LASER TAG PARTY

You guys.

I am OBSESSED with how this party turned out. The bright colors, the dessert table...just all of it. I had so much fun styling this party for our little guy's birthday and even more fun sharing some of the behind the scenes action in our Instagram stories. 

When our son decided he wanted to have a laser tag party, I instantly envisioned having a square invitation with the graphic we used on the back. Since we would be taking the boys to the event and then bringing them back to our house for a sleepover, I knew having a small insert (our 'game plan') for those details would be important as well. 

Invitations

I jazzed up the welcome sign from our set with a little crepe paper. This is my favorite trick whe hanging on a front door because it just gives it a little pop of color and fun. No mistaking which house is the party house! ;)

(I'm posting the link to the entire party set at the bottom)

I am absolutely loving the stage of life we are in when it comes to our children's parties. Having the 'main action' part of the party outside of our home means a) Less mess (um, YESSSS) and b) I don't have to plan any games or activities - I can just focus all my energy on decorating. Which, let's be honest, is the most fun part!

Balloon garlands are most certainly having a moment in the party world, and I knew right away that I wanted to incorporate a large one on our dessert table to really bring a huge pop of color and make a large statement (without a lot of work or money, am I right?!). 

What helped make this super affordable (and awesome!) were pairing regular balloons from the party store with these amazing marble balloons. 

Another thing I'm a huge fan of? Buying grocery store cakes and jazzing them up with a fun cake topper. Can you tell yet that I'm all about easy party ideas? LOL

Building a dessert table for a sleepover, I typically put the emphasis on snacks (think popcorn, pretzels, etc) with a few sweets thrown in. That way the kids can just grab a snack and carry on with their partying. 

Here is a small styling tip when it comes to making Twizzlers stand up straight and pretty (as opposed to sad and droopy which is how they come out of the bag as) - wooden skewers. I just shoved a skewer through the center of the candy to make these really shoot of like laser beams. Aren't these colors PERFECT for this set up?! I think this food detail was my favorite of the party. 

I picked up this small #8 Balloon from Party City, but you can easily find them pretty much anywhere these days! 

VIP passes are always a hit! Normally I would throw these into lanyards for the kids, but honestly, if you just print them off on card stock, punch a hole, and thread some ribbon through them, I promise you the kids will not care! 

I tried so hard to find a cute laser set like the ones we used for the centerpieces for under $5 a pop, but in the end I couldn't so I did the next thing I knew the kids would love for the favors - mini pinatas! Filled with candy and topped with a note not to open until they were home ;). 

I am a huge fan of our candy wrappers. Such an easy thing to include and they really just take ordinary candy and make them totally coordinate with the entire party! 

Another successful party to celebrate another circle around the sun! These party decorations were so easy to set up, which means you could easily bring them into a place if you are hosting your party at the actual event. 

I always love to hear - what was your favorite detail about the party?? 

SHOP THE PARTY

Woodland Hedgehog Party

I've often joked that our gal keeps me on my toes with her party requests, and this time it was no different when she decided upon a hedgehog theme! 

In my mind we could either go two directions with this - fun, bright, and modern or a classic woodland vibe. Our girl choose woodland and I have to say, I ended up having an absolute blast with it!

Since this was going to be a sleepover, I utilized our small inserts with the invitations to give out all the details.

Invitation

The plan was pretty simple. We were going to be taking the small group of girls to Dave & Busters (a birthday favorite around here!) and then come back to our place for food, cake, and a sleepover. This, of course, meant that we could have some fun with the dessert table ;)

We kept the treats pretty simple with items they could just grab and go like popcorn, trail mix, cheese and crackers, and (of course!) a few sweets. 

Hedgehogs are definitely getting more popular, but it was still a little tricky to find items to use. A lot of what I did manage to snag were found in the floral section of the craft stores with other items for fairy houses, like this cute guy we used with our cake topper.

Our 'tree stumps' were just chocolate covered oreos using regular and dark chocolate. I first swirled the light chocolate and after it cooled and hardened, I add the dark chocolate.

These sweet branches were just pretzel rods dipped in chocolate and drizzled with a lighter chocolate melt. 

One of the things I was most excited about for this party were our favor gifts. We created little terrariums for the girls to take home using vases from the dollar store and more elements found in the 'fairy house' section of the craft store. The girls LOVED them and I think they turned out super cute. 

For breakfast we just swapped out the dessert bar with some fun goodies like cereal, donuts, and yogurt. 

And that was a wrap! Another successful party in the books ;) 

What was your favorite part?

SHOP THE PARTY

VALENTINE COLLECTION 2018

I am SO excited to finally share with you this year's valentine collection! I'm pretty obsessed myself :)

All the graphics used this year are hand drawn which I think really give them a whimsical feel. Ready to see?

