Ethan's Baseball Themed Birthday Party

Jeff made the invitations on photoshop and printed them
on brown card-stock.

I'm sorry I've been neglecting the blog for a few weeks.  With the end of the school year and Ethan's first birthday, I didn't know if I was coming or going.  Now that that's all over with, I can start posting again. I know my 10 followers must be super excited.

For those of you who don't personally know me, my husband is a huge Dodger fan.  So when we were planning Ethan's first birthday party, of course Jeff wanted it to be baseball themed.  We decided to keep it broad and make it baseball instead of Dodger themed because it would be easier to make decorations that way. I also love the vintage look and I wanted it to have an old timey feel.

We started planning, and there were two things at the top of our list: it needs to be in our budget (which is always small), and the menu needs to be plentiful and delicious.  I have a huge family so accomplishing these two tasks is not an easy one.  Luckily, the baseball theme lends itself to delicious (incredibly unhealthy) cheap food, but hey it's once a year lets indulge a little.

The menu consisted of Frito boats (they are like nachos but with Fritos instead), chili cheese hot dogs, potato salad, and green salad.  For snacking purposes we had a popcorn machine, and the centerpieces were full of peanuts, sunflower seeds, and licorice.

My mom was the popcorn vendor for this venue. FYI
she's wearing her favorite Dodger player's number (Adrian
Gonzales, 23).  So if Adrian enjoys reading mom blogs
and is reading this right now, my mom would love
an autograph.

Whenever I come up with centerpieces I try to make it something
that's functional, or edible so that I'm not stuck with a bunch
of centerpieces that I have to throw away.  That is what inspired
the snack filled paper bags that were on every table.

We decorated with red, white, and blue decor.  The reason we did this was that a lot of the original teams (the Dodgers included) use red, white, and blue as their team colors.  I also liked the fact that I could re-use all of the decorations for our annual 4th of July party. Although I love planning parties, I also hate waste, and anytime I can re-purpose something I jump at the chance.

The pennant flag banners were made by my mom.

My sister who is an amazing microbiologist by day, and baker by night, made the birthday cake and cupcakes.  She made a chocolate cake from scratch with homemade chocolate ganache filling.  She was really nervous about the decorating aspect, but all in all the cakes turned out how I pictured them, and they tasted amazing!

This pennant banner with Ethan's name was made for Ethan
by my friend Hilda.  The baseball cake was his
smash cake.

For the cupcakes my sister cut out and made small flags.
She cut out a baseball hat, bat, and glove to go on each
of the flags (my family is so awesome).

I had the bright idea to make "grass" on top of the cupcakes.
Turns out making frosting look like grass is a lot harder
than pinterest makes it look.

Finally the cake.  My mom made the pennant banners.  This
cake fed 80 people and we had more than half
of the bottom layer left over!

 As if we hadn't stuffed the kids with enough junk food I made special goodie bags for the little ones, and the older kids.  Jeff made the "Ethan's Snackbar" tags in photoshop and printed them on the same card-stock as the invitations.

The little ones got Goldfish Crackers,
an organic fruit pouch, and a baseball
with a mustache inside.

The older kids got Big League Chew, Cracker
Jack, and a small baseball with a mustache
inside.

 We ended the day with a gigantic baseball pinata that my brother bought in L.A.  It was HUGE, and had so much candy Jeff was having a hard time keeping it away from the kids.

It was so much fun to get to see all of our family and friends, so that we could celebrate Ethan's first birthday; we ended the day feeling truly blessed and grateful to have this wonderful little boy in our lives.

Baby Lu's Book Themed Birthday

Ethan wearing glasses that were in his goody bag.  These glasses
were the perfect party favor, and have become one of Ethan's
favorite play things.  Ethan is also wearing his "Very Hungry
Caterpillar" onesie to match the book theme.

My friend Ambar is one of those people that plans the most creative parties.  She makes everything herself, and always pays very close attention to detail.  A week ago her son Lu celebrated his 1st birthday, and we were lucky enough to get an invite.  It was book themed and as soon as I saw the invitation I got little hearts in my eyes, just like those emojicons.  I have my bachelors in English, and am a Language Arts teacher, so this party's theme had my brain drooling.  I couldn't wait to see what creative party decor Ambar had up her sleeve.

