Movie Time Party

Whether it’s the upcoming Oscar Awards or a special birthday that has you in the mood for a movie themed get-together, here are a few ideas to get your party started. Let’s start with the invitations. Choosing an invitation that matches your party theme lets your guests know what type of party they will be attending.

Movie Night Invitation

Hollywood Invitation

Red Carpet Invitation

Curtain Call Invitation

For any party with a movie theme, trivia games are almost required. You can go with a purchased game or make up your own, just make sure you verify your facts before the party. If you are adventurous, ask your guest to dress as their favorite character from a movie and award prizes for the best costumes.

Make sure you have plenty of snacks for your guests.  If you will be showing a movie at your party, setting up a “concession stand” with popcorn, sodas, and candies packaged like the ones you get at a theater is always fun. And don’t forget the desserts. If you are thinking cake, check out this cute cake, from The Food Network, designed to look like a bag of popcorn. Follow this link  for directions. For a slightly more sophisticated idea, try red velvet cupcakes (think red carpet) decorated with a simple cream cheese icing. Here is the link to a classic recipe from Martha Stewart.

PartyBasics.com also offers a full line of party tableware, including plain and personalized napkins, paper plates, plastic cups and placemats. Have fun planning your party and Enjoy the Show!

Simple Floral Centerpiece

Maybe you got engaged over the holidays, or maybe you are planning a baby shower.  It could be that you are in charge of the school St. Valentine’s Day bash.  Whatever the occasion, this simple floral centerpiece is easily customized to fit your style and color scheme and will add a special touch to your party.

What you will need:

1 glass jar – I found a quart canning jar to be the perfect fit (a glass spaghetti sauce jar also works), but fell free to experiment with different types of containers.

ribbon – I used dyna satin ribbon, which can be purchased plain or custom printed from partybasics.com.

paper party bags – 4″ x 2 1/2″ x 8″ – Personalized with a design and text to fit your occasion. You might like to try using personalized photo party bags for an extra special touch.

and of course flowers.  Choose your favorite colors, your favorite flowers, or whatever happens to be in season.  You can even use silk flowers if you like.  I created a mixed bouquet – I love the variety of colors and types, but try bouquets of white carnations with red bags for Valentine’s day or maybe Tulips in your wedding colors with white bags printed in a color to match the flowers for and engagement party or Bridal Shower.  Your imagination is the only limitation.

Assembly is super easy.  Arrange your bouquet in the glass jar.  Carefully slide the jar into the opened bag.  Tie the ribbon around the top of the jar and you have a beautiful floral centerpiece.

Holiday Party Tableware

Christmas is just over two weeks away, but there is still plenty of time to add a personalized touch to any holiday gathering. Are you having a casual brunch? Personalized luncheon napkins and placemats are a great way to add a touch of color to your place settings.

 

 

 

 

Are you having a formal dinner party? Personalized wine glasses, available as singles or sets of 4, make a lovely addition to your table. They can even double as a holiday gift, if you choose, you can send each guest home with a wine glass and a bottle of wine wrapped in either a wine box with personalized ribbon, a personalized wine box. or wine bag and tag ensemble.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about a holiday open house, where guests are coming and going throughout the day? Then cocktail napkins and cute favor boxes or bags for a small treat your guests can take home will make your gathering extra special.

 

 

 

 

 

Browse our selection of Holiday entertaining products here, don’t forget we have an exclusive line of holiday items created using artwork designed by pediatric cancer patients and their families in our Cancer Cures Collection, a portion of the proceeds is donated to help support patient care programs.

Holiday Cookie Exchange Party

It is already that time of year,  Thanksgiving is fast approaching and the Christmas Holiday is just around the corner. That means it is time to start planning my annual holiday cookie exchange party. These cute ribbon and holly design cookie boxes, plain or personalized, are the perfect size to hold a collection small spritz cookies, and a holiday stocking design foil accented poly bag with ribbon twist tie adds a touch of color to my “snowball” cookies (they are actually mexican wedding cakes).   I also like to provide kraft paper gift bags for my guests, they are a festive and convenient way for guests to transport their goodies home after the party.  All these great products and more are available at PartyBasics.  Shop  our on-line store and you will find a variety of seasonal cookie boxes, poly and cello bags, twist ties, bows and ribbon, personalized ribbon, personalized napkins, paper plates, and gift bags.  Plus there are over 80 standard designs you can use to personalize your boxes, bags and napkins, including our new Cancer Cures Collection designs.  Use one of these designs for your personalization and 20% of the product sale will be donated to help support cancer patient care programs.

Personalized Thanksgiving Tableware

Sometimes all it takes is one little something extra to change an ordinary dinner table to a festive holiday gathering.  Did you know PartyBasics offers personalized paper placemats, luncheon, and dinner napkins?

At our house we always serve Thanksgiving Dinner buffet style, the table is just not big enough for everyone and all that food!   Even without a fancy turkey on display, I still like the table to look festive. Color coordinating table linens are great, but with lots of children in the family, it’s not long before my fancy table cloth and napkins are stained.  These paper placemats are cute, economical and water resistant, so they make after dinner clean-up a breeze.

check out the other great placemat designs available at PartyBasics.com

Personalized napkins are also an easy way to add a touch of color and festivity to your dinner table. Personally, I prefer the guest towel size for large dinners.  They don’t require folding when setting each place and are large enough to handle an errant drip of gravy or cranberry sauce.  There’s a large variety of colors and standard designs available, so you’re sure to find something to match your decor.

