everyone loves it! You can buy kits that have everything you need, or go the homemade route, set up a round a table, serve champagne (or wine, or hot chocolate, or...really whatever you'd like), and go to town decorating.

Christmas PJ Party Invite your friends, enforce a mandatory dress code of pj's, and put on your favourite Christmas movie (Elf and A Christmas Story are two of my favourites and highly recommended), serve hout chocolate, Christmas cookies and popcorn.

Potluck & Ornament Exchange I used to work for a company where one of the girls would organize a "Girls Christmas Party"; if you were female and worked for our company, you were invited- no boys allowed! This was also separate from our official office party and our official company party. Everyone would bring a dish to share and picked names for our ornaments...it was kind of like Secret Santa, only all gifts were ornaments. 

There are so many great holiday party ideas out there, and I have hosted all kinds of holiday parties...but the above three are some of the most popular, But really, I don't think it matters what kind of party you have, but who you are celebrating with, .

Kentucky Derby- Decor & Entertainment

We are in the final days leading up to one of my all time favourite days of the year- Kentucky Derby!! The Derby is THIS Saturday and I cannot wait!! 

 

Last week, we talked about food & drink, so today I am sharing some Derby decor and entertainment ideas.

 

Image 1 // Image 2 // Image 3

 

Some people go all out with their Derby decor (like this blogger). I would, at least once, love to do that. I'm never organized enough to throw a big party, so I tend to keep my decor on the simple side; flowers, flowers, flowers.

If you want to go all out, think what the Derby is about; horses, Kentucky, the South. Lots of colours, lots of flowers and lots of horse racing paraphernalia. There are so many ideas on Pinterest. You can check out my Kentucky Derby Pinterest Board for more ideas.

Remember, the Derby is also referred to as 'Run for the Roses' so any decor piece that you can incorporate roses into, is a good idea. 

For my parties, I stick to flowers and not much else for decor. I basically just put vases of flowers around the room. Red Roses, Hydrangeas and Lilies are personal favourites. 

As for entertainment...

NBC Sports does a great coverage leading up to the race. It can be tedious to watch all of the coverage, but I usually have it on in the background. If you prefer music, you can find a pretty good playlist here.

If you are going for a BBQ/tailgating vibe, corn hole, slip and slide, and horseshoes are a lot of fun. 

What my family does, is each guest is asked to contribute $2 to the pot when they arrive and they get to pull a number out of a hat. The number they have, is their horse (for example, if I pull #4, my horse is the horse in the 4th post of the race). Whoever has the winning horse, gets the pot. It's just a fun little thing we do. 

Regardless of what you pick as the 'entertainment', the race, the most exciting two minutes in sports, is the central point of your party. So make sure you and your guests watch it!

Kentucky Derby- Food & Drink

I LOVE the Kentucky Derby...not as much as I love hockey (GO RANGERS!!)...but it's a close second. You don't actually have to be at Churchill Downs to enjoy the Derby...you can host your own Kentucky Derby Viewing Party!!

 

Every great party has great food and drink. When it comes to the Kentucky Derby, Mint Juleps are the drink of choice. You can find various recipes for this drink, but I had a wonderful woman (Pat, who stays in the same Florida condo complex as my grandmother) from Kentucky share her recipe with me. The key is that she makes her own syrup.

 

You will need:

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups water
• Fresh mint leaves
• Ice
• Bourbon

To make:

• Boil sugar and water for five minutes
• Cool and add mint leaves
• Cover and refrigerate overnight
• Pour 2oz of Bourbon over ice 
• Add 1oz of mint syrup to glass
• Stir
• Garnish with mint, if desired

Notes:

• I usually add 6 or 7 mint leaves to my syrup mix
• While you can use any kind of Bourbon, it's best to use Kentucky Bourbon
• If you don't have time to make your own syrup, you can buy simple syrup or mint julep flavouring

An alternative drink would be sweetened ice tea- made from real tea. I like to add some of the mint syrup to ice tea.

 

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What about food?

 

Stick to the basics and think finger foods; cold seafood, tea sandwiches, salads and dips. Or you can do a southern BBQ; ribs, corn on the cob, biscuits. Whether you go for something a bit fancier or more casual, chocolate bourbon pecan pie makes a great dessert option.

