Ornament Invitation

Bookmark this if you're planning on doing a holiday party this year! This invitation from "from glitter to gumdrops" was done for a wedding, but it's totally perfect for the holidays. Curl up the details and place them into an ornament. Great way to get guests excited for the party, as well as give them an early party favor to keep. Visit "from glitter to gumdrops" to get the full how-to.

Cookie Dough Truffles

If you–I mean your kids–love to bite into cookie dough then you are going to love these chocolate chip cookie dough truffles! For those of you that hesitate biting into cookie dough for the fear of eating raw eggs, you're safe since this recipe is egg-free. This is a great treat anytime of the year!

Get the recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

DIY Beaded Food Picks

Wanna add some quick charm to your food platters? If you have some beads laying around from old projects–you're in luck! Use them to upstyle toothpicks into fancy food picks. Use jeweled beads or wooden beads, as was done here, from Sara vs Sarah. If you're having a themed party I bet you could find character beads. Craft stores have walls of bead options. Have fun with it!

Visit here to see how Sara vs Sarah did their's.

Lemonade Stand w/Free Printables

My girls start kindergarten exactly one month from today... (fighting back the tears!) We are not even halfway through our "Summer Fun List" but we managed to cross one activity off this past weekend–a lemonade stand! Thanks to The Tomkat Studio for their generous free lemonade printables, I was able to jazz up what would have otherwise been an ordinary table! The printables even inspired us to sell other goodies like strawberry frosted cookies (lemon frosting would have been the obvious choice, but Renee and Siena wanted pink) and we found those adorable marshmallow twists at the Dollar Tree that were a big hit. Although we put price tags on the items, we just took whatever people offered. It was all for fun and getting the girls to practice their entrepreneur and social skills. ;)

There is still plenty of time to put your lemonade stand together! Visit The TomKat Studio here to get your free printables. (The downloadable files include Bake Sale and Lemonade stand freebies)

Merry Monday: Vintage Sewing Party

I am totally smitten with the darling details in this vintage sewing party, created by Pure Joy Events for her daughter's birthday! Themed "Sew Seven"--many of the details would work perfectly for a "Sew in Love" bridal shower, too. I love all the button embellishments, the embroidery hoop background–and look at that amazing cake! I also appreciate that she managed to incorporate other small activities, besides sewing, into the party.

Visit Pure Joy Events here for the full party showcase.

Three New Ways to Serve "Ice Cream"

There is something about serving goodies in ice cream cones that instantly makes it extra special–even when it's not ice cream. Here are three cute spins on "ice cream" treats to serve at your summer parties.

The candy melts on top of these scoops of rice krispie treats look just as tempting as a scoop of ice cream! From Cute As a Fox Creations, get the how-to here.

Perfect for a carnival-themed party are these cotton candy-filled cones! I need to hunt down these colored cones now. Find the original post at Living Locurto.

Finally, these are technically not ice cream cones, they're snow cones... but equally adorable! These creative snow cone cupcakes are from Hoosier Homemade. They had me fooled!

Pina Colada Bars

Anyone who knows me, knows I love all the summer frou frou drinks. The sweeter and fruitier the better! So, these Pina Colada bars from Sugar and Charm are right up my alley. I even love her addition of the drink umbrella. Need to put these on my Summer List!

Visit Sugar and Charm for the recipe.

Awning Tutorial

When I see awnings used in parties, I just sigh because they are so cute, but they seem so daunting to me to make. I just immediately assume there are a lot of power tools and wood involved! There are so many parties using cute awnings: lemonade stand parties, retro-themed parties, sweet shoppe, etc. But, when I happily came across this tutorial from Creative Mommas, it actually doesn't seem that intimidating! They used their's for an Ice Cream Parlor themed party. It looks great! To see how they made it, visit Creative Mommas.

