Dîner en Blanc - Portland Fun!

This weekend I had the pleasure of enjoying Dîner en Blanc - Portland and it was a blast! My significant other and I decided to make the trek from Seattle to Portland to participate and it was well worth the drive. In case you're wondering what Dîner en Blanc is, it is basically a group of random people coming together in a secret location dressed in all white to dine, sip, and dance the evening away. Starting in France 25 years, this fun way to have an exclusive dinner has spread across the world. Click here for more details on this super fun event. I always love documenting fun events with pictures and video (a lesson in Karen's Basic Fundamentals of planning a party) so I created this fun, short video to share in our experience. Check it out and be sure to participate in Dîner en Blanc in a city near you! 

T+K's Wedding Candy Buffet

Photography: Ardorlit 

Believe it or not, I have never done a candy buffet for a wedding, until now! Back in April I had the pleasure of creating a candy buffet for my friend's daughter who was getting married. I love when a Bride knows what she wants and the Bride, Karly, immediately told me the colors she wanted and specific candy near and dear to her and her future hubby. With elements of red and charcoal and special candy requests like Swedish Fish and salted caramel, I went straight to work designing a buffet to the Bride and Groom's liking. At the end of the wedding, there was no candy left so it was definitely a hit! I can't wait for the next wedding!

Party of the Month: Macy's Back-to-School Event

As a child, I loved collecting all the Back-to-School catalogs from the various trendy stores around me so I could view all the perfect outfits to make me stand out on the first day of school. So, needless to say, I was ecstatic when Macy's decided to include me during their Back-to-School event in Tukwila, WA at the Westfield Southcenter Mall. They asked me to do a candy buffet with a Back-to-School theme incorporating a variation of colors. The color scheme was so fun & simple to shop for that I kind of went over board looking for school necessities to decorate the table with {haha}. Pencils, notepads, crayons, glue, chalk, and a nifty lunchbox were just some of the accessories I used to dress up the table all purchased from my favorite store: Target. Check out all the pictures snapped from the event below!

Happy Back-to-School shopping!

Karen "Willy" Okonkwo's 25th Birthday Party

 As you all saw last year with my Kare Bear's 24th Birthday Slumber Party, I am obsessed with celebrating my birthday. This year was no different so I decided to go with a fun Willy Wonka theme for my 25th birthday celebration. It is so important to map out your birthday, making sure to ignite all five senses during your party so it is the best experience for your guests. Instead of calling it a Willy Wonka party, I did a spin off of the name and called my 25th Birthday 'Karen "Willy" Okonkwo's 25th Birthday Party'. Much like in the movie, all invitees had to "find" a golden ticket to be officially invited to my birthday. I used a popular Australian graphic designer called Crackers Art to create chocolate candy bar invitations that I turned into candy bar wrappers and golden tickets. They turned out amazing! To make the RSVP process more interactive, I asked each guest on the golden ticket to RSVP by uploading a picture of their golden ticket to whatever social media outlet they use and to tag me in it with the caption " I found the golden ticket!" This made the invitations that much more exclusive!

I decided to host my party in beautiful Miami! To make sure I captured every moment of it, I left a welcome letter for all of my guests when they checked into the hotel we were staying at that asked them to hash-tag any photos taken during the trip with #karens25thbday. I highly recommend making a hash-tag for any event that you are hosting because it is so much fun to look back at all the pictures that all of your guests snapped!

First up on the itinerary was the most fitting event of all: visiting the Chocolate Factory! No Chocolate Factory Tour can be complete without Willy Wonka gear so before the trip I ordered a Willy Wonka costume. On top of the costume, I just had to order candy and have a mini candy buffet so I ordered candy from my favorite candy store: Oh! Nuts. To make the entire experience complete, I had a custom cake made by Divine Delicacies Custom Cakes in Miami. This company can make ANY cake possible and they have catered to every celebrity you can think of from Drake to Pitbull to the Miami Heat stars. I gave them the graphic design of the "Okonkwo Bars" I sent out to my guests and they replicated that image into a delicious vanilla rum cake topped with butter cream frosting and fondant {yum}! Schakolad Chocolate Factory in Miami Beach, FL hosted my Chocolate Factory Tour and it was a blast! All of us received a tour of the Chocolate Factory learning the ins and outs of chocolate. Best of all, we got to make 3 different types of chocolate treats and take it home!

All in all, my 25th Willy Wonka themed birthday party in Miami, FL was so much fun and I can't wait to show you all what I come up with for next year's birthday theme. If you have any questions on how I created any part of this party, please feel free to contact me at partywithak@gmail.com!

Party of the Month: Teal & Cream Themed Graduation Party

This weekend my great friend graduated from Law School and she wanted a candy buffet at her Grad Party. I instantly said I would be happy to do it and together we came up with a theme starting with choosing colors. We decided that teal and cream with a splash of white would be the perfect combo. My friend wanted a classy, yet vintage feel to the candy buffet so we paired the colors with damask and lace patterns.

All of the candy color coordinated and was so yummy! My favorite candy was the Cotton Candy flavored taffy!

I love adding personal touches to my candy buffet creations so for my friend's buffet I incorporated candles, tree houses, bird/birdcage, hydrangeas, chalkboards, and scriptures since I know my friend is a Christian. 

 

Who knew how cute teal & cream could be together?! 

Congratulations, Alisia! 