Pilgrim Hat Thanksgiving Table Favor Box

These pilgrim hat favors are quick and easy to make and add a festive touch to your Thanksgiving dinner table.

Supplies

One bronze hexagon favor box

One 3 1/2″ diameter circle cut from brown card stock.

8″ length of 1/4″ width ribbon or 3/8″ width ribbon

and a hot glue gun.

Materials for one favor

Assembled Hexagon Box

 

 

 

 

 

1.  Assemble the hexagon boxes, they will be flat/unfolded when you purchase them.  First, pre-fold all the crease lines, then tuck the arrow shaped tab into the slot to make the hexagon shape. Now push the “ears” of one flap into the correct spots between the tabs to create the bottom, then do the same for the top.  Don’t worry you will be able to carefully open the top later to fill the box with treats.

2.  Hot glue one of the 3-1/2″ diameter circles onto the bottom of an assemble hexagon box.

3.  Hot glue the ribbon along the bottom edge of the box to create the hat band.

4.  Carefully open the finished favor boxes and fill with dinner mints, small chocolates or another special treat for your dinner guests.

Like the napkins you see in these photos?  You can purchase them here

Thanksgiving Turkey Cupcake Favor Box

You may remember this guy from last year, but I think he is just too cute to forget, so here’s a review of the directions.

You will need:

1 cupcake favor box

1 Round Lollipop

2 cocktail size paper napkins (any fall color)

a small piece of ribbon or string

red & orange craft paper

2 wiggle eyes and glue

 

Directions:

1.  Fill cupcake box with a special treat for your guests.  Cranberry muffins, carrot-cake cupcakes, or a stack of  pumpkin shaped sugar cookies all make great after dinner or take-home desserts.

2.  Open a napkin one fold, so it is the shape of a rectangle.  Fold the rectangle back and forth accordian style to make a fan shape.  Using a small amount of glue ( I found hot glue works best because it sets up quickly), adhere the fan to back of the cupcake box – about 1/3 up from the bottom.

3. Cut a 5″ x 5″ square from the other napkin.  Wrap square around the lollipop (over existing wrapper) – securing with the ribbon or string.

4. Cut a diamond shape put of orange construction paper for the beak, and a waddle out of red construction paper.  Adhere both to the covered lollipop with glue.  Add the wiggle eyes, or draw on eyes with a marker.

5.  Slide lollipop stick into the slit formed by the tuck in the top front of the cupcake box and secure with glue.

Holiday Cards That Support Cancer Patients

I know it is only the first day of November, but I am excited to share with you our new line of Holiday Cards, with artwork created by cancer patients and their families. As you may know, PartyBasics has partnered with The Paint Box Project® to create The Cancer Cures Collection, a line of wedding invitations and party supplies.  Included in this collection are 16 one-of-a-kind holiday cards exclusively for 2011. Each design also has a line of matching gifts and party accessories. View the entire holiday collection here. As always, for any item ordered from The Cancer Cures Collection, 20% of the product sale will be donated to help fund cancer patient support programs.

Buffalo Snow

Snow Family

Dressed Up For The Holidays

Throwing Snowballs

Menorah

Santa Land

Letters To Santa

Share The Joy

Deck The Halls

Christmas Tree Festival

Gingerbread

Framed Church

Peace Dove

Peace Angel

Holiday Tree

Christ Is Born

Ghosts, Goblins and all Things that go bump in the night

Halloween is only a couple days away, but don’t let that scare you. There is still time to get your last minute party supplies at www.PartyBasics.com. Orders placed by 1:00 pm EST, Monday, October 24th will ship by Friday, October 28th.

We have a great assortment of unprinted and personalized party packs, unprinted and personalized napkins, colored paper plates and plastic cups.

And don’t forget the treat bags.  Remember the treats don’t always have to be filled with sugar. Pencils, erasers and stickers printed with Halloween designs, and  even small tubs of modeling dough are just as exciting for the kids as all the candy.  Just make sure you have age appropriate treats for your guests under 3 years old. Happy Haunting!

Autumn is for apples – Caramel Apples

While the recent temperatures indicate summer is still here, the calendar says it is autumn.  I love fall, the trees have already put on their best costumes and who can resist an apple fresh from the orchard.  What’s better than that, a caramel apple, of course!  It’s a fun and easy project with your family or for a children’s Fall Festival or Halloween Party.

First gather your supplies.  I took the easy route and used pre-wrapped caramels, but you can check out this link if you would like to make your caramel from scratch.

You will need:

a 15 oz. bag of wrapped caramels

wooden sticks

candies, chocolate chips, sprinkles for decorating

wax paper

Wash and dry apples and push a wooden stick into the center of each apple.

Unwrap the caramels and put in a microwave safe bowl with 2 tablespoons of water.  Microwave 2-3 minutes, stirring at least once halfway through, until caramels are melted and smooth.  Dip apples, using a spoon to coat if necessary. Scrape excess caramel off the bottom of the apple and place on waxed paper.

And now for the fun part, I enlisted the help of my six year old to decorate. We settled on making faces, the funnier the better.

Chill apples until caramel sets.  Finished apples should be stored in the refrigerator.  Hint:  if you are working with young children have a supply of wet towels or unscented wet wipes on hand for sticky fingers.

Here is a great way to package your apples to send home with your party guests.  These cute boxes are now available at partybasics.com