I love all kinds of parties, but birthday parties are probably my favorite. Everyone has their birthday traditions, which usually include a combination of all their favorites, but no matter what there are always the staples of fun times with friends, family and of course a cake. Check out some of my favorite birthday party ideas and traditions below! Party Guests I love having a fun reason like a birthday to bring everyone together to celebrate. Not that I ever need an excuse but a birthday celebration just would not be a celebration if you didn’t have your family and friends by your side. One of our family birthday traditions is to go over to my grandparent’s house for a birthday meal. I have pictures as far back as I can remember of us going over to celebrate with everyone. Creative Dishes Though I may be a little OCD when it comes to planning events, food is not one area that I shy over. I am a huge fan of using fresh ingredients, making dishes yourself and having food displayed in creative ways. This could include making the person’s favorite kind of birthday cake from scratch, serving the dishes and in their mini form, on creative displays or even thinking about serving foods that are not a standard “party menu” dish. A homemade cake, like the ice cream cake my grandmother made for my brother, or mini food favorites are the perfect example of a creative food idea! DIY Decorations I will be the first to admit that yes, I have a crafting problem. If I see something I would rather make it than buy it, and that definitely applies to party decorations. I love personalized details and customizing decorations to include a person’s favorite color(s), pattern choice, monograms or picture. Simple DIY birthday decorations like banners, food toppers, and place cards are the perfect personalized party accessories. If I had all the time in the world I would probably never buy a premade party decoration ever again. What is your favorite thing to do when you celebrate your birthday?
Don’t forget as part of this week I am giving away a wonderful party prize pack filled with great party goodies that are perfect for any occasion! Make sure you enter before midnight on May 21st for your chance to win! Here is how you can enter to win…
Good Luck!! I will announce the winner on Friday, May 24th!
xoxo
Megan
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To keep up with the 1st anniversary celebrations I have dedicated today’s post to a celebration that occurs after the wedding: the 1st Anniversary. After the wedding the bride and groom will have a year of firsts together. The first anniversary marks the end of the first year of marriage and for some a renewal of vows. Check out some of my favorite first anniversary celebration ideas!
Wedding Treats
I think one of the most sentimental traditions of the first wedding anniversary is the saving of the top tier and a bottle of wine or champagne from the wedding reception and enjoying it on the celebration of the first anniversary. The two of you can enjoy a nice dinner for two (maybe even at the same place you hosted your reception), enjoy your wedding goodies and relive your wedding day by flipping through pictures or watching your wedding video.
Gifts In the US the traditional first wedding anniversary gift is paper. Some great gift ideas include customized stationary, a handwritten love letter or a nice book. You can also get a little creative with the paper theme and find unique paper themed gifts like printed paper coasters, a customized calendar, event tickets or a map with the places the two of you would like to go together. Vow Renewals Some people love any excuse to host a party, and the first anniversary is no exception. Some couples enjoy renewing their vows every year on their anniversary with their friends and family. Others might take a fun anniversary trip as their way of celebrating (aka renewing their honeymoon). No matter if you decide to go the traditional route when celebrating your anniversary or create your own anniversary celebrations remember to have fun celebrating. The two of you made it through an entire year together with many more wonderful anniversary celebrations ahead of you! What other ideas do you have for an anniversary celebration? Don’t forget as part of this week I am giving away a wonderful party prize pack filled with great party goodies that are perfect for any occasion! Make sure you enter before midnight on May 21st for your chance to win! Here is how you can enter to win… Good Luck!! I will announce the winner on Friday, May 24th!
xoxo
Megan
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Let the Birthday countdown begin! I can’t believe it but I have almost been blogging to all my wonderful followers for a year! Over the past year I have planned, created and worked so many different types of events, moved to a new city for a wonderful event planning job, and have had so much fun telling you all about it on my blog! Since it is quite fashionable to turn one’s birthday into a birthday celebration week, today is kicking off the countdown to The Preppy Planner’s 1st Birthday! So to kick off the birthday week celebration here are ten of my favorite posts from my first year blogging.
And for a little more fun to help celebrate the 1st year anniversary of the blog I have created an awesome prize pack that I am giving away. Starting today and going through midnight on May 21st you can enter to win. Here is how you can enter to win…
Good Luck!! I will announce the winner on Friday, May 24th!
xoxo
Megan
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Happy Monday to you all! I hope each and every one of you had a great weekend and was able to spend some time with their mothers. This past weekend I headed down to Richmond for Mother’s Day with the family. My sister, mom and I fixed lunch for both my mom and grandmother. We fixed a wonderful lunch with kabobs on the grill, fruit salad, tortellini with pesto, butter rolls, salad and desserts.
