Are you inspired by all things vintage?  Pretty teacups, hydrangeas and full blown roses, lace and doilies?  If you’re hosting a vintage style party for a shower, birthday, charity event or simply because you love your friends, you’ll find a lovely range of vintage themed party supplies, decorations and accessories to bring this theme to life in your own home at Australia’s #1 online party shop, Pink Frosting.

Here are some of my favourites:

Clockwise from top:  Vintage style bunting flags in pretty designs with pink ribbon make gorgeous decorations for your party ceilings or the front of your buffet table; this vintage sandwich stand is such a pretty decoration for serving the daintiest of tasty morsels to your guests; guests will love to be invited to a high tea at your house with these pretty vintage teacup invitations in three different designs; Eat Me! Take One! Scrumptious! these fun vintage canape picks are the perfect way to display your yummy treats and give a high tea at the Ritz feeling to your soiree.

Shop the whole range of vintage party decorations and supplies at Australia’s #1 online party shop .

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

If you’re organising a party of any kind, there isn’t a nicer treat for your guests than a beautifully presented cupcake.  Of course, I am a little biased towards these little morsels of great taste and fun (just look at the Pink Frosting logo!), but cupcakes truly are an easy way to create a beautiful cake presentation for your celebration.  In my series of party presentation ideas, I’m going to look at beautiful ways to style up your party without too much investment in time or money – after all, most of our customers at Pink Frosting’s online party shop are busy, busy, busy and want to create a celebration that looks spectacular without spending days tinkering away making crafts.

To present a gorgeous cupcake for your party, first start with a standard cupcake.  This is my basic recipe:

• 2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 3/4 cup milk
• 125g butter, melted, cooled
• 2 x 59g eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a 12 x 1/3-cup capacity muffin pan. Alternatively, line holes with paper cases. Combine flour and caster sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the centre.
2. Add milk, butter, eggs and vanilla to flour mixture. Using a large metal spoon, stir gently to combine.
3. Spoon mixture into prepared muffin pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
4. Once your cupcakes are cool, frost them with a swirly buttercream.   Here’s our easy how to create a swirly buttercream top on your cupcakes demonstration.

Now you’re ready to present the cupcakes and make them suit your theme.  No matter what you are celebrating, Pink Frosting’s cupcake decorations shop has a huge range of themed cupcake toppers, decorations, racks and presentation stands, and cupcake wrappers to suit your style. 

Using cupcake wrappers is so simple!  They come flat packed, so take one end of the wrapper with each hand and hug the wrapper around the cupcake until the ends meet.  Then loop the smaller end through the slit (outside to inside so you’re hiding the ends) and you have a beautifully wrapped cupcake!  From there, you can place your cupcakes into a cupcake rack or stand for beautiful presentation instead of a cake, or if you’re using the cupcakes as favours, carefully place the cupcakes into a cupcake box and tie a coordinating ribbon around it’s centre.  Perfection and it only took about an hour from start to finish.

Here are some gorgeous cupcake wrappers presented perfectly for your inspiration:

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

I’m starting a new series today focusing on party presentation ideas.  There are so many beautiful blogs around the world to give you excellent ideas on how to present your party.  Some of my favourites are Hostess with the Mostess, Pizzazzerie, Kara’s Party Ideas and Amy Atlas’ Blog.  You can subscribe to these blogs to get daily inspiration for your party and see how the experts do it.  Many of these blogs also present real party ideas and galleries – straight from the house of people just like you and I – people who just love to entertain and have created a really beautiful party.  The catalogue of ideas will have you inspired for years of creative parties!

Then you have amazing websites filled with party planning tips and ideas.  The one you’re reading now – Australia Entertains - is packed with tips to make your party perfect.  Others that we adore and turn to for inspiration include Martha Stewart’s most excellent website which could have your days filled for months reading entertaining tips and inspirational ideas, the Pink Frosting party ideas website is packed with great Australian ideas for party planning including seasonal menus and flower guides for our part of the world, and although it’s not very pretty, the About Entertaining pages are packed with great party tips and etiquette guides.

Finally, even if you’re planning a christening or kids birthday party, you should visit the exquisite wedding ideas blogs for inspiration.  Our favourite wedding blogs are the ultimate Australian wedding blog Polka Dot Bride, the spectacular daily swoon-fest at Style me Pretty and Brooklyn Bride, as well as the lovely and entertaining features at Wedding Chicks.

So over the coming months, we’ll explore great party presentation ideas.  The first will be cupcake wrappers, which must be my all-time favourite indulgent party decoration!