Ways With Washi Tape

On the slim chance that you haven't heard of washi tape, it's a pretty Japanese masking tape that is often used for crafts and scrapbooking. It's also a great shortcut to adding quick style to some of your party decor. Take a look!

From left to right:
Party glasses from Fresh Home, Tea lights from Greenbeans Crafterole, Invitation from Mer Mag, Garland from Poppytalk

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Use washi tape to make easy mini-cake bunting, drink flags, decorate favor bags, and more!

How have you used washi tape? Would love to hear your ideas!

Merry Monday: Rock Climbing Party with Printables

I hear a lot of "party themes for girls are so much easier, especially when they're older..." I don't think this is true, but if you've done the "video game" party for your tween boy, here's a great suggestion from One Charming Party. Rock climbing is cool, you're encouraging kids to be active–and you may even have one at your local gym you can get easy access to!

One Charming Party provides great suggestions for favors and they even provide FREE printables! Find the original post here.

DIY Paper Bag Stars

Had to share this just in case anyone missed it on Hostess with the Mostess yesterday. Hanging star decorations made with paper bags–love it! And now that it's so easy to find paper bags in different colors (just saw red ones in Target), there are so many great possibilities with this! Great if you're in a last minute pinch, or just don't want to spend too much.

Find the complete tutorial over at HWTM.

DIY Soap Popsicles

Popsicles are popping up everywhere in parties this summer: "She's about to POP" baby showers, ice cream/popsicle socials, and summer celebrations in general. They are a quick fix to beating the summer heat! This soap popsicle would make a great party favor for the occasion. And it won't melt by the time your guests get home!

Find the full tutorial at Greenbean's Crafterole. She even shows you how to make the "bite" effect. Try it in different colors to make your display really stand out.

DIY Crepe Paper Garland

Lush and summer-y. That's what I think about this lovely garland. In a pastel shade, this would be totally perfect for a girly, shabby chic party. In orange, it would be totally perfect for a backyard luau party! Made with crepe paper, it's really affordable to create a bunch of them for your party.

For the full DIY, visit Hip Hip Hooray.

Tuesday Tip: Mini Party Cups

No doubt, many of us are watching our sweets intake during bathing suit season. (It often pains me to go to our neighborhood pool!) Keeping this in mind, if you want to make or bring dessert to a summer party–go mini. People don't feel as guilty grabbing a bite size dessert. These mini party cups will help you keep small size portions. The possibilities for fillings are endless–from cheesecake shooters to chocolate mousse to mini-parfaits. A variety of dessert options, as done above, makes such a fun (and tempting!) display. You can find the cups in most party stores. Online, Amazon.com is one source. For more filling ideas visit Jellyfish Jelly.

Merry Monday: Outdoor Movie Party

I totally love this setup! Relaxed, vintage, comfy setting for a backyard movie... with so many great details. I love the popcorn bar. And I am now totally motivated to go to my local grocers and hunt down some empty crates!

Photographed by Brandon Kidd for Design Sponge, this is a great shoot to inspire all of us to grab some pillows and enjoy a perfect summer evening. Find the rest of the photo shoot here.

Queen of Hearts Party Centerpiece

Here's the last DIY from the Queen of Hearts party. Since I often post other people's projects, it's been really fun sharing projects that I've personally done with you. I hope you're able to use or modify them in your own way.

So, this is not so much a tutorial, but more of a know-how on what I used to create the cake centerpiece as the focal point for the tea party table.

Materials:

• 1 Pre-made yellow foam crown from Michaels ($1)
• 1 Package of Heart Picks (6 for $1 at Dollar Store)
• 3 Sheets of red diamond scrapbook paper (Valentine's clearance $.29 per sheet)
• 4 sheets of yellow scrapbook paper ($.59 each) (I ended up not using the purple sheets)
• 2 Red glitter foam sheets
• Double-sided tape
• Mod Podge and foam brush
• Scissors
• One 9.5" Paper Mache Round "Hat Box" ($2.25 - was 50% off at Hobby Lobby)
• One 13" Paper Mache Round "Hat Box" ($3.00 - was 50% off at Hobby Lobby)

Money-saving tip: If you know in advance what kind of party you're having, you'll save money. The heart scrapbook paper was on clearance after Valentine's Day. Plus, you have time to watch for sales, as I did with the hat boxes. My husband thinks I'm crazy for planning far in advance, but I wish he'd acknowledge the money I save!

