Summer Family BBQ

A couple weeks ago, my friend Laura and I threw a Summer Family BBQ for some of our blogger friends.  Of course, summer is a great time for entertaining and who doesn't love a BBQ?  Laura has a great backyard for entertaining so we put our heads together and came up with a great event.  Today, I'll be recapping the event for you.

We had many amazing sponsors for this BBQ!  I'm so grateful that they made this event possible for us.  As always all opinions are 100% honest and my own.

KimiLove, AshleyNewell.me, Savvygreystyles, Eraeholland, Tomorrowsmom
ProbablyatTarget, FancyFixDecor, ThisMomsaDreamer, BlogAboutitAll

FOOD

Of course, what's the most important part of a BBQ?  The food!  We were lucky enough to have Western Grassfed Beef as a sponsor for our event.  Western Grassfed is a local company based out of Woodland, California.  Their cattle is raised with no antibiotics or added hormones.  They are 100% grass fed and raised in an open pasture.

For this event, we decided on Western Grass Fed Brisket and hot dogs for the kiddos who don't want to eat brisket.  Brisket is a great cut for a crowd since it can be cooked for a long time and is relatively low maintenance once it's on.  For the BBQ, Laura's husband used a smoker to cook the meat.  He did a simple rub of salt, pepper, and garlic powder to let the meat sing.  Also, once sliced brisket is great for feeding a crowd and pretty versatile.  It can be eaten on its own, made into a sandwich, chopped and added to a salad, etc...  The brisket was a huge hit with all our guests!

Photo by Tammy Le Nguyen

Photo by Blog About it All

We also served Western Grassfed Organic Uncured Beef Hot Dogs.  They are gluten free which is wonderful since we had gluten free attendees.  They were a huge hit with the young and young at heart!  We simply offered buns, ketchup, and mustard to go with them.  The kids gobbled them up!  We provided rolls, buns, chips, condiments, crackers, vegan dogs, and an assortment of water, lemonade, and juices.  We asked our guests to bring a side dish or a snack to add to the table.  It was a great way to ensure that the kids in each family would have something that their parents know that they would eat.

Drinks
What goes better with delicious BBQ meats than some nice cold beer and wine?  We were lucky enough to get some beer from Flatland Brewing Company that paired so nicely with the smoky meat. We also had delectable wines from Rippey Family Vineyards,  crisp white since it's summer and people love a nice refreshing glass on a hot day and some bold reds to pair with the beef.

Flatland Brewing Co - Photo by Tammy Le Nguyen

Rippey Family Vineyards - Photos by Tammy Le Nguyen

Our friend Nicole of Fancy Fix Decor set up the cutest lemonade stand with elements from Rod Works in Laura's backyard and we offered lemonade in a lovely dispenser.  It was such a big hit with the kids and felt so nostalgic.  We also had a cooler filled with bottled waters and juice pounces for the kids.  It's so important to stay hydrated in the summer!

Photo by Tammy Le Nguyen

Desserts
You can't have a party without some yummy treats!  We had two AMAZING dessert sponsors.  Joe Boy Bakes gifted us some amazing fika buns in three different flavors.  To go with those, we had delicious ice cream from Leatherby's Family Creamery and chocolate and caramel sauces to go on top.  This was a HUGE hit with all the kids!  What's better way to end the day?

Boy's Bakery Fika Buns - Photo by Tammy Le Nguyen

Ice Cream Scoops and Sauces from Leatherby's Family Creamery

Photography and Decor
We were lucky enough to have Tammy Le Nguyen take photos for us!  We also had a gorgeous backdrop by Dani and Kayla Events with black and white gingham to match our theme and the cutest balloon arch.  We also had the cutest floral arrangements done by Fancy Fix Decor.

Dani and Kayla Events photo backdrop - Photo by Tammy Le Nguyen

Dani and Kayla Events photo backdrop - Photo by Tammy Le Nguyen

Entertainment
We knew that the adults would want to sit and chat so we really only needed entertainment for the kiddos.  We partnered with Astro Jump of Sacramento who hooked us up with the COOLEST bounce house ever!  There was a slide and a basketball hoop INSIDE the bounce house.  I felt really safe knowing that the kids wouldn't tumble off the slide into the grass or accidentally hit someone walking by with a stray basketball, it was all contained.  The whole process was so easy!  Their friendly staff is quick and efficient and the bounce house was a favorite of all the kids.

Astro Jump Sacramento Bounce House - Photo by Tammy Le Nguyen

Raffle
We were so excited to have some great brands donate prizes to our raffle.  I think all the moms got to walk away with a prize.  Thank you to Rod Works, Amazing Lash Studio Elk Grove, Maverick Stacy Gallegos, and Imagine Play Elk Grove for providing raffle items!

Photo by Tammy Le Nguyen

Swag Bags
Thank you to everyone who contributed to our amazing swag bags: Surfside Kids Dental, Random Olive, NewSongs School of Music, Popcornopolis, Allison Traverse Warren Realtor, Birds of a Feather, Danitizia Krystal Singh Realtor, Two Country Divas, and My Thrifty Sister.

Photo by KimiLove

It's always so nice to get together with friends!  What kind of get togethers do you have in the summer?


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Simple and Elegant Blogger Brunch

This weekend, my lovey friend Laura and I hosted some of our local mommy blogger friends for a brunch.  Laura thought it would be fun to get together to meet each other in person and have a community of support.  It can be a little lonely being a blogger when you work from your home with no coworkers and no need to leave.  While we wanted to the brunch to be beautiful, delicious and fun, we also wanted it to be easy for us to put together and not too expensive.