 

In my family, we always serve Lobster Coquille at our Derby Party. Baked brie (or cheese platter), fruit salad and shrimp anything are also popular options.

There are so many options when it comes to Derby food and even drinks- if Mint Juleps are not your thing. I'm sure by searching Google or Pinterest, you'll find tons of ideas. 

 

Next week I'll be sharing decor and entertainment ideas!

Baby Shower Part 6- A Special Keepsake

About a year and a half ago, I hosted a 'Bedtime Stories' Baby Shower for a dear friend of mine. Even though the actual baby shower was so long ago, I still want to share details of the event with everyone. This is a timeless, gender neutral and fun theme.

Today I'm sharing a special keepsake that was made for the baby.

But first...

How pretty is this quilt?! We oversaw a quilt program, where volunteers would make these quilts for our clients. Each piece of fabric has a different texture, making it a sensory piece. Mom-to-be loved these quilt squares. When the finished quilt came back, I took it and saved it to give to her at her shower.

I used the quilt to 'wrap' the keepsake in. So, what was this special keepsake?

Staff and volunteers were given a letter of the alphabet and tasked with creating a picture that represented that letter. For example, I had the letter 'N' so I drew (ok...traced) a Nurse. All the pages were then assembled to create an alphabet book for the baby. As with everything related to this shower, the book fit with the theme.

The book even included a picture drawn by mom. I had her and another co-worker do the 'Pig Personality Test', where you draw a pig (it's a real thing...google it) and I kept her drawing of the pig to include in the book. Mom was so surprised and touched to receive this book and that she was-unknowingly- part of the project too.

It was a little bit of a challenge to get everyone to draw/trace their pictures prior to the shower, but so worth it. I had the original pages colour copied and used the copies for the book, which was bound at Staples (a lot of office supple stores can do this).

What did I do with the originals? I kept them so that they could be copied in the future and made into books for others. 3 people on staff have received copies of this special book for their little ones.


This is the final post for the Bedtime Stories Baby Shower. It's been fun sharing different aspects of this event with everyone.

Over the next 2 weeks, I will be doing a four part series on one of my favourite events of the year!


Looking for more on the Bedtime Stories Baby Shower Series?
Theme & Invite
Decorations
Food & Drink
Games (& Prizes)
Book & Gift Ideas

Baby Shower Part 5- Book Recommendations & Gifts

Almost a year and a half ago, I hosted a 'Bedtime Stories' Baby Shower for a dear friend of mine. Even though the actual baby shower was so long ago, I still want to share details of the event with everyone. This is a timeless, gender neutral and fun theme.

Today I'm sharing gift ideas- including book recommendations! 

 

Each guest was asked to bring a book instead of a card. There were about 20 people invited and I wanted to pick a book that no one else would, so I turned to to one of my favourite bloggers Brittany. Not only is Brittany incredibly inspiring and super talented (she creates custom art work), she is also an advocate of early childhood education...I knew she was the perfect person to ask for book ideas.

Here are some books that Brittany recommended:

• Anything by Leo Leoni or Kevin Henkes
• Chika Chika Boom Boom
• Oh The Places You Will Go
• Are You My Mother?
• Splat the Cat
• Goodnight Moon

While browsing my local bookstore, I was reminded of my favourite author from when I was a child- Robert Munsch! I always loved the artwork in his books and his stories were always so funny and engaging. I loved him as a kid and I wanted to share this love with my friend and her soon-to-be-born child...Something Good (picture 2) was my favourite Robert Munsch book.

I really wanted to get a 'Sophie the Giraffe', as I had heard this was a great gift but couldn't find one anywhere. So I settled for a butterfly (picture 1). This is a sensory toy; the back is black and white, which babies eyes focus, the wings and body are different textures and colours, it has mirrors, buttons that makes sounds, things to grab on to...just a lot going on.

I also bought a 'Sleep Sheep' (not pictured). I had heard great things about this product and that it not only helped baby sleep, but mom and dad too...because they can hear the soothing sounds through the baby monitor.