Below is a glance of what I did to bring it all together. Each component sat on one another; they weren't physically glued together.

If you're just joining Home Confetti, you can find the original party posts here, here and here.

Cheers!

Linking to:

Pity Party 44

Sundae Scoop

Homemade Projects

Get Your Craft On

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Did you ever save a recipe, intending to try it, and then someone else shows up to a party with it? Well, that's what happened to me this past weekend when we went to a July 4th BBQ. Good thing I didn't make it too! It was this strawberry cream pretzel salad. It was delicious–and so perfect for summer! The combination sounds strange, but trust me–kids and adults loved it! Very easy to make, and you can make it in advance.

Seems like a lot of web sites have a recipe, but here is one close to the version I had. Since it uses frozen strawberries, this is a good red dessert to try for Christmas, too. YUM!

FREEBIE: Queen of Hearts Collection + Banner Tutorial

Today I'm excited to share the banner, placecards, napkin rings and goodie bag tags I made for my girls' Queen of Hearts Tea Party. I'm offering these to you FREE! Just a small way for me to say thanks to you for being a loyal Home Confetti reader!

Click here for the Banner

Click here for the rest of the Collection.

I don't know how to make the PDFs editable, but you can insert them into another program (like Powerpoint) and add a text box to add your own custom wording, or write it by hand.

And if you do use the Banner printable, here is how I made the banner.

• Print out the banner PDF on white cardstock
• To get a straight edge, I used painter's tape and masked the outer edges of the inside box. (Make sure you're using the right set of lines)
• I applied Elmer's Glue to the box around the letter with a foam brush.
• Next, I sprinkled on the red glitter. The glitter I used was on the bigger side. The finer your glitter, the better your results.
• Don't wait too long to remove the painter's tape. It's not like walls--it will pull on the cardstock if left on too long. Shake off excess glitter.
• I made a few touch-ups here and there, filling in some gaps
• Once completely dry, trim the edges with scalloped scissors. You can do this step first if you think it's easier to do when the glitter is not on.

It is time-consuming to get all the letters done. I did it in a few sittings. But it's well worth the effort. I haven't met a little girl that doesn't love glitter! Enjoy!

Linking to:

Strut Your Stuff

Show Off Your Stuff

Thrifty Thursday

Tinkled Pink 504 Main Fridays

Feature Yourself Friday

Friday Flair

Homemade Projects

Today's Takeaway: DIY Snack Bowl

Hope you all had a wonderful and safe 4th f July yesterday! We managed to thankfully get through it without any sparkler burns! Whew!

While I was going through all the 4th of July inspiration and ideas that were definitely in abundance over the weekend I came across this great little tip at Our Best Bites. She took an inexpensive paper plate and turned it into a great little snack bowl! I love this idea because you can use it for any kind of party, especially ideal for an outdoor party. I bet you could even line the bowl with parchment paper to hold picnic sandwiches.

Get the full how-to here.

Glow Snow Cones

Here's a great way to light up your 4th of July celebrations until the fireworks go off. These glow-in-the-dark snow cones are fun for the kids and adults. Maybe you can put something "extra" in the adults' drinks ;)

The glow comes from glow sticks. The color comes from different colored syrups. If you don't have the different color syrups, I bet you can just buy those long ice pops (the kind you can get 25 for $3 in WalMart) and just shave them down to get different color ices. This would even be a fun idea for Halloween.

To get the complete how-to visit here.