Date Night In: Sushi

Before having kids, I was obsessed with sushi and we ate it at least once a week. Then I got pregnant with our first child and I was totally repulsed by the thought of it, which was fine because I couldn’t really eat it anyway. But, the feel lasted, and lasted, and lasted. It has only be in the last year (almost 6 years later) that I’ve gotten the sushi bug back. Phew. So, now that I’m back on the sushi wagon, I’ve been wanting to start making some at home and I think it would be a perfect date night in. Jim’s not one to help out in the kitchen but I can totally imagine him getting his precise engineer self on while rolling up some yummy new rolls. Here’s what I’m thinking…

1. I’m not a huge fan of sake but I do love me some Japanese beer.

2. Sushi – duh, you need sushi for a sushi date night. Salmon rolls are my faves.

3. Since I’ve never made sushi before, this beautifully photographed and basic sushi cookbook will be perfect to help guide us through the process.

4. Aren’t these chopsticks and stands awesome? I love the little fish and the colors. Perfection.

5. I love this marble serving tray from CB2. Our sushi rolls will look beautiful on it!

6. A bamboo rolling mat is so inexpensive and easy to find at your grocery store or kitchen supply store. It doesn’t need to be fancy.

 

Starry Night Party

I’m a little bit of an astronomy buff. I’ve been known to wake my kids up in the middle of the night to try and catch a meteor shower. And a stargazing party was high up on my list this summer, but I didn’t get to it! So I’m thinking of moving the party indoors this fall and putting together a starry night party full of midnight blue, metallics and twinkling lights. Here’s what I’m thinking for decor ….

1/ DIY french dot constellation table runner — OK, who wants to make this for me?! Amazing.

2/ Gold mercury glass votives — I love the shadows these cute little shimmery votives cast.

3/ Honeycomb decorations — these pretty honeycomb shapes remind me slightly of planets and help mix in a few other tones.

4/ Glitterati slate pillows — I’d love to have a low dining table and strew a bunch of these metallic print pillows on the floor.

5/ Starry string lights — these gorgeous lights come in a variety of bulb colors on flexible copper wire.

6/ Agate earth coasters — some of these totally remind me images I’ve seen taken in space. Plus, agate.

7/ Copper mirror tray — so shiny and perfect for my low table.

8/ Tassel garland — I love metallic tassels and, having made many of them, can appreciate when someone else does the work!

9/ Gold pouf — the reasonable price of these faux leather poufs would let me scatter several around.

Back to School! Breakfast

Woohoo! It’s back to school for my kiddos today! We were actually all so excited about it that I thought it’d be fun to have a low-key “back to school breakfast” for my loves. And it forced me to finally “interview” both of my kids, which I’ve really been wanting to do, so I’m going to pretend it was my plan all along to do a back to school interview. It’s all up over at Honest to Nod today — check it out!

Want to hear your own kids say sweet and funny stuff? Just click right here to download our free Back to School Interview printable!

And thanks to The Land of Nod for gifting us the Meri Meri Toot Sweet Collection items and the growth chart!

DIY Kids Party Favors

I know some people are anti kids party favors, but I have to say that I am firmly in favor of them. I think it is important for my kids to understand that having friends attend a party, whether or not a present is involved, is something they should be thankful for and show their appreciation. And I feel like they get that and truly want to show their thanks to friends and family for helping us celebrate. That said, I always try to have my kids help me make party favors for their party and generally provide something either consumable, educational, and/or not just more plastic toys. I happened to LOVE the DIY rock candy party favor we had at our science club last month, which got me thinking about what favors I might get together for upcoming kids parties. Here are some of my favorites!

1 / What kiddo doesn’t love making art? Lovely Design put together these adorable collage packets to send a little art project home with each child. Perfect for post-party-sugar-rush winding down at home.

2 / I’ve wanted to make story stones for my kids for some time now and I think a little muslin bag with a few stones would be the perfect thing to help keep a kiddo occupied on the ride home.