BEARY SPECIAL {BLUE}

purchase here

BEARY SPECIAL {PINK}

purchase here

HEDGHUGS & KISSES

purchase here

LLAMA

purchase here

MERMAID

purchase here

NARWHAL

purchase here

PUGS & KISSES

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purchase here

So which one was your favorite? Anything you were hoping to see that we didn't do? Let us know in the comments!

LITTLE PUMPKIN BABY SHOWER

Hands down, my favorite time of year is Fall. Crisp air, leaves changing...I love it ALL! So it's safe to say that styling this sweet pumpkin themed baby shower was a ton of fun for me. 

To give a new twist to a classic, we used a peachy coral and a bright magenta as our color palett. 

Invitation available here. 

It's safe to say we had a lot of fun styling the dessert table... Pumpkin flavored everything?! Yes, please!

The sprinkling of pumpkin seeds was one of my favorite details. It gave treats like the macaroons below a subtle pumpkin vibe. 

How darling is this sweet pie frame?! I actually had plans to DIY something pretty similar and then found this gem at our Target in the dollar spot! 

How sweet are these 'leave a wish for baby' cards? What a fun way to remember the day :)

Baby showers are all about those games, and this one was no exception! Baby bingo is always a crowd favorite. 

SHOP THE PARTY

BASEBALL PARTY

Summer may be coming to a close, but it still has our heart along with this sweet baseball party. Going to baseball games is a huge deal for our family each summer and it's a love within our boys that runs deep. Living in the Chicago area it's only natural that we are big Cubs fans as well. When our son turned eight he automatically knew that he wanted a baseball party and he wanted it Cubs themed. And since our team took the championship last year it seems fitting to finally share all the details! 

We designed cute baseball invitations to mimic actual tickets and they really set the stage for the whole vibe of the party. 

We held his party at a local sports center that had a whole program to keep the boys occupied and having fun playing some ball. Parties not held in our house are always super fun because I don't have to plan any activities, but are also a little trickier to decorate. 

My biggest tip when people ask how to decorate at a place that you aren't allowed to either hang things up or bring many items in is to have a large backdrop (preferably mounted to a board) that you can easily prop up against the wall. 

We were pretty spoiled in that my mother in law had cupcakes delivered to us from Georgetown Cupcake. Don't they just look dreamy?! (they were delicious as I'm sure you can imagine). 

For snacks we kept to the basics: popcorn, pretzels, and sweets. Serving the pretzels in this super cute cups were not only a hit with the crowd, but made a super cute favor. 

In each of our party packages, there's always a page dedicated to a design that can easily be made into a t-shirt. For this party I simply bought plain baseball tees at a local sports store, printed our design onto transfer paper, and ironed it onto the shirt. I even made sure to add a little detail to the back:

Let's face it: at the end of a party kids are only thinking of one thing - that party swag ;) We gave out baseball essentials in paper sacks with the intention that they could also bring home a few concession treats. 

That's a wrap! Tell us your favorite party in the comments!

SHOP THE PARTY

{FREE PRINTABLE} DONUT JOKES

It's that time of year again....the daily struggle of packing lunches. I can't be the only one who hates this chore, right?! But on the bright side, it's an excuse for cute notes and jokes and I excited to share the set I designed this year.  (you can still download the free jokes from last year here)

This sweet set prints up easily on standard letter sized paper. Just print one side, flip the paper, and print the answers on the back! Donuts are 2" so they work perfectly with a craft punch. 

I donut know about  you (see what I did there???) but I am love with the donut trend going on recently and I just knew that I had to use them as my inspiration.

And really, who doesn't love a good pun-y joke with their lunch?

Download the file below! 

{Free Printable} Back to School Bath Bomb Tags

You would think for a party stylist I would be more on top of my 'back to school teacher gifts', but honestly this time of year is always a little hectic for us and I rarely get around to it. Anyone else relate?! But one day I found myself roaming the isles of Target when inspiration hit (I mean, really, when doesn't Target inspire you?? lol) and I decided last minute to do a super simple gift of some bath bombs with a cute tag that reads, "This year is gonna be the BOMB". Since I'm a little late to the game, I also made a version that says, "You're the BOMB" to be used for a gift anytime! 

I found these ridiculously cute 'Birthday Cake' bath bombs and knew immediately that I wanted to play on the sprinkles. Pro tip: even if you only have one child, buy the big bag. Just an excuse to have to use the leftovers ;) 

As with all our printables, the tags are designed to simply print, cut, and celebrate! You can either print them up on cardstock (what I chose to do) and punch them out with a 2" circle punch or print them onto 2" Sticker Labels (these already come formatted to print onto Avery's 2" circle labels!) to just peel and stick. 