Candy Buffet Design: Party with a K

Candy: The Confectionery

Holiday Theme Party: Wine Elephant

Every year my friends and I have a Friendship Holiday Party where instead of buying each other gifts, we pick a theme for one big party. A couple of years ago I decided to do a spin off of the popular holiday party theme, "White Elephant" and suggested we have a "Wine Elephant" friendship holiday party. For those not familiar with White Elephant, white elephant is when you bring a gift, usually under a certain dollar amount, wrap it up, and bring it to the party. Everyone chooses a number out of a jar or hat and that number symbolizes your turn for choosing a gift from the bunch of gifts each person brought. Person number one will look around at all the gifts and choose a random one. Unless some other number wants to steal the gift from them, that will be their gift they will take home. Person number two can choose to steal person number one's gift they just opened, or choose from the plethora of unopened gifts. The best number to have is the last number because you can choose from the other people's gifts. You can add your own rules to the game, but I usually say one gift can only be stolen twice before it is that person's permanent gift.

With Wine Elephant, you must bring a bottle of wine as your gift! See below for some of my absolute favorite wines! {I love my wine sweet}

1. Yellowtail wines

2. Yellowglen Pink Sparkling Wine (750mL)

3. Confectioner's-Sweet Symphony

4. Barefoot Cellars Moscato

5. House Wine

How to Host a Clothing & Accessories Swap

This past weekend I hosted my very first clothing & accessories swap! I have been to a couple of clothing swaps and thought it was a great way to get your girlfriends together to raid each others closets while sipping on some drinks and eating some good food. 

So what is a clothing swap you might be asking?

Clothing swaps are a great way to get some new clothes & accessories..FOR FREE!! How it works: Everyone brings gently used, and washed, clothing, shoes, and accessories that they want to get rid of. Guests should bring things that are in decent shape that they would be willing to give up. Choose someone's home to host the swap at. A community room or living room that you can turn into a little Forever 21 is perfect! Separate everyone's stuff into certain areas in the room (ie: accessories corner, shorts on the coffee table, pants on the couch). Once everyone's stuff is displayed, you can either let everyone freely shop around for stuff they want OR you can do it by categories- everyone takes a number and one at a time chooses from the shirts, then shorts, then accessories, etc.!

Always make sure you have food and drinks. Engage your guests by asking them to bring a snack or drink!

Clothing swaps are always a lot of fun soooo raid your closet, throw stuff in a bag, and host one with your girlfriends. If you have any items left behind, donate them to a local shelter.

My Halloween Night in Belltown!

Happy post Halloween!

I had an awesome Halloween night and partied with my good friends in Seattle! This year I decided to go as the 'The Fall Season'.

Halloween Style Staple: BEBE stretch dress, Dollar Tree leaves, JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store twigs, ShoeDazzle yellow gold pumps. 



I was so excited to see my Halloween decor live in action at Amber Restaurant & Lounge. It was definitely a night to remember and I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

Party of the Month: Party with a K's Halloween Decor Debut @ Amber Restaurant & Lounge!

Party Design by: Party with a K

Drapes: A Tailored Affair

Party of the Week: Alexis' Bridal Shower

This past weekend has been so much fun and it was largely due to a bridal shower I helped put on for one of my friends here in Seattle. I was in charge of designing the decor for the party and had a blast putting that together with the other host. As you know from one of my previous blogs, I am really big on choosing at least 3 colors for the theme of any event. The other host and I decided to have the colors be teal, yellow gold, and white with damask patterns incorporated for that elegant appeal -such a cute combination! And of course, as the designing took place I just had to include a candy buffet created by yours truly!

Perhaps my greatest discovery during the decor designing process was how much I can do with spray paint! I ran to Michaels before the party and picked up teal, yellow gold, and white spray paint. The goal was to take white paper lanterns I had bought and spray paint them the exact colors of the party.

It was a success!

Not only did I spray paint the paper lanterns, but I also spray painted empty glass bottles that I had been collecting as well as open, wooden picture frames. Fun fact: the empty glass bottles were bottles of my favorite salad dressing and dip!

If there is anything that I have learned in my experience of decorating for parties is that there are so many things you can use around the house to make your parties stand out. One thing I found in my home that I decided to incorporate in the decor was food dye. Food dye is awesome because if you simply fill a jar or vase with water and spoon in some dye, you've just added a little color to your party. Throw on a bouquet of flowers (real or fake!) and you've just created a fabulous centerpiece.

Another cool thing found around the house that served as a great filler was rice! We used rice in the candle holders to help hold up the chalkboard food signs. 

I know you have heard me talk about Gartner Studios before after I had discovered their awesome bottle labels that I used for my friend Angel's Bachelorette Party. Well, I couldn't help but use them again, this time for some wine bottles to add some personalization. I just love Gartner Studios! They create the design, you just add in your own words and press print!

No party is complete without a touch of my candy buffets!

At the beginning of the party each guest was asked to write the bride and groom a nice note filled with either advice or well-wishes. I brought in a tree branch that I had previously spray painted white and made pre-made note cards glued to ribbon to be hung on a tree branch. The whole thing turned out to be such a sentimental activity!

 

All in all, this was one of the best parties I have helped put on and I am so happy with the turnout. The future bride and groom had a blast and that is all that matters in the end!

Party decoration design: Party with a K

Candy Buffet: Party with a K

Candy: Oh! Nuts and The Confectionary