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

If you missed these events, here they are for your inspiration and viewing pleasure:

Donna Hay Styles Up Sydney!
 

Catherine’s Surprise Baby Shower Photos

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

Apart from the hibiscus, there’s perhaps no other flower that says beach wedding than gorgeous fragrant frangipanis.  Frangipanis or plumeria as they are also known are blooming everywhere along our beaches at the moment.  One of our iconic beach flowers, they make the perfect beach wedding decoration or flower motif for Australian weddings. 

Image credits: Frangipani wedding cake, photo by Nicole Pearce.  Frangipani bouquet and aisle decoration images from Lindsay Van Roy Photography for Brett and Erin’s wedding.  Frangipani beach aisle by Aloha Island Weddings at Simply Chic Wedding Ideas.  Frangipani link ring by Stasita New Zealand.  All stationery by Alannah Rose at Pink Frosting’s beach wedding shop.  All beach collection wedding accessories and decorations at Pink Frosting’s beach online wedding shop.

Here are our top tips for using frangipanis to theme your Australian beach wedding:

• Bunch them closely.  Frangipanis in tight formation are simply chic.  Look at our gorgeous frangipani bouquet above – chic and gorgeous!
• If you choose yellow frangipanis, your best colour choices for ribbons, accents, glassware, napery and decor is buttercup yellow, ivory, crisp white, black or sand.
• Frangipanis work beautifully with massive blossoms such as fully blown roses, hibiscus or lillies.  We’re not fans of frangipanis and other waxy flowers such as orchids, but they can look lovely together if you use a master florist.
• Generally, frangipanis don’t need foliage to complement them.  Think of the flower in its natural state – the flowers are clustered and the branches are fairly sparse.  Take your cue from the flower in its natural environment and don’t use leaves as part of your table decorations, aisle decorations or bouquets.
• Frangipani leis are so easy to create.  It’s a fun way to spend your night before the wedding with your best girls – simply use fishing line and a large needle to thread frangipani blooms.  A beautiful favour for your guests.
• Incorporate frangipanis into your wedding ceremony with large garlands of frangipani flowers laced together like a long leis.  Such a versatile idea – you can then loosely hang them between your chairs down your aisle or decorate a garden trelise with them behind the bride and groom.  Also, give your flowergirl frangipani flowers to toss when she walks down the aisle.
• Create a heart using frangipani flowers for the bride and groom to stand in when they marry.  This simple but beautiful idea works a treat on the beach or on grass in a garden wedding.
• For table decorations, choose faux frangipani flowers and either scatter your frangipanis loosely around the table, lay one on each table setting for a contemporary chic look, or use miniature beach buckets filled with starfish, sand and frangipanis (see the beautiful beach buckets by Pink Frosting above – we also used Swarovski crystal encrusted starfish to complement the yellow frangipanis).
• You can incorporate frangipanis in your wedding theme in many ways.  Here are some other ideas:
  • Your wedding invitations – frangipanis on the beach or in a heart make a glamorous stationery idea.  Some gorgeous styles from Dream Day Wedding Invitations and Alannah Rose make a real statement;
  • Your wedding accessories – use frangipani flowers in your bridesmaid’s hair and in your groomsmen’s buttonholes;
  • Your parasols – choose a plain wedding parasol and glue on frangipanis around the centre and border to create a unique wedding day accessory for photographs
  • Your  wedding bombonieres and favours – choose a favour with a frangipani motif such as personalised candy jars (yummy filled with yellow jelly beans), flip flop candles with a frangipani toe; or a photo frame with a frangipani flower attached to the swing tag – gorgeous!

Here are some beautiful ways to use frangipanis on your wedding day:

Image: Aloha Weddings

Frangipani Cupcakes by Consumed Cakes

Frangipanis and Lillies Wedding Ceremony Site by Aloha Island Weddings

Frangipani Themed Wedding Tables by Disney Resort

Beach Bucket with Starfish and Frangipanis by Pink Frosting's Wedding Shop

There are so many ways to use these gorgeous flowers in your beach wedding.  I’d love to see your photos if you have some to share!

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

With Christmas now behind us, we turn to New Years Eve as our next big reason to celebrate.  Many of us will be ringing in 2011 with a New Year Party that includes little guests and given the late evening and the loud celebrations, this event isn’t often perfectly suited to children in our world.  Here are our best tips for creating a successful family friendly New Years Eve party for all your guests come 31st December.