3 / OK, so this one is candy, which I try not to do since I’ve inevitably just filled up kiddos on sweets at the party. BUT sending this bubblegum necklace home in a little kit for each child would be a great consumable activity.

4 / It looks like tasty salt water taffy, but this one is ingeniously disguised sidewalk chalk. What a perfect favor for a summertime party!

5 / Another win for Lovely Design with these personalized pennant flags. I like to try make party decorations last by using them in my childrens’ rooms. I love that Lovely Design took this concept to favors and I can imagine all the littles so excited to find their own initialed flag.

Backyard Barbecue

August is a busy month in our house with both of our kid’s birthdays two weeks apart and our anniversary in-between them. In the past we’ve had separate birthday parties for the kids and we try to separate them by a few weekends — Brady’s the weekend before his birthday and Owen’s the weekend after his birthday — but this year that just wasn’t going to work out. So, instead we decided to throw a joint backyard barbecue with some of our good friends, family and neighbors instead.

We were blessed with some unseasonably comfortable weather and had a blast celebrating our two boys. And, luckily for us, the awesome online party supply store Party Pail, contacted us to see if we had any parties coming up that we could use some of their plain party goods for… ummm… yes!

I generally love buying plain party products and then customizing them myself. Like these custom stickers on the plain white paper cups from Party Pail. I also designed these star drink flags to go on their bright orange striped straws.

Finding a simple way to nicely display cutlery is always a challenge. You can’t get much simpler than these empty tin cans wrapped in burlap ribbon!

What would be an AFL party without a hand stamped napkin? It’s another easy way to add a personal touch.

I absolutely love these baking cups from Party Pail. Most cupcake liners loose their color or pattern once you bake the cupcake. Not these! They were just as vibrant after baking as they were before. And they looked great on this simple cardboard cupcake stand that I wrapped in some more burlap ribbon.

These chevron treat cups with custom labels were the perfect way for us to send our guests home with a little treat.

Happy Birthday to my sweet boys! And, check out our Etsy store to pick up the party pack or invitation for the party. Fete on!

Nature Playdate

What better way to enjoy summer than to get outside and to explore nature?! Our AFL crew has tackled books and science and now {with a little help from our friends at Land of Nod} our kids were ready to take on the great outdoors. We had an amazing time roasting marshmallows around our campfire, eating bugs {yum!}, crafting and heading out on a rock finding adventure.

We’re sharing all of our fun today on the Land of Nod’s awesome blog Honest to Nod so be sure to head over there and check it out! You can also visit our Etsy store to get the digital download of the invitation and party pack! Now get out there and start exploring!

Dog Days of Summer Party

Oh yeah. They’re here and they’re hot. I’m talking about the dog days of summer, friend. But I’m sick of talking about how hot it is. I’d rather celebrate these dog days with a fabulous hot dog inspired party. Let’s do it — before you know, we’ll be complaining about how cold it is!

1 / I love the hot dog party A Pair of Pears held for their pup’s 1st birthday. And I would totally use their invitation for my own Dog Days of Summer party.

2 / Pop print? Oh yes. I’d be making some envelope liners, garlands and party signage with these great hot dog printed papers from Whimsy and Nonsense.

3 / Remember these puppies? The pop Koons’esque minis would look great scattered about and sent home as favors.

4 / A DIY hot dog garland. Shut the front door. Head over to A Pair of Pears for the free template and DIY instructions. I might make this just for my home.

5 / These striped lanterns would look fabulous.

6 / You want your dog to look cute! Dress it up with a striped tray (necessary to catch all the fixins).

7 / Speaking of those fixins, how about a DIY hot dog bar set up to make dogs from around the country? Let’s be frank, much like the garland, I might just make this at home for like a Thursday night.