Make sure to pause and take a cute photo to post onto Instagram. Because we all know that if you don't take a picture it doesn't really count ;)

(and hey, while you're at it, be sure to tag us so we can see what you do with them! @NestlingDesign)

I just threw a few bath bombs into a treat bag and tied it with ribbon and our tag. Done! But wouldn't these be super cute in a small box with the label on top??

Click on the pic below to download your file! This file includes two pages of the tags; one set that reads, "This year's gonna the BOMB" and the other that says, "You're the BOMB". Enjoy!!

KITTY CAT GAMES + ACTIVITIES

One of the hardest parts about planning a party for littles can be the question, "what in the world are we going to do to entertain these kids in our house?!" Raise your hand if this thought has kept you up at night or has been the main reason you did not host a party in your home. 

When I found out that we were going to have 23 (gulp) kids in our house in the dead of winter, I knew that I was going to have to get creative with what we did to entertain them. And honestly? Coming up with cute games and activities to pair with your theme can be one of the funnest parts!

I believe that every good children's party has a fun mix of games and crafts. Something the kids can take home and something to get some of that energy out ;) I'm excited to share with you the games + activities we played to go along with our kitty cat theme. Did you check out the party details I posted yesterday?! 

CAT EARS + FACE PAINTING

As soon as each girl came in they were given cat ears that we made ourselves and had their whiskers painted on with face paint. This was a party for kitties after all :) 

Our cat ear headband was a super easy DIY. I bought a few packages of headbands from Dollar Tree as well as felt in the three main colors of our theme: Black, creme, and pink. I created a quick template for the ears using paper. I made sure to add a little extra space on the bottom to wrap around the headband. Folding the felt in half, I cut out the ear, making sure the crease would be on the bottom. After cutting, I wrapped the felt around the head band and used hot glue to secure. Since glitter was a huge part of this party as well, I added a glitter detail to the inner ear with special cardstock I found at our craft store. 

The girls LOVED the headbands and wore them weeks past the party. Sorry teachers! 

COLORING STATION

There is always that awkward time in the beginning of any children's party where kids are starting to show up and want to be entertained *right that moment* but you are still waiting on others to arrive before you start the party. For younger kids, I love to have a coloring station set up that matches the theme. This gives them something fun to do while you wait for the others (or just to buy yourself time while setting up). 

Personalized coloring sheets available as part of our party package.

KITTY CAT GROOMING PAW-LOR

One of the girls' favorite activitY that we did was pedicures in our own little grooming 'paw-lor'. Simple buckets of bubble bath (both purchased from the Dollar Tree) and nail polish I already on hand made it super affordable. 

COLLAR DECORATING

If you saw our party reveal, you know that we gave out small stuffed kittens for the girls to 'adopt' as their favors. I thought it would be fun for the crafts to be things that the girls could make for their new pets. 

I bought small wooden hearts from our craft store and glued small strips of ribbon on the back to create a hoop. These served as the name tags. We bought cheap collars from the Dollar Tree (notice a theme here?! LOL) as well as some jewels and glitter. 

FEATHER CAT TOYS

We also had the girls make cat toys for their kitties. This was a super easy project that I mostly just used leftover items I already had for the party (paper straws, ribbon/yarn, and feathers). 

PIN THE PARTY HAT ON THE CAT

An oldie, but goodie. Looking back, I wish made little pom poms to go on top of the hats. How CUTE would that have been?!

KITTY CAT TRAINING

I thought it would be cute to have a station that involved a game where they had to 'train' to be kitties. 

For this game, I created a 'start' and 'finish' line with painters tape. I took a couple of the larger balls of yarn we used as decoration and had the girls compete by seeing who could race to the finish line first while rolling their ball of yarn using only their noses (no hands!). 

UNRAVEL THE BALL OF YARN

This was my take on a classic holiday game. It's perfect to use for any theme - just adjust the colors to match! Supplies were super simple: streamers (at least two colors), tape, and small favors (think candy, erasers, etc. An assortment is best so that the girls will be surprised - that's half the fun!). Small ball to start off is optional, but not necessary. I'll explain each step below. I used one favor per girl, but if you have a smaller group, you can easily plan for two/per child.

For this game you can either start off with just your first favor, or with a ball to help create that circle shape.

Tape a strip of streamer to your favor/ball and wrap around until it is completely covered. 

Place your next favor on top (tape if necessary) and wrap it in the second color until completely covered. (I like to use at least two colors so the kids can visually see when to stop unwrapping)

Repeat, alternating colors of streamers, until you have used all your favors. Leave a small strip out so that you know where to start the game. 