I helped arrange some roses for the table setting, which ended up being quite a painful experience. Yes I know they have thorns but why do they poke you so much! Luckily, I came out of the experience without any bleeding so all was good.
We also celebrated my grandmother’s birthday since we were all together yesterday as she will be turning 88 (go grandma!) this week. I baked and my mom iced a delicious cinnamon cake for her and along with our Mother’s day fudge pie we had enough desserts for everyone to enjoy! After dessert the moms opened their presents and we had a fun closure to our Mother’s Day celebrations.
What did you do with your mom for Mother’s Day this past weekend?
xoxo
Megan
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Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's out there today! I hope each and everyone of you is able to spend a time with your moms, grandmothers and even great-grandmothers today! Still need ideas on what to do with mom today? Check out some of this week's past Mother's Day posts!
Happy Mother's Day to you all! I am off to go help get lunch ready for my mom!
xoxo
Megan
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The perfect accompaniment to the Mother’s Day Brunch I shared with you yesterday? A create your own Mom-osa Bar of course! Mom will love this festive themed bar and everyone will love making one (or two!) delicious “Mom-osa” concoctions with the different juices and berries from this drink bar. Bar Ingredients - Juice - Champagne - Sliced Fruit - Glasses - Ice I have found that having 3 juice choices and about 5 fruit choices mark for the perfect bar setup. For your juice choices I love orange juice, a strawberry flavored one and a lemonade variety. There are so many different juice varieties now that there are no right or wrong juice selections, just pick out what you think mom would enjoy the most. When it comes to picking your fruits choose what looks best at the market nearest you. Choices like raspberries and blueberries will not need to be cut, but strawberries, mangos and other large fruits will need to be cut to fit into your glasses. And last but not least, the champagne. Since you are mixing the champagne into a juice you don’t need to worry about picking out a flavored champagne. I have found that a nice dry champagne works best when making mimosas. Once you have all your bar ingredients you can add colored platters, bowls and place cards to turn your bar into a colorful display. Here are three great mimosa bar set-ups that you can base your own creation off of from Holidays Central, On To Baby, and Paper Fancy. Enjoy!! Are you ready for Mother’s Day on Sunday?
xoxo
Megan
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Mother’s Day is a great day to let mom know that you care. On Tuesday I shared with you ten great ideas for things that you can do with/for mom this Sunday. One more great idea is to fix mom a wonderful brunch. Let mom take a break from preparing the meal and have a relaxed and stress-free morning by creating a stunning brunch fit for a queen (mom did raise a princess so that must make her the queen) like this one below. Decorations No brunch is complete without a bouquet of mom’s favorite flowers. Make these your centerpiece as you create your table setting or your buffet if you have a large group dinning together. You can also dress up the area with a cute homemade Mother’s Day banner like this one from etsy store Say It With Burlap. Table Setting Carrying over the beautiful floral patterns into the rest of your decorations you can have wonderfully decorated china and linens to create the perfect Mother’s Day brunch table setting like this one from Camille Styles. Gift
Don’t forget mom’s Mother’s Day gift. If you are putting together the entire brunch yourself a small token or card placed at mom’s seat is the perfect topper to this Mother’s day brunch.
If you don’t live close enough to head home to celebrate with your mom you could always make reservations at her favorite restaurant or event hire someone to come over and cook for her. Just don’t forget to tell mom thank you for everything she has done for you! What are you doing for your mom this Mother’s Day?
xoxo
Megan
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When it comes to the wedding day dad may be the one that walks his little girl down the aisle but mom still has a huge role to play when it comes to planning for the big day. The mother of the bride has quite a number of responsibilities leading up to and on the day of the wedding. With Mother’s Day right around the corner there is no better time to let mom know that she will play an important role on your wedding day. Thanks to The Knot, here is an amazing list of things that you can have mom help you out with when it comes to planning your wedding day! - Help the bride and groom scout out ceremony and wedding reception sites and ask friends/family for vendor recommendations.
- Serve as the main contact for wedding pros (especially if the wedding is taking place in your town and the bride lives elsewhere).
- Help the bride choose her wedding dress and veil.
- Compile and submit names and addresses of your family and friends to be included on the master guest list.