Finally, I just could not pass on this adorable onesie (picture 3)!! It says 'This is my little black dress'...too cute for words! What baby girl doesn't need headbands?! What I love about this head band is that the pink ribbon/bow is actually a clip on...this means it can be replaced with any other clip or worn as just a headband. Plus, when the baby is older and no longer wearing headbands, she will still have the hair clips that can be worn on their own.

Come back next week for the final installment of this Bedtime Stories Baby Shower Series. I will be sharing a homemade group gift that will, hopefully, be treasured forever.


Looking for more on this series?
Theme & Invite
Decorations
Food & Drink
Games (& Prizes)
 

Baby Shower Part 4- Games

Almost a year and a half ago, I hosted a 'Bedtime Stories' Baby Shower for a dear friend of mine. Even though the actual baby shower was so long ago, I still want to share details of the event with everyone. This is a timeless, gender neutral and fun theme.

Today I'm sharing the games we played! This was an 'over lunch, before a staff meeting' baby shower, so even though there were some games I really wanted to play that would include people getting up and doing activities, I just didn't have the time or space. I also wanted to incorporate games that had to do with the theme- Bedtime Stories!

After some Google-ing (seriously, what did people do before Google?!), I found two games online that I was able to print for everyone to play. They were:

• Nursery Rhyme Game (from here)- This is essentially a nursery rhyme trivia game and included questions like "What couldn't Jack Sprat eat?" and "What did Little Miss Muffet sit on?"
• Can You Finish The Nursery Rhyme? (from here)-This was basically fill in the blank. An example of a question is: Mary had a little lamb, it's [blank] was white as snow.

Both of these games were quick to 'play' and everyone got a good laugh from the answers- you bet I made everyone read what they wrote! It was fun to see how out of practice everyone- including mom-to-be- were with their nursery rhymes.

With the prizes, again, I wanted something that would fit the theme:

How cute are these sleep masks?! I picked them up at the dollar store, so they were inexpensive but the perfect fit for a Bedtime Stories Baby Shower!

Come back next week for gift and book ideas!

Looking for more on this baby shower?

Theme & Invite
Decorations
Food & Drink

Baby Shower Part 3- Food & Drink

Almost a year and a half ago, I hosted a 'Bedtime Stories' Baby Shower for a dear friend of mine. Even though the actual baby shower was so long ago, I still want to share details of the event with everyone. This is a timeless, gender neutral and fun theme.

Today I wanted to share the food & drinks!! It was decided that we would ask everyone to bring their own lunch and that we (the office) would provide a cake or cupcakes. I also wanted to include food and drinks that fit our theme.

What goes with bedtime stories? Cookies and milk, of course!!

Like the gift table, the food table (picture #1) was also turned into a bed (see the decor post on how this was done). We had white and chocolate milk, which I poured from cartoons into reusable plastic containers with lids (purchased from the dollar store) and placed in an ice bucket (also from the dollar store).

The office decided to purchase cupcakes instead of a cake, because it was more cost effective. A friend of mine made the cupcakes (picture #2)...how adorable are they?!?!? They were pretty delicious too.

I am not much of a baker, which my friend knows, so she was extra touched that I baked cookies for her shower. I ended up making two kinds of cookies; Campfire Cookies (picture #4) and Rolo Stuffed Sugar Cookies (pictured #3).

The cookies & milk were a huge hit with everyone in attendance and was a nice way to tie our food and drinks to our theme.

Looking for more on this Baby Shower?
Theme and Invitation
Decorations

Charity Gala- Theme & Sponsors

Back in January, I mentioned that my dad appointed me to his Charity Gala. You can read about our first meeting here. We had a meeting in February, which was really just a touch base meeting. S and I broke up the sponsorship list for us to do follow up.

We had a meeting last week, which I unfortunately had to leave due to another appointment. But it was a productive meeting.

Sponsorship money and auction items are coming in! We have a title sponsor, confirmed an auction company to run our silent auction for us (this will be the fifth event I have done with this company) and have confirmed entertainment for the dinner portion of our event- a murder mystery! Things are really coming together and it's shaping up to be a great event. 

