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!

DIY: Bachelorette Party Invites

Summer is the season for weddings, and naturally I am attending many (and being a bridesmaids in two--yay!). I love wedding season because it gives all the girls an excuse to get together and celebrate more than once. No wedding journey is complete without a Bachelorette Party and I was ecstatic when my friend and Bride asked me to help plan her Bachelorette Party. Earlier in the year I had received the cutest invites from my other friend's Bachelorette Party. When I asked her where she got them, she informed me that the Maid-of-Honor had ordered them. The invitations were somewhat pricey and after looking at the design of the invitations, I thought to myself, "Why order these when I can make them?!" It is amazing what heavy card stock, font from DaFont.com, and Photoshop CS3 can help you create. Save yourself some money and exercise your creative mind!

Cake of the Day: Freedom Is Not Free

Photo Credit: ButRCream

Today's Cake of the Day comes from Cakes by Becky. I absolutely loved this cake for its simple yet compelling message: Freedom is Not Free. I am so thankful for the many men and women who have died for our freedom. We are so lucky fortunate to live in a country where we have the freedom to be individuals. But, as the cake proclaims, this freedom that we enjoy comes with a cost that others have paid for us. Today, I remember those who have died for our country and thank them immensely!

Happy Memorial Day!

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!

Redesigning!

Hi Loyal readers of Party with a K! It is time for a redesign so sorry for my absence. I am putting together pieces of my new page to make it 10 times better. Feel free to keep reading my old posts by searching through them in the Search Box. I can't wait for you to see the finished product!

xoxo!