confetti – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Baby June 9, 2015

Isla’s Confetti-Filled First Birthday Party

We celebrated Isla’s first birthday on Saturday with a confetti-filled party at our house. I originally had another theme in mind, but when I saw this Stella McCartney Bell Party Dress on Instagram, I knew I had to change my plans. I immediately contacted Papellerie, the creative team behind our wedding stationery (see photos here), to see what sort of fun invitation they could think up. Needless to say, I am obsessed with how they turned out. Riley (our designer) did such an incredible job making my visions come to life. She is incredibly talented. We had custom confetti from The Confetti Bar inside each invitation – with little Isla confetti made by Meredith of Cake & Confetti. I love them!

The party went without a hitch, which I was so grateful for. We packed over 60 adults and 20 kids into our little one-story house and into the backyard (my prayers for sunshine worked!). Sasha and I were both on cloud nine after the party – there is no greater feeling than seeing all of our closest family and friends in one place!

A lot of work went into this party, and I want to say a special thanks to Meredith (mentioned above). She spent oodles of hours making a balloon arch, flowers, bubbles, confetti, signs, etc. and helping me set up on the Friday before. She is a force to be reckoned with, and I suggest that anyone in Houston who is planning a party contact her! Also, thank you to Riley for the invitations. You are amazing. Thank you to Leah Burke of The Monogram Shop, who met with me to brainstorm creative customization options for the party. We ordered our adorable frosted cups and beer koozies (both which were big hits!) from them, and I recommend anyone in the Houston-area stop by when planning a party. Last, but not least, thank you to my mom, who made both of the confetti cakes and also sewed the purple runner on our dining table in a matter of minutes on the Friday before the party. She puts Martha to shame!

I finally finished putting away all of the leftover confetti, favors, honeycomb balls, etc. yesterday, and I’m sad to see all of the bright colors leave our house. I wish that balloon arch was a permanent fixture around here! I already have Isla’s 2nd birthday party theme in my mind (yup, I’m insane!). Time to get pinning! xo

Baby October 1, 2014

Creative Gender Reveal Cards (+ Confetti)

Sasha and I decided against a gender reveal party, as we were scheduled to find out the baby’s gender while we were in Bali, and there was no way in the world I would wait two extra weeks to find out. We opened the email from my ob-gyn in our hotel room and literally squealed, then rolled around the bed, giggling with excitement. It was so sweet and intimate – I couldn’t imagine it any other way. We had told very few people that I was pregnant at that point (16 weeks), so decided to do a big bang reveal and tell people that I was pregnant and expecting a baby girl.

Recently, I’ve seen some very cute and creative gender reveal options that don’t involve cake and a big party, and I think we’ll use one for baby #2 (don’t get any crazy ideas, this won’t be for awhile).

My favorite announcements are featured below. Have you seen any other cute and creative ways to announce a baby’s gender?

Lauren Chism

Once again, Lauren Chism creates the cutest card. See other favorites here! I love the cute little envelope within an envelope – an extra level of secrecy. All of the confetti is so pretty too!

Announcement May 2, 2014

Super Sweet 16 Balloon Invites

I am always looking for creative invitation or announcement ideas – a deviation from the standard colored cardstock. I have finally decided what to do for Isla’s announcements, after making the time conscious decision not go to the same letterpress + photo route for Sasha’s UT MBA graduation announcements (to be posted soon!), and no, it’s not a balloon! However, when I saw these super sweet 16 birthday balloon invitations on Oh So Beautiful Paper, I swooned. The balloons are so colorful, and I love the design by Cristina Pandol. I recognized Cristina’s name, and searched Snapshots and My Thoughts – low and behold, I have posted two of her previous projects before here. She is wildly talented – I totally love her style. Have you ever received a save-the-dates or invitation via balloon? Such a cute idea.