At this meeting, we also confirmed our theme...Drive In Movie! I had mentioned before that we had picked cars as a theme. After some discussion, we decided that cars were an element to a theme opposed to a theme on it's own. We have some really neat ideas on how to incorporate this theme into our entertainment and decor.

Hopefully next month I'll be able to reveal a little bit more about our entertainment...it's going to be pretty fun!

Baby Shower Part 2- Decorations

Almost a year and a half ago, I hosted a 'Bedtime Stories' Baby Shower for a dear friend of mine. Even though the actual baby shower was so long ago, I still want to share details of the event with everyone. This is a timeless, gender neutral and fun theme.

Today I wanted to share the decorations!! We had the usual balloons and streamers but I also wanted decorations that were unique to the theme- bedtime stories- and would not take a ton of time to set up; we would be setting up while the guest of honour was out picking up lunch, so about 15 minutes.

I used inspiration from here and here, deciding to turn the gift and refreshment tables into 'beds'. A quick trip the the dollar store and I had everything I needed! In total, I spent less than $20 on decor.

All beds need pillows, which I made (first picture). I bought plastic tablecloths, taped three sides, stuffed it with tissue paper and then taped the fourth side. These were so easy to make and because they weren't real pillows, it didn't matter if they got ruined.

The other items that I bought to make the 'beds' (picture 2) were more plastic tablecloths and books. I bought a white tablecloth to cover the table and then coloured/patterned ones to make the 'bedding'. Again, because these were from the dollar store, it didn't matter if they got ruined. I also picked up a couple of books (from the dollar store) that I incorporated into the decor, plus the mom-to-be was able to keep these books after the shower for baby to enjoy later.

The third picture (gift table) shows the completed 'bed'. You can see the pink tablecloth was placed over the table and folded down to look like bedding, the pillow was placed at the head of the 'bed' and we included a bear (left over from a work event and later sent home with mom-to-be) 'tucked in' and reading a book.

The decoration, although simple, really tied the theme together and added that 'something extra' to our event space- which was our meeting room at work, so not an exciting space to begin with. The decor was cost effective, easy to assemble and super cute!

Looking for more on this baby shower?
Theme & Invitation

From The Archives: Baby Shower Part 1- Theme & Invite

Almost a year and a half ago, I hosted a 'Bedtime Stories' Baby Shower for a dear friend of mine. The shower was so much fun to plan, almost as much fun as the actual party! 

I had every intention on sharing details of the shower on the blog, but never really got around to it. Better late than never, right?

Even though the actual baby shower was so long ago, I still want to share details of the event with everyone. This is a timeless, gender neutral and fun theme.

The day of the Baby Shower, I posted details about the theme and I posted the custom invitations I had made. Please visit the original post here for all of the details!!

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting other elements of the shower, which will include refreshments (with recipes), decorations, games, book suggestions and a one of a kind gift.

Trust me, you don't want to miss these details!!

Charity Gala- The First Meeting

Two things that most people know about me are that I work in non-profit fundriasing and that my dad is a politician. So, it would only make sense that my dad would appoint me to the committee for his Charity Gala.

Earlier this week, we had our first meeting and I'm pretty excited about being on this committee. The committee is made up of two staff members, two friends of my father (who are brothers and I have known my entire life), two people who were on the committee last year (one of them representing the Charity that will be getting some of the proceeds raised), and a friend of mine, S.

S and I actually met through work; we had the exact same job, at different organizations, and met at a conference. Our paths would cross on occasion and she was always just a phone call away to answer any questions I had. I'm really excited to be officially working with her, even if we are both volunteers. 

We had a great first meeting, but it was very basic. The event will be taking place in the Fall, which might seem far away, but in event planning time, it's just around the corner! We reviewed the sponsorship package, S and I not only made several suggestions- we couldn't help it, this is what we do- but we also volunteered to look after sponsorship for the event. 

Discussions on entertainment options and potentially doing a silent auction took place. We also decided on our theme: cars! Our event will revolve around cars, but what exactly our theme will be- race cars, 50's era (think Grease), car show- will be revealed at a later date.

It's just the early planning stages, but this will turn out to be a great event! I'm excited to work with this committee, give back to my community and share the details of the planning of this event!