Princess and the Frog Jazz Age Bayou Style

Invitations:
~ handmade, faux crocodile leather bound "princess and the frog" storybooks with hand drawn illustrations, green, gold and purple ribbon ties, and fleur de lis paper lining the inside cover

Decor:
~ door entry "rue du xxx" directing guests to enter through the gate
~ just through the gate was Dr. Facilier's fortune telling table where the gifts were put (his sign said "a tip of the hat from Dr. Facilier")
~ then guests walked past the bayou area of the party where spanish moss hung from trees (along with a twisty tree snake!) and white lights criss-crossed and draped to create a firefly lit environment, and along the ground were handmade lily pads with chairs for parents to sit and enjoy the shade
~ the french quarter consisted of a mural of St. Louis cathedral with an old gravestone and flowers and a potted palm flanking the sides, and across the lawn was "xxx's place" which was supposed to be reminiscent of Tiana's Place complete with hand cut New Orleans style wrought iron, hanging ferns, potted palm trees, a handmade wooden sign, a gold brocade backdrop with fringe, a purple glittery chandelier and a tall gold fountain grass centerpiece in an eiffel vase.
~ I wrapped the family presents in gold damask wrapping paper with purple tulle and a peacock feather

Favors:
~ when guests arrived they all received a foam crown with their name written in gold puffy paint
~ as their parting favor, I had mini mardi gras beads, purple, gold and green bubble gum coins and a metallic mardi gras mask tied in green tulle pouches with a little hopping frog toy tied with mardi gras color ribbon

Music:
~ Louisiana brass band jazz

Food:
~ ham po' boys
~ flies on a log (celery, peanut butter and raisins)
~ voodoo doughnuts
~ man catching beignets
~ green frog and gold and purple fleur de lis cookies
~ bananas foster served in martini glasses (made with rum extract for flavoring)
~ non-alcoholic mint juleps with maraschino cherries

 ~ a chocolate birthday cake version of a "king cake" which my daughter ripped into the night before the party
~ all the foods were served next to a label in an art nouveau font highlighted with gold glitter paint in the lotus blossom design

Activities:
~ lily pad leap relay race
~ jumping like frogs on the trampoline
~ my son taught the kids the "jitterbug" (it was really just wiggling and running around)
~ lunch, treats and gift opening

Wardrobe:
~ I made my daughter a purple satin drop waisted dress with a full circle flounce.  It had a gold sequin band around the drop waist, long gold beads, sparkly gold shoes (Target clearance), big gold and purple chandelier earrings she just got to wear during the party which are now mine, and lastly a headband lined with gold sequins and peacock feathers coming off the side
~ I felt I needed to be in character for this party as well, so I wore chandelier earrings, a long metal and pearl necklace, a thigh length flouncy cream top from H&M, a cream skirt, bracelets held together with a gold brooch with a pearl center and I scored my Steve Madden heels from our local consignment store.  They were peep toes, made from a green fabric with what looks like a green satin lily pad with some art deco jewels right on top- I was thrilled to find them for $7!

Fine Dining and Culture

I did a dinner party for the girls age 14-16 in my church's youth group as a way to help enrich their summer experience in a small way.

I coordinated the table setting to match with the peacock feather invitations and RSVP cards I designed. I liked how the navy linens echoed a peacock tail configuration in the champagne flutes, topped off by a single feather. The centerpiece was an eiffel vase filled with water I tinted blue-green, and placed two bird of paradise leaves at differing heights. I wanted something simple but that had a big impact, so I decided to go with more saturated colors, and less "things". There was a simple runner of green tulle, and the place settings were my white plates, layered, with navy name tags. I used a gold satin sheet I had on top of a white tablecloth for thickness and sheen. The repeating colors were: navy, green, gold, and touches of teal.

Fonts used in the stationery were Scriptina and Arabic Typesetting in all caps.

Menu: (which I would highly recommend to anyone who is in a major rush, and on a budget- which I was on both counts)

~ penne and chicken alfredo with carrots, peas, and broccoli from the pre-made freezer section
~ baby spinach salad with a balsamic vinaigrette and dried cranberries (also pre-made in bags, and I just tossed together the dressing)
~ french bread and butter (from the bakery)

The drink options were sparkling waters in:
~ mandarin orange
~ peach
~ cherry
~ raspberry

And for dessert we had a blueberry tart from Trader Joe's with a vanilla ice cream option.

Menu by numbers:
~ dinner for eight
~ $30 (plus a little of what I had on hand like butter, dressing, and Craisins)
~ 20 minutes from the freezer to the table
~ leftovers for one more night- success!

After dinner we went to the Phoenix Art Museum where we appreciated some interactive exhibits, paintings, fashion, and photography. Wednesday nights are voluntary donation which was perfect for our church group. All in all, a nice evening was had.

New Happenings

Yesterday I was honored to be showcased on Stem, one of my absolute favorite event blogs. Check out the post as well as the rest of her site which is near and dear to my own heart

http://stemparties.blogspot.com/2010/06/fabulous-feather-fete.html

Also, this is what I've been working on this morning:




I am surprising the girls in my church's youth group that I am in charge of (age 14-16) with an elegant dinner (a la Costco) and then a trip to the Phoenix Art Museum to hopefully enrich their summer and provide good memories.

I've decided to go with a peacock- gold, green, blue theme because my dining room walls are a golden yellow, and I have peacock feathers already. Plus, it was just fun stationery to design. We'll see where it goes from there.