- Talk to the groom's family about whom they want to include on the guest list and manage the difficult task of limiting the number of guests, if necessary.
- Help research family or ethnic traditions and heirlooms to incorporate into the ceremony or reception.
- Determine what the bride wants you to wear on the big day and find a gorgeous mother of the bride dress. Then, consult with the groom's mom on what you two will be wearing. You'll both feel more comfortable if your elegance is in sync. Start looking for the perfect dress.
- Attend (and possibly help organize) the bridal shower and the rehearsal dinner.
- Escort the bride down the aisle if the bride's father isn't planning on it. (In a Jewish wedding both parents accompany the bride.)
- In a Christian wedding, be seated in the first pew directly before the ceremony and leave the chapel first afterward. If there is no reception music you are also the first one to stand to signal everyone else to rise right before the bride walks in.
- Stand in the receiving line to greet guests; traditionally, as reception hostess, the mother of the bride heads up the line.
- Sit at the parents' table (if there is one).
- Dance with the father of the bride (or other escort) and the groom during the formal first-dance sequence.
- Remind the bride often how special she is and that she'll be the most beautiful bride in history.
- Let the bride cry on your shoulder anytime, day or night (you know, be a mom).
What other roles did your mom have in your wedding? xoxo Megan
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We all know that mothers are the best people out there, so you better be ready for what better way to say “Thank You” to your mother this Mother’s Day than do something fun with mom. I have put together a list of ten great activities that you and your mom can do to celebrate Mother’s Day, now all you have to do is decide which one to do first! 1. Painting & Wine Class Painting and wine classes, like these hosted by My Spirited Art in Richmond, VA, are a growing trend for the perfect girl’s night. Grab a few of your girlfriends and their mothers and make it a social event you all will enjoy! 2. Spa Day Treat your mom to a day of pampering by sending her to get her nails done or a nice massage. You could even make her a cute at home spa day basket that she could use whenever she likes. 3. Plant a Garden Plant a garden with your mom and she will love watching the flowers bloom and think of you when she is able to make a beautiful bouquet that she could display in this cute monogrammed vase you could get her. 4. Wine Tasting For those who are 21+ treat your mom to a trip to a local winery where the two of you can enjoy a nice tour, wine tasting and maybe even lunch. As an added bonus you can buy mom a bottle of her favorite wine she tried to enjoy later! 5. Beach Trip Have a few extra days or live close to the beach? Take a family trip to the beach and let mom relax by the water while reading a good book. (Just tell dad to handle the travel plans!) 6. Movie Date Spend some quality time with mom by taking her to go see a movie together. I bet mom would love to go see The Great Gatsby this weekend! 7. DIY Tea Time Get a little crafty for Mother’s Day and make mom a cute tea or coffee box with her favorite brews. You can even add in an adorable handmade mug by following this easy DIY mug tutorial from Lauren Conrad! 8. Wine and Dine
Don’t make mom cook this Mother’s Day. Take her out to her favorite restaurant or to a new one that she has been dying to try! No cooking or cleanup required.
9. Shopping Trip
Every mom loves a shopping trip so take mom to her favorite store and tell her to pick out something, your treat!
10. Get Active
You don’t just have to sit around on Mother’s Day. Plan for you and mom to attend a class at the gym together or head to the local park for a fun run or bike ride. What are you doing with your mom this Mother’s Day?
xoxo
Megan
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There was so much going on this past weekend! The very muddy Kentucky Derby race (did your horse win?) took place on Saturday and all the Cinco de Mayo celebrations were going on yesterday. On top of those two fun holidays that were going on this past weekend I also went home and celebrated a few birthdays in the family and attended my brother’s senior piano recital. On Sunday, I went down to Richmond for lunch at my grandparent’s to celebrate both my brother’s and my uncle’s birthdays. My grandmother made two amazing birthday cakes, a cheesecake and a brownie ice cream cake, for the birthday boys. They were both amazingly delicious! I was beyond fascinated with the ice cream cake as this was the first time she has included sprinkles into the cake mix and it turned out so festive! Here are the two birthday boys blowing out their birthday candles and making their birthday wishes!
And then that afternoon we went over to our church to watch my brother perform for his senior piano and marimba (looks like a long wooden xylophone) recital and a post event reception. **Just as a heads up you will be seeing quite a few family events coming up since my brother is graduating high school this year. (woo hoo!!!)
What did you do this past weekend?
xoxo
Megan
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