Party + Wedding Ideas

Our Housewarming Party + Contest

This post is sponsored by Glad.  Glad asked me to put together a One-Bag Party, which means all of the waste only goes in one bag. I love this concept. Visit Facebook.com/Glad for more details!

We moved in almost a year ago but a lot of our friends hadn’t seen our apartment yet so last Saturday we decided to host a giant housewarming party. If you remember we live in a 500 square foot apartment so I wasn’t sure about entertaining all those people until we decided on an open house style party. We told guests to stop by for a visit any time between 11am and 6pm. I was still a little bit nervous to throw a party for everyone we know in such a small space but we have an excellent backyard and a really fun stoop so I figured we could always overflow into the outdoor spaces. Honestly, I think it might be one of my favorite parties I’ve ever thrown. It had a very relaxed vibe. I liked that people didn’t feel like they had to stay very long and that people stopped by on their way from one weekend activity to the next. We also had guests that stayed for a few hours and guests that stopped in more than once. It was great because we actually got a chance to have good talks with almost everyone that came through. When I’m planning a party I like to focus on a couple things that make the party feel special and keep the rest of it simple, for the housewarming I decided on Florals and Food.

For the Florals: Since it was a housewarming party I wanted to keep the house pretty close to its original state so people could see our apartment but I decided to put up a garland on the front door to welcome people in. I ordered a eucalyptus garland from the Flower Mart and picked up some peonies, tulips, and wax flowers that I added myself. It wasn’t cheap, it cost a little over $100 but considering it made such a big impact it was a good tradeoff. It only took about an hour to make and hang and I was really happy with the results. I hired Julie Manwaring to make a “come on in” sign that we attached with wire. (Watch for a DIY post coming soon.)

For the Food: I asked my friend Andrea Pimental to cater the food. She is a genius and is so great to work with. I told Andrea I wanted most of the food prepared before the party so I could just bring out a few new dishes every hour. I bought a bunch of small pots and bowls for $1-2 (mostly from CB2 and Crate & Barrel) and handed them over to Andrea to work her magic. The food was amazing. It was so fun to bring out new fun things to eat through out the party. For breakfast we had yogurt parfaits, scones, baklava, avocado and grapefruit salad. Then in the afternoon we got out strawberry tarts, shrimp skewers, panzanella salad and few other things I’m forgetting now. You should’ve heard the oohs and ahhs when I brought out the tray of Butterscotch Pots de Creme. The last few hours we mostly sat on the stoop and ate homemade popsicles and watched the people walk by on our busy street. (Andrea posted the whole menu with recipes here.)

For the One Bag Party: I chose elements that were reusable recyclable and compostable to reduce on waste. San Francisco has an excellent compost program so a the cups and the paper napkins were compostable. The little pots and bowls were reusable but came in cardboard boxes that we recycled. In the end our one bag of trash consisted of the bamboo plates and utensils and some of the food packaging. Not bad for a 50 person party! Glad wants to challenge everyone to have a one-bag party. And they asked me to select some items that a reader could win at home.

(Giveaway is now CLOSED. Congratulations to our winner, Cindy #913!) There are two ways to enter to win all the item pictured below. Winner will be chosen on Monday April 29th!

1. Leave a Comment Below describing what kind of One Bag party you would host and if you want to enter twice then
2. Enter on Instagram (you must have an Instagram account to enter this way) see details on the @ohhappyday instagram account.

Photography by Paul Ferney + a few iphone photos
Florals by Jordan Ferney, assisted by Irene Yu
Food by Andrea Pimental

Party Lantern Garland DIY + Free Printable

I was in New York last month and saw some really cute fabric lanterns but they were over $100. I started to think about if we could make one ourselves out of paper for party decor. After trying a few different prototypes we came up with this little version below. The best part? The materials to make it cost less than $5. You can download a free printable below for the patterns but I love that you can make them in any color depending on your party. Each lantern takes about 10 minutes to make, it’s the kind of project that is easy to finish while you are watching a movie. Click through for instructions below. (PS – Outdoor globe lights have me dreaming of last year’s Summer Garden Party…)

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Ice Cream Cone Pinatas DIY

Summer’s just around the corner. And these pinatas are perfect for a summertime party. They can be used as decorations, fill them with gifts and give to each person or you could fill them with candy for some traditional fun. We made them with balloons, paper mache, and my favorite crepe paper fringe. Try pairing them with my favorite Ice Cream Cone Garland for a fully themed event!

Click through for instructions and more photos!

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Favorite Party Ideas This Week

1. Adorable, brightly colored gift bows by How About Orange.
2. You Are My Fave‘s long awaited fabric flower tutorial.
3. Camille Styles‘ extra special Mother’s Day brunch on Hayneedle.
4. A 1 year-old birthday party with the perfect gold star balloons on NieNie Dialogues.
5. Wearable art from Studio Deseo (via Simple Lovely.)

Confetti Party Hats DIY

Today, I’m blending two of my favorite things: party hats and confetti! These festive hats are easy to make, super colorful, and a definite crowd pleaser. It’s hard not to smile when there’s a party happening on your head! I got the idea for this technique from Joke’s present wrapping trick. It couldn’t be easier. Just glue and dip!

Click through for instructions and more photos!

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