1.  Make it a dress up party.  Kids love dressing up and it adds to the fun games that can be played during the evening – best dressed competitions and charades are our favourite standards.

2.  Let the kids decorate their own space – give them plenty of balloons, streamers, party hats, blow horns, craft supplies and confetti to use.  Turn up the music and give them an hour or two to get creative!

3.  Let the kids create their own 2011 New Year Party Hats, noise makers (drink bottles with dyed rice and confetti works really well and looks great) and t-shirts.  You’ll only need one adult to supervise, so the rest of the party can enjoy a few cocktails while the kids get crafting!

4.  Let the kids create a movie or wall mural with all of their memories of 2010.  The kids can act out the movie, narrate with pictures or download video from the internet.  Play the movie to the adults and give each guest a copy to take home on CD.  Easy to do and heaps of fun.

Read on for more hauntingly beautiful images and all the creative details, as explained by Courtney…

*****

“When the publisher of Nashville Lifestyles magazine showed me “Love at First Bite: The Complete Vampire Lover’s Cookbook“ in her office one day, we both knew it would make a fabulous feature for their October issue.

I got started right away pulling together all things black, red, and antique silver. We wanted to avoid anything too “Halloweeny” and tried to focus on chic and dark. The house we shot in had black ceilings, which really added to the dark and spooky atmosphere.

I used black velvet fabric as the table cover, topped with antique candelabras and tall red candle sticks. Candles were a main element of the table to add a spooky glow. To make the red dripped candles, I dripped a red candle on top of a white candle – and done! Placing mirrors down the center of the table created a ghastly reflection and a steady base for our candle sticks.

Using the Vampire Lovers’ Cookbook as my inspiration, I designed menus for each table setting including “Steak Through the Heart” and “Devil Hair Pasta“.

Our local Whole Foods has an amazing pastry chef who created some simple chocolate ganache mini cupcakes topped with red “blood drops“.

Then I used Martha Stewart’s Vampire Wine Labels to adorn bottles of red wine.

I’m totally inspired!

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

I recently found this stunning paper crane themed wedding over at Hostess Blog and needed to share it with you.  When this couple were dating, Jonathan would send Laura origami cranes with special messages inside them, just as the Japanese used to do.  Here are some of my favourite images of the stunning wedding of Laura and Jonathan in Chicago for your inspiration.

Laura and Jonathan used the paper cranes (1300 to be exact!) as a backdrop for their wedding ceremony.

And, once the ceremony was over, the couple then creatively used the cranes as decorations for their wedding reception, both as a curtain and on the wedding centrepieces:

Floating around the wedding cake, the paper cranes reminded the guests of the love and hope the lucky couple has for one another:

If you’d like to make your own paper cranes, there are plenty of origami books to purchase online, or you could follow these easy instructions.  Don’t forget to source beautiful papers to make your cranes from (we love that Laura used lots of colour and mis-matched designs in her cranes) and enlist the help of your bridesmaids, friends, family and anyone else who has paper folding skills!

We equally love this idea for a baby shower, Christening, bridal shower and engagement parties. 

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

The hippest party planners from around the world are taking the humble balloon and making it the chicest decorating accessory of the moment.  Take giant bulbous balloons filled with helium and use them to decorate your room and each table.  Secure with your floral centrepiece or in a vase of lollies for a truly whimsical look.  Cheap, beautiful and fun!

Australia’s most stylish party shop, Pink Frosting, has just taken delivery of a whole new range of chic party balloons, perfect for kids parties, Christmas and other holiday celebrations, adult birthday parties, swanky soirees and even weddings.  Some of our favourites include:

• Chocolate Brown Party Balloons – we are so excited to finally offer this very chic colour in a party balloon;
• Jungle Assorted Party Balloons – perfect for a jungle themed birthday party or a safari adult celebration;
• Polka Dot Pastel Assorted Party Balloons – we love these balloons for kitchen teas, baby showers and Spring party celebrations;
• Rainbow Sprays Party Balloons – gorgeous for a rainbow party, garden party or a shower of any kind – oh so sweet;
• Tropical Hibiscus Beach Party Balloons – make your next BBQ or beach party more colourful with these beachy themed party balloons in tropical colours.

Whatever you’re celebrating, beautiful party balloons really are the central decoration packing a punch on a budget.  The Pink Frosting balloon range is all professional quality – perfect for inflating with helium (you can hire helium canisters locally) or simply inflating with good old fashioned lung power!

Shop Pink Frosting Party Balloons >>

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn