celebration decoration...

I've been thinking how I missed out on posting a few celebrations that I decorated shortly before I got back into blogging.  One was Luka's "Go Fish" themed 1st birthday party (I'll do a separate post for that), and the others were my lemon themed 30th and a red & white Christmas eve dinner party I hosted for my family.  So here is a wee recap.....

My 30th was at the gorgeous Lily Pad Cafe on Kaipaki Road in Cambridge.  Kate and the team were fabulous and let me help design my own menu and special birthday cocktail (a moscow mule!).   They were more than happy for me to decorate and add my own touches.  It was such a stunning summer night and the garden al fresco setting was just perfect!  My lovely Mother-in-law made my lemon/coconut birthday cake which was absolutely delicious! She also supplied all the gorgeous white hydrangeas from her garden.  My equally lovely sister-in-law picked me mountains of lemons from her tree and I turned them into place settings using some raffia and double sided tape.   I whipped up a little birthday sign for above the cake table using old fashioned doilies which are such a great thing to have on hand for some super cute decorations.   I saw the idea somewhere in blog land a while ago to have a jar of cookies and milk bottle lollies for some 'milk & cookies' to have after dessert with coffee and cake.  I was so happy to find a supplier of single coloured jellybeans on the internet so I could add another pop of yellow!  Lanterns hanging from the grapevines was a really simple way to make the night special thanks to a mix from dots n spots and spotlight.  I hired the very cool pewter charger plates from the lovely ladies at Blakes hire company.  Such a lovely night - lemony perfection!

This is the invite I designed .  My 30 favourite things at 30.  I quite like having one on the fridge and I ponder how different the list might be by my 40th :)

We hosted Christmas Eve dinner outside as we were cooking in the woodfired pizza oven that my very clever hubby made (see more on his website Line & Design).  I wanted a fun table for the kids to enjoy too.  I used lanterns, straws, goodie boxes and mini wreaths from dots n spots.  I came up with an idea to use the wreaths as napkins rings - they just squeezed on and looked very cute.  I made some Christmas truffles for the goodie boxes but forgot to make a batch without rum for the kids so they got some snowballs instead.  I always pull out my charger plates for special dinners.  These charger plates are actually platters that were on special at briscoes one day for super cheap.  I nabbed 10 of them because I knew they would make great chargers.  Chargers are such an easy way to add that bit of special.  It was a great dinner and great night (followed by a very exhausting effort to get the new trampoline and playhouse positioned in the dark while the kids slept!!!!!!! especially when the tractor ran out of diesel half way through the trip carting the playhouse from the shed to the house and had to be bled arggggggggggggh)!! ohwell thats what Christmas is all about 10% drama.


Olivia