DIY Picnic Printables

One of my most favorite things about this summer thus far has been the vast number of picnics we’ve been having. From front porch lunches, to outdoor music concert dinners, we’ve been eating outside a whole lot. It means less cleanup for me and an ability to stay out and about for longer periods of time. And my whole family’s been loving it. But just because it makes things more simple, doesn’t mean it has to be plain. So I had in mind to put together a printable set of fun labels to dress our picnics up a bit. Then, in fortuitous timing, party supplier PartyPail asked us if we’d like to test out some of their plain party goods. Perfect!

In keeping with my current love of the black + white combo, I designed a set of labels and straw flags that I used on a variety of PartyPail’s great picnic goods (plain white cups, chevron dessert cups, large clear cello bags, and striped straws). And I loved the printables so much that I decided to share them with you for free. Just click on the link at the end of the post to download them. Print the circle labels on plain white label sheets and punch out with a 2″ circle punch. Print the straw flags on white paper or cardstock, cut out, and glue on a striped straw. Always simple, never plain!

p.s. my easy picnic menu? salted watermelon + chèvre + mint; prosciutto + mozzarella + basil baguettes; dark chocolate almond bark with sea salt

CLICK RIGHT HERE FOR PICNIC PRINTABLES!

Disclosure: PartyPail provided AFL with paper party goods in exchange for this post. No other compensation was provided and all opinions herein are our own.

Date Night In: Grand Budapest Hotel

I know they aren’t for everyone but I really love Wes Anderson’s movies (and so does Jim). I fall head over heals in love with the visual worlds that he creates, the quirky & flawed characters and his amazing detail of design which brings it all together. And, his newest movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel, is no exception. We had hoped to get to the theater to watch it while it was on the big screen but it just didn’t work out. Luckily, it lends itself to a perfect date-night in and that is exactly what we did. Here’s what you need…

1. Grand Budapest Hotel – currently on OnDemand so no need to wait for it to come to Netflix!

2. Mendl’s Pastry Box – Get a downloadable template by Chamelle Designs to make your very own Mendl’s pastry box! It might not gracefully fall open upon untying the ribbon like the movie version but it’s still pretty awesome

3. Courtesan au Chocolat – Use Buzzfeed’s tutorial video to make your very own courtesan au chocolat. Yes please!

4. Society of the Crossed Keys Necklace – Inspired by the necklace that M. Gustave gives Agatha in the movie, you can become part of the Society of the Crossed Keys thanks to this lovely necklace made by The State’s Line.

5. Coupe Glass – Sip some sparkling wine out of a vintage inspired coupe glass and you’ll be instantly transported back to the 1930s.

6. Champagne or Sparkling Wine – Get a bottle of some fancy french champagne or try a bottle of Hungarian sparkling wine, like Torley.

7. Wes Anderson Bingo – While I’m perfectly happy to just sit back and watch a movie, these Bingo cards created by Slate would be a fun way to add a little competition to the evening.

 

Tropical Party Ideas

If yesterday’s cocktail hour post was any indication, I clearly refuse to believe that our tropical vacation is over. Therefore, I’m desperately trying to convince anyone who will listen that we should throw some kind of tropical party. No particular celebratory event or tropical destination necessary. Just, “yay, tropical!” Here are my top five tropical party favorites:

1 / Paper & Stitch’s DIY honeycomb garland and drink stirrers — love, love the bright colors of these honeycomb.

2 / Tropical cocktails are a must, but no one wants to get stuck behind the bar (even if it is a tiki bar). I would definitely give this Paradise Punch from TheKitchn a go.

3 / There’s a jerk at every party, but I’d keep these festivities friendly with Jerk Shrimp Tacos + Pina Colada Crema.

4 / My kids would lose it over these DIY Fruit Balloons from Oh Happy Day. Fabulous!

5 / In case you missed ’em in our cocktail hour yesterday, I’m obsessed with these rainbow-colored whole fruit ice pops from 84th & 3rd, all of which have boozy options. Make some without for the kids and make everyone happy.