Bridal Shower, Mother's Day and Wedding Decor Ideas

I hope these ideas add a spark to your next party and help you enjoy time with your friends and family.

Place cards:
Place cards are especially important when you gather a group of your friends together who may not all know each other. By providing everyone with names, a creative place card gives someone an opportunity to reach out and begin a conversation without waiting on an introduction from you. They also can double as décor for your special party.

Here are three place card ideas:
1: Lemons or limes
First slice a think piece off the bottom of the lemon or lime so it stand up straight. Then slice off about a half an inch off the top. Use a pairing knife and carve out half of the inside of the fruit. Add name holder stick (found at arts and craft stores) Choose your favorite small bud flowers, like hydrangea, violets, pansies and insert into fruit. Add moss or a green leaf to cover the base. I like to use Crane’s dinner name cards, but you can even make your own.

2. Macaroon Mania
I love almost anything edible so that is what the next two place cards are, yummy!
For the Macaroon place card you will need to order French Macaroons. You can find them online or in some bakeries. They come in great spring colors like purple, green and pink. All you need is stand the macaroon on its edge and gently insert the name cardholder and name card.


3. Start with Dessert (Cupcakes)
For the cupcake place card holder I choose these petal baking cups from Sur La Table. Bake your favorite cupcake; add your favorite color icing, top with a raspberry, name cardholder and name card. Enjoy.


How to create your own bud vase:

I love tulips. In our search for the perfect bud vase, we realized as we were working on the place card holders our extra limes would add a pop of color to this white entry way and hold these festive yellow tulips too!
To make, just cut a slice off the bottom so it sits flat and then slice about an inch off the top and carve about half out.


Centerpiece Topiary
You will need: Tangelos or kumquats, any green leaves, these are Israeli Ruscus leaves, 18” Styrofoam cones and any orange flower.
First attach tangelos to the Styrofoam cone with bamboo forks (these are like sturdy toothpicks). Then fill in any white holes with green leaves and flowers. Trim the flowers so there is a little stem left. You can use wire on the leaves and flowers to make it very secure, however the leaves and flowers can also just be stuck into the Styrofoam by their stems.




Here is my secret with flowers. Carnations are an amazing and affordable addition to any party IF you use them wisely. I suggest when using carnations choose one or two main colors, like below all pinks. Clean the flowers by taking off all the leaves prior to making the bouquet. I use rubber bands, tied tight near the head of the flower to hold them so close together.

For more tips and festive at home party plans click on www.rivaevents.com

Fun Cocktail Ideas for Your Next Brunch!

There are a million great reasons to get your girls together for a party, but one of my favorites happens to be brunch! I love that brunch can be formal, like a bridal shower or Mother’s Day event, or casual, like a lazy Sunday morning. Sauza Tequila and I teamed up to create some new decor and cocktail ideas to help you toast your next occasion together with friends and family!

We created a twist on a traditional brunch drink...instead of the Mimosa we would like to introduce the Pear Ginger Fizz.

Glass: Champagne Flute
1 oz Sauza® Silver Tequila
2tsp ginger liqueur
1 oz pear nectar- (Looza brand is the best or you could juice a 2 fresh pears)
Top with champagne
You can pre-batch this the day before and just add champagne the day of or you can make each one individually.
Shake and strain silver tequila, ginger liqueur, and pear nectar into a champagne flute and top with champagne. Garnish with sugar coated pansy or your favorite colored sugar like above.


This next drink was the HIT of the party. It is a wonderful conversation sparker too, because it is so unique!

The Mama Rita
1 1/2 Parts Sauza® Silver Tequila
1/2Part Cabernet Sauvignon
1 Part DeKuyper Triple Sec
1 Part Agave Nectar
1 Part Fresh Lime juice

Pour all ingredients over ice in mixing glass. Shake and strain into a martini glass and garnish with a lime slice.

This is a great, new twist on a Margarita
Cadillac Rio Margarita
Ingredients:
2 parts Sauza® Blue Silver Tequila
1 part JDK & Sons™ O3 Premium Orange Liqueur
1 part lime juice
1/2part agave nectar

Directions:
Shake all the ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange on the rim.

Bloody MARIA- like a Bloody Mary, but even better.
In a high ball glass combine the following:
2oz Sauza® Silver Tequila
2 tsp horseradish (if you like it hot)
3 dashes of Tabasco sauce
3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
Dash of lime juice
3 dashes celery salt
Fill rest of glass with tomato juice
Garnish with celery stalk

Special thanks to all the wonderful folks who attended the Tuesday party and also to all those who helped make it happen.

Cheers to making memories and spending time with friends!

(photo credit: Zach Hyman) (dress Eliza J)

Toast for Mom

Toast for Mom
Add a nice touch to your Mom’s morning with a helping of MOM toast. For this edible treat we used a MOM cookie cutter, whole grain bread and our broiler to toast. Press the cookie cutter (which we found at Copper Gifts online) into the wide- sliced, whole grain bread and then place in broiler for about 30 seconds on each side. Add your favorite topping (I like butter, cinnamon and sugar -hint, hint ). This is an affordable, simple and family friendly gift for Mom I hope she likes. I am grateful to my mom, mother-in-law and the other 80 million moms around the world who give of their time and love everyday.

(photo credit Zach Hyman) plate Sur La Table

The Royal Event

Prince William and soon-to-be Princess, Kate Middleton, are not the only one's celebrating a royal event. We tore a page out of the princess book and created a magical birthday for a few 4-year-olds worthy of the Queen.

I just recently read "Cinderella Ate My Daughter" and can really relate to the title, as I have a wonderful 4-year-old daughter who loves all things princess. This year we decided to create a party that incorporated a princess theme (at my daughter's insistence) and also a little more equally balanced for the boys. So thus was born the Royal Magical Birthday Party. We hired the Amazing Max and his partner Princess Snow White as a face painter.

We served royal items such as princess and prince water. These labels were made from card stock and attached with double stick poster tape squares. We used magical apples in the decor, as a nod to snow white, and all the kids took them home in their goody bags.

Finding food that is healthy and kid friendly is always a fun challenge for me. This year we had platters of veggies and dip, assorted seasonal fruit and guacamole made by the kids. My mom also made pigs n a blanket, which were a real crowd pleaser.

My little one requested a strawberry castle cake. This one above was made from a sand castle mold and was the hit of the party!

Thank you to everyone who helped and attended! It was a fairy tale perfect party.

For more fun ideas check out Celebrate Everyday TV and Riva Events.

A Berry D-I-Y Centerpiece Idea

Driscoll's was looking for a family friendly craft idea for a recent event. We created these berry topiaries that work as decor and are also a nice D-I-Y activity. We used glass candle holders from a wonderful shop with a philanthropic mission, called Glassy Baby.


Instructions here