Party – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Baby December 4, 2016

Destiny’s Baby Sprinkle

Yesterday, I threw one of my best friends, Destiny, a baby sprinkle to celebrate the impending arrival of her sweet baby girl (and also her 25th birthday!). The shower was at Sweet Paris’ CityCentre location, and despite the weather outside being frightful, the atmosphere inside was seriously delightful (ode to one of my favorite Christmas carols). Destiny’s mom flew in from Las Vegas for the shower, and it was so nice getting to celebrate with Baby Thompson’s Nana there too!

We ate crêpes, decorated cupcakes, guessed Baby T’s arrival date, took photos in front of the sprinkle backdrop, watched as Destiny opened one adorable baby item after another, and had wonderful conversations amongst old and new friends. I love baby showers!

Destiny and I met last summer and quickly became good friends. We both have 2.5 year olds, Truman and Isla, who are also best friends, and I love seeing them together, as Isla always lights up when she sees her pal. Destiny is one of the most sweet, considerate, and thoughtful people I’ve ever met, and we wanted to show her how loved and appreciated she is. The group of ladies at the shower definitely filled the room up!

There were a lot of talented ladies who helped me pull off the sprinkle, and I’ll start with the invitations, which were created by Papellerie (the same gals who did our wedding suite and Isla’s birthday invitations). I am thrilled with how they turned out – they have sprinkles in them (see video on my Instagram here).

The gorgeous wedding cake was made by Lisa of Maple & Love, whom gave me all of our incredible travel suggestions when we went to Melbourne. It was a lemon and strawberry cake, and although I don’t eat eggs, I did totally get a bite of the icing – glad I did!

My Cricut got a good workout, as I used it to create the bottle shapes for the Eos party favors, the ‘Guess Baby Thompson’s Birth Date’ activity and the vinyl shapes for the mylar balloons. I left the heavy duty laser cutting to Monica of Paper Flour Ink, who made wooden boards reading Oh Baby Girl that she covered in sprinkle paper. She is the best!

At a recent party I co-hosted, one of the other gals suggested we order thank you cards and pre-address/stamp the envelopes to help the mama-to-be, and I thought this was such a great idea, so I ordered pretty pink and gold thank you cards from Tiny Prints. I also ordered customized mug from Tiny Prints that read, “Sugar, spice, all things nice – that’s what Baby Thompson is made of” for the tea and coffee. Side note: I’m also obsessing over their gorgeous Holiday cards. We’ve gotten a few in the mail that are Tiny Prints, and I love them!!

My amazing friend Amanda baked cupcakes that were at each place setting, surrounded by colorful sprinkles from Layer Cake Shop. Guests got to decorate them as they wanted, then take them home (because crêpes and cakes made for fully tummies!) in boxes, which had customized birthday stickers, also from Tiny Prints.

Meredith, the queen of creativity (hello invitation stylist!), helped me to blow up and stick all of the confetti-shaped balloons to the backdrop, which my wonderful mom sewed (Sasha DIYed the PVC pipe stand and Amanda sanded it down! Talk about a team effort!).

I am seriously so excited to meet sweet baby Thompson. Our oldest babes are already best friends and I know that she and Emi will follow in their siblings/mom’s footsteps. It was such a joyful shower, and I would love to re-live it all over again. She deserves all of the love and attention, as she is one of the most selfless people I know. February cannot come soon enough!

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 Shower April 14, 2015

10 Items You Need from The Monogram Shop (Giveaway!)

The first time I ever stepped foot into The Monogram Shop, I knew I had found my match. Everywhere I looked, I saw gorgeous jewelry, monogrammed purses, colorful napkins, witty cards, and adorable baby gifts. I wanted it all.

If I ever need a gift for a baby, friend (male or female) or something special for myself, I head to The Monogram Shop, as I know I’ll be able to find something good. I tend not to leave myself enough time to get something personalized, which is an issue, as I always fall in love with something that needs to be monogrammed. My goal for this year is to be more proactive in buying presents more than just a couple days in advance.

Last week, I went to the store to meet with Leah to discuss some fun party items for Isla’s birthday. I cannot wait to see how they turn out! I also browsed the store, looking at their latest and greatest. If you’ve never been to The Monogram Shop and live in Houston, you’re seriously missing out. I’ve put together a list of ten things that you need from The Monogram Shop, which includes their jewelry, colorful cups, travel accessories and many other pretties.

The best part of all is that The Monogram Shop is offering one lucky Snapshots & My Thoughts reader a $50 gift card to their store. You don’t have to live in Houston to use it either, as you can order from their website or over the phone. The giveaway ends at 11:59pm on Friday, April 17th. Good luck!

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Have you visited The Monogram Shop before? If so, what did you think? If you live outside of Houston, is there a similar store in your area? I’d love to hear about it.

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1 Jewelry | Bracelets, necklaces, earrings, etc.

Recipes December 16, 2014

Christmas Peppermint Cocktail

On Friday evening, I had three of my closest girlfriends over for a Christmas dinner and catch-up. Like I mentioned yesterday, these ladies make me cry with laughter. Isn’t that just the best? We had some wild moments back in high school, all of which are totally cringe-worthy now and are funny to reminisce over.

I tasked Brittany to come up with a Christmas cocktail, and she outdid herself by in turn tasking her entire work department to submit the most delicious cocktail they could find. She arrived at our house with a large bag from Specs, filled with three fancy liquors and candy canes. I knew we were going to enjoy ourselves.

These candy cane cocktails literally taste like candy canes, so you would be tempted to drink them quickly… and to have too many. Warning: Do not do this. They are strong. But delicious. So I highly recommend you pull these out at your holiday party, because you won’t regret it.

Events November 25, 2014

Gift Guide for the Hostess

With the holidays coming up, there are a lot of meals to be shared together with family and friends, and someone will inevitably be playing the role of hostess. I absolutely love cooking for others, and therefore, was excited to have our good friends over on Sunday for a Friendsgiving celebration. Since most of our friends don’t have children, it’s now easier to have people over to our house than to get a babysitter and go out to eat, so the role of hostess is one I’ll be playing more and more often.