Category Archives: Hosting

How-To: Bachelorette Welcome Bags + Hangover Kits

HELLO!

As you might of noticed, things on H&T have been a little quiet for the month of February so it’s good to be back!

The blogging break wasn’t intended but after spending all my time outside my day job consumed with other projects, events, speaking engagements, barre classes and most importantly, Maid of Honor duties for my sister’s wedding – I decided to take a much needed hiatus so I hope you’ll forgive my silence!

The good news is that I have a lot of exciting posts coming up for you. In case you were not following along on Instagram or Twitter – I just recently hosted and planned my sister’s bachelorette weekend in Charleston, South Carolina.

I plan to share in a series of posts all about the weekend with a full recap and how-to if you’re planning a bachelorette weekend of your own and especially one in Charleston!

First up, a closer look at the “Welcome to Charleston” bags I put together for all the bridesmaids and best babes that attended. These bags could be assembled to match any bachelorette weekend destination. They might also provide inspiration for wedding welcome bags too. I tried to keep in mind what the girls might need most over the weekend plus a few fun souvenirs to take home.

Below you will find links to everything I included in mine!

#1. The Bags

 I ordered 10 of these South Carolina Totes. They are reusable and great for the gym, groceries and as a tote, of course. (The banner seen below, I purchased here.)

#2. Custom Name Tags by Drafts & Crafts

I tied these on to each bag with gold ribbon from Wedding Paper Divas. I had them made with each’s girl’s name and then an extra one that read “The Bachelorette” for my sister.

#3. H&T Hangover Kits

  • Tempo Tonight – These all natural hangover pills are my newest go-to!  You take 2 pills before you have your first drink and two more once you get home. It works proactively against toxins and it’s safe to say that I got the girls hooked on them too after last weekend! Hangovers prevented. Do yourself and your body a favor and order a box now!
  • EOS lip balms – I don’t know about you but I always wake up with the driest lips.
  • Mini Bottle of Tums – for those next-day tummy aches.
  • Mini Nutella Packets – my sister’s favorite and who doesn’t like Nutella? Hungover or not.
  • Tic Tacs – to kill that morning breath.
  • Packets of Advil & Tylenol – pick your poison.

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Entertaining Finds

With the holidays now behind us and calendars finally starting to slow down, it’s safe to say that I’ve taken a little break from the entertaining myself. However, that certainly does not mean that I have stopped shopping online for inspiration for upcoming Spring get-togethers this year.

Today I’m sharing some of my entertaining finds over the past week – have any favorites? Send my way!

Sometimes I find myself completely inspired by one item and create an entire party or excuse to host (and toast) – whoops!

Happy Friday and to everyone who has a long weekend – enjoy!

Champs & Cookies Decorating Party

This time of year can be very overwhelming with holiday parties, gift exchanges and events galore (not to mention you still have to find time for Christmas shopping). It can also be a little daunting when you decide to play hostess to your own friends and family. This year, instead of hosting my favorite things party or big holiday party, I decided to put together a small “Champs & Cookies” get together at my house with the help of my good friend, Brie of Monumental Sweets.

This best part about this idea is that it can be a super last minute party to plan with friends and family and requires little-to-no prep work aside from the baking (thanks Brie!).

The concept was simple  – growing up, we both went to so many “cookie decorating” parties at school, friends’ houses and family’s that we decided to take this idea and make it a little more “grown up” (aka add toasting).

Brie took care of the sugar cookie recipe because she’s a pro – but you could also do this with break and bake dough too. We baked the cookies ahead of the time and used frosting, sprinkles and other toppings for decor. We set up an assembly line of sorts with plates, decorating stations and bubbly glasses. Full disclosure: my cookies did not turn out quite as pretty as the pro’s!

The champs was poured and N’SYNC + Justin Bieber + Michael Buble and a little Mariah Carey Christmas tunes played in the background on repeat (those are completely optional music choices although I would recommend them strongly).

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Holiday Cards with Tiny Prints

If you followed along on instagram, you know that I was busy last weekend on a December rainy afternoon tying bows on fresh wreaths, decking the halls at my house and addressing holiday cards for my favorites. For those of you on my Christmas card list this year, spoiler alert below!

I was so happy to collaborate with Tiny Prints again on custom cards, address labels, thank you cards and even stamps and gift wrap. Yes, gift wrap. How adorable is it? I plan to wrap all gifts from yours truly this year in it – no tags needed.

If you haven’t ordered from Tiny Prints before, it couldn’t be easier. The hardest part is deciding which cards to customize because they’re all so darn adorable. You can do photo cards or ones without. This year, I opted for a simple “Be Merry” design with scalloped edges. I also added “xoxo BAC” to all my stamps for a more personalized touch plus polka dot envelope liners.

Haven’t ordered your snail mail cards yet?

There’s still time and a handful of promotions so don’t waste anymore time (including up to 40% OFF sitewide).

Merry Everything and Happy Always!

P.S. The sweater leggings above are also featured in my holiday PJ post picks too! 

{Special thank you again to Tiny Prints. All custom items were sponsored.}

Save the Dates with Wedding Paper Divas

Today I am happy to have my sister Megan Elizabeth (MEC) guest post about her beautiful STDs (save the dates, duh!) that arrived in my mailbox last week. If you missed her last post about a creative way to ask your bridesmaids or my how-to on her engagement basket – be sure to catch up on those too.

First of all, I love my Save the Dates that worked on with Wedding Paper Divas. They are beautiful and fit my wedding “theme” perfectly which is botanical meet Anthropologie in nature. They had so many beautiful options to choose from, so I had to narrow down my choices and I finally found the one.

Wedding Paper Divas gave me an experience of individuality and ease. I was allowed to customize my cards exactly how I wanted them- it originally had a chalkboard background which I really liked, but I wanted something a bit lighter to go with my natural wedding feel, and they accommodated me with simplicity and even gave me several color options for the color I was looking for. I was sent the proofs and the order was placed immediately after my approval.

You can customize fonts and size/color, although their suggestions are hard not to follow because they are done so tastefully. They also have an array of options as far as style goes- floral, rustic, modern, and nature, to name a few, which helps when searching for the perfect card for your wedding feel.

I was able to browse by brand too! Naturally, I went to the BHLDN (Anthropologie wedding line) section first and found one I loved that was in my top two, but this beauty by Jennifer Raichman took the cake!

You can also see the total suite of each card in case you want to use the design for all your wedding needs- invitations, thank you cards, place cards, etc.

Their prices are amazing too, with options to fit your budget! They offer different options for paper – thickness, type and cut (rounded, squared, etc.) and options for invite style- postcard, magnet, flat, and tri-fold. The envelopes are customizable as well, by style and color (kraft, white, gold, etc.).

And I couldn’t resist- we had to get some cute return address labels, and the beautiful options for these were endless as well.

Overall, this was honestly the perfect Save the Date experience and I couldn’t be happier with my product (and given the many compliments I’ve received, it seems my recipients agree)! Simple, efficient, customized and beautiful- adjectives that should go with every wedding planning experience.

Stayed tuned for more guest posts a la MEC as we have plenty of more wedding planning adventures to come until the Spring!

{Disclosure: Wedding Paper Divas sponsored these products and all opinions are our own.}