This was the invitation, which was handmade.  The lining of the
envelope is a hand-cut comic, and hand glued.  The part of the invitation
that has the party information is a library checkout card that is hand stamped
 with the party info.  When I said she pays attention to detail I was not
exaggerating.

When we got to the party we were greeted by table settings that were made from real apples.  They were each sitting on a stack of books, had a picture of Lu, and a Dr. Seuss quote.

                          

The party bags were tote bags with the word READ stamped on them.  Each one included a book, candy, and the thick rimmed glasses that Ethan was wearing.  When I saw we, I mean Ethan, was getting a tote bag I was ecstatic.  I'm addicted to collecting tote bags, and although I forget them 60% of the time that I go to the store, when I do remember them I feel like I'm saving the world!

There was also a craft/reading tent set up for the kids.  Although there wasn't much reading happening, there sure was a lot of crafting.  There were coloring books, colored pencils, fabric markers, and stencils.  The kids were using the stencils and markers to decorate their tote bags.  I then got the bright idea to let Ethan decorate his bag using a marker.  I soon realized the error of my ways and he became very upset when I wouldn't let him eat the fabric marker.  I quickly looked around and gave everyone the look that says, "Don't worry I'm not abusing my child, just a first time parent that doesn't always think things through."

Finally, we got to the food.  Ambar had an adorable book themed dessert and snack table set up.  Each of the snacks is related to a specific book.

It was such a beautiful way to celebrate the first year of a very special little guy.  Kuddos to Ambar one of the most creative and awesome hostesses that I know!

Girl's Evening Out!

Amazing goodie and sweet table

One of my wonderful cousins Fances will be bidding us farewell soon, by getting married, and moving to Switzerland.  To bid her adieu her sisters threw her an amazing farewel/bridal party. Unless you are part of the Marquez-Zavala families, you do not understand the excitement that arises when my family receives an invite from the Marquez sisters.  To say that their parties are fun is a gross understatement.

Let me describe the experience by first describing Frances, the bride-to-be.  Frances is an amazingly talented hairstylist in Los Angeles.  She has a style blog, and is the one responsible for giving me my first pixie cut.  Going along with these interests Frances' shower was all about hair, make-up, pinups, and Kate Spade inspired style.

  Each table was decorated with gold, black, white, pink, and red accents.  We had cotton candy, popcorn, and chips at our disposal for snacking.

At the table we were greeted by a table setting that included 2 lipsticks for each lady (like I told you the Marquez girls know how to treat a gal).

Party favors from the goodie table.  

The entrance greeted us with a large display of treats and make-up for our choosing.  On this table instead of a guestbook there was a tray with different shades of pink and red lipstick.  You would apply the lipstick and then kiss the canvas that is on the right side of the table, to bid her farewell with a kiss!

Right next to the dessert bar a make-up artist was giving all guests fake eyelashes...

and next to her was a caricaturist, this is me looking a lot like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.

Then, as if things weren't already more wonderful than all the guests could have imagined, we had a burlesque dancer come and give us burlesque lessons!

Like I said the Marquez girls don't throw your average party.  This event was exactly what I needed.  Ethan's been sick all week and we even had to make an ER trip (i'll be posting about this later).  Needless to say,  I was feeling drained and in need of some girl time.  Going to this shower made me feel like I'd gone to a swanky Hollywood party with some of my favorite people. Although I love my little more than life itself I will admit that mommy needs girl time every once in a while to re-charge, and that's exactly what I got to do last night.

Amazing Marquez trio.
From left to right, Anabel (hostess),
Frances (bride-to-be), Irene (hostess).
Each of the Marquez sisters has their own blog
 that I highly recommend you visit,
 I've listed a description and link of each one below.

Anabel's blog, Do Tell Anabel takes us into Anabel's world of working mommyhood in Los Angeles.
Irene's blog afterhours is a fantastic fashion blog from one of the most stylish people I know.
Frances' blog frenchee-lou will give you amazing style, hair, and make-up tips to keep you on trend all year long.