To play, have the girls sit in a circle. Choose someone to go first. That girl unravels the ball of 'yarn' until she either spots her gift or sees the next color (whichever happens first - sometimes small toys fall out without them realizing it). Once that happens she passes the ball to the person on her right. Continue until all the girls have a favor!

BONUS GAME: FREEZE DANCE

One of my classic stand by activities is freeze dance. Pop on the soundtrack to whatever Disney movie is hot at that time and when you press stop, everyone has to freeze. For added fun, have the girls act like cats instead of dancing and see what sort of silly positions they get themselves into :) 

Whew, that was a lot of info! I hope you guys find a few inspiring ideas to use for your next event. Let us know in the comments what your favorite one was!

KITTY CAT PARTY

I am so excited to finally share my daughter's sweet kitty cat party! To know our gal is to know that she is obsessed with all things animals, and kitty cats are pretty high up on that list. This was quite possibly one of my favorite parties to throw (I mean, little girls and kittens?! It was cuteness overload!) and also the craziest. We had a lot of last minute RSVPs that included siblings and ended with a guest list of 23 girls - all inside our house in the middle of winter!

As always, I like to send out an invitation that sets the tone for the whole party. Her two requests for the design was pink and gold glitter, so we started with the invitation set and created the entire party package to match. 

Invitations

I love including little details like matching address labels and envelope seals!

I made all the tissue garlands myself, but you can easily find some on Etsy if you aren't the DIY kind!

I tried to focus the majority of our food around items that a kitty would like to eat - fish, milk, kitty chow, and mice!

I took a fun twist on the classic puppy chow recipe by adding in pink M&Ms and serving them in pet food bowls I bought at my local Dollar Tree. The girls absolutely LOVED this!

Mice are a cat's favorite, right? These were made using small wedges of cheese (I love Laughing Cow cheese for this project, but these were used Babybel Cheese I just sliced into wedges), carrots for tails, pink sprinkles for noses, and pepperoni circles for ears. 

Since we all know thirsty little kitties love milk, a milk bar was a must! We served three flavors the girls were able to mix if they like. Strawberry won, hands down in popularity!

Leading up to the party, I scoured thrift shops for used balls of varying sizes. I wrapped them in yarn to create these adorable yarn balls for decorations around the party. 

Without a doubt, the most popular part of this party was the cat adoption at the end. I get asked often where I found our stuffed animals for the party. I was able to score a few lots of Webkinz cats from Ebay and they were absolutely perfect! (You can even find some at Five Below Stores). Each kitten came with its own adoption certification for the girls to fill out. 

We hosted this party in the dead of winter in Illinois, so activities were a MUST to keep these girls entertained. I'm going to do a more at-length post with better details and instructions this week, but I will give you a run down of a few things we did do:

Cat ears + whiskers. Upon entering the party, each girl was able to pick out a set of ears. We used face paint to add on a nose and whiskers. 

For younger kids, I almost always have a coloring station set up to fill in that awkward time in the beginning as you are waiting for everyone to show up. 

Grooming Paw-lor! Little girls love getting their nails done almost as much as they love kittens, so I knew this would be a real hit and it was!

Collar Decorating Station. Every girl got to decorate a collar for their stuffed cat. We purchased the collars at Dollar Tree (they came in sets of 2) and bought wooden hearts for the name plates (simply got glue a small piece of ribbon to create the loop)

Judging by the look on our girl's face, I think it's safe to say the day was a success! 

See ALL the games and activities we played here!

SHOP THE PARTY

{DIY} GAMING TABLECLOTH

One of my favorite details on our Gaming Party are these DIY tablecloths! This DIY started out much like many of mine do - with the thought of 'how can I get the biggest bang for my buck?' I knew I wanted something fun for the table top since we were keeping the decorations at a minimum, but I didn't want to spend a lot either. 

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My solution was to jazz up some plain, black, plastic tablecloths I picked up at my local party store. 

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By drawing on lines similar to the backdrop of the main party design, I was able incorporate the theme to every detail. (You can see that design mentioned in the 'Game On' sign on the TV here).

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I drew on the lines using a silver metallic Sharpie paint pen and using a long ruler. If you don't have a ruler long enough, you can easily use the piece of cardboard, posterboard, etc to create the straight edge. 

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I just drew on the lines in random lengths (some going the entire length of the tablecloth) and added filled circles at the end of the lines that weren't connected to anything. I probably spent a total of 20 minutes on the entire thing. 

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I LOVE how the results turned out. And, there's no end to the possibility of options that you could do for any theme!