Disclosure: I reached out to a few brands to see if they would like their products featured at this event.  The graciously gave me free products/gift cards to purchase their product.  As always, opinions are 100% honest and my own.  Professional photos provided by Liz Lopez Photography.

DECOR
We kept our decor very simple.  First off, Laura has a really beautiful house so it's easy to keep the decor streamlined.  We decided to just go with some fresh flowers.  We were SO lucky that my friend Amanda from Bloom Sacramento was going out of town and happened to be giving away some excess flowers that were just GORGEOUS!  She is a flower farmer and florist and always has the most beautiful flowers!  Laura put flowers in large vases for the dessert and coffee area and for a counter.  She put some flower in little Target Dollar Spot tiny vases for the parfait bar.  I cut off some flowers and added them to the beverage tub on top of the ice.  It's a ton of impact for minimal work and I only needed about 7-8 flowers.

Photo from Jessica of Blog About It All

Photo by Liz Lopez Photography

For the food, we used white serve ware and some baskets lined with pink tissue paper.  We bought some pretty paper plates from Target with flowers on them and some cute napkins.  We bought cute sparkly plastic wine glasses for the wine.  We also bought some Target Dollar Spot place cards to label the food items.

FOOD and DRINK
We were so lucky to have Grazing Cravings gift us a Grazing Platter which was the centerpiece of our brunch.  The lovely Shiella makes the most gorgeous platters ever!

Photo by Liz Lopez Photography

We were also given delicious cake pops from The Sugar Butcher.  Katelynd makes the most detailed baked goods ever and her flavors are always delicious!

Photo by Liz Lopez Photography

Laura and I provided really simple, fun, and customizable food.  We had a Parfait Bar.  We provided regular and non-dairy/vegan yogurt, regular and gluten free granola, a variety of cut up fruit, local honey, and jam.  We had clear cups and people were able to make a parfait that was perfect for their needs and preferences.  We also got croissants and dulce de leche bites from Costco for people who love carbs.

Photos from Kimi of KimiLove.com

For drinks, we partnered with Silt Wine Co and Muddy Boot Wines.  We also provided some sparkling waters, hard cider, rose, and Diet Coke for a certain someone.

Photo by Liz Lopez Photography

SWAG BAGS
First of all, I do not think that swag bags or goody bags are necessary for an event.  I think the important part is to spend time with your friends or family and have fun.  However, since this event was for blogger I wanted to allow my friends with small businesses the chance to be seen by the ladies without having the event be about sales.  We created simple bags and added in some yummy treats for the way home.

Photo by Liz Lopez Photography

The contents were: a pass for a free admission to Imagine Play Elk Grove, a soap from Birds of a Feather, stationery from Petite Papery, travel first aid kit from Grade Power Elk Grove, and a coupon from Amazing Lash Elk Grove.

Photo by Liz Lopez Photography

HAVING FUN
It was such a nice time hanging out with our friends!  Also, I think it's important to remember that not all parties need to be over the top and full of details.  It's about spending time together and enjoying your conversation.

Photo by Liz Lopez Photography

Photo by Liz Lopez Photography

Photo by Liz Lopez Photography

I hope this inspires you all to have a brunch or get together with your friends!  I think so many times we get caught up in all the things we feel like we have to do to make things nice that we psyche ourselves out.  We end up missing out on having great memories because we are afraid it will be too much time or money to put together a little party.  Have the party!  Life is too short to not celebrate lovely things like friendship!



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Velocity Island Park Birthday Party

Hi friends!  Happy summer!  Summer is very busy for us!  Along with all the regular summer hustle and bustle, we also have 3 birthdays in our family of 5!  One of the things I've started doing to save my sanity is having the birthday parties outside our home.

I recently had the pleasure of collaborating with Velocity Island Park for my son's birthday party and it was a blast!  We hadn't heard of Velocity Island Park before this and I'm so glad we got a chance to check it out.  Now, I can share with you!  (All photos by Fridge Photos.  Thank you Fred and Damian, you're a dream to work with!)

Velocity Island Park located in Woodland is a different kind of water park.  It doesn't have your usual slides or lazy river.  The have different areas where you can do different activities.  There is a cable park where you can wake board.  There is also a restaurant, volleyball courts, beach oasis, cabanas, and more.  We focused on the Aqua Park for our party.

The Aqua Park has a sturdy inflatable play structure over water.  There are slides, swings, jumping pillows, spinning wheels, balance beams and more.  Kids and adults are provided life jackets before getting onto the structure.  Life guards are there for safety, interacting with the kids, and to help them on the structure.

The birthday party includes two 50 minute sessions on the aqua park with a 10 minute break in between.  During that time, we opted to have a light snack for the kids and some water.  We ordered a fruit plate from their Black Pearl restaurant.  It was a great refreshing snack for the kids and they gobbled it up.  The break is also a great time to reapply some sunscreen.

All of the kids had a BLAST on equipment!  A few parents went out to try it and they had a great time too!  It was so fun to see them all out there swinging, playing tag, climbing, going on monkey bars, and having a great time.  Many of the kids said that they wanted to have their birthdays at Velocity Island too.  Even the kids who were apprehensive at first found their own niche within the structure.

After our two sessions on the aqua park, we had lunch in the shaded private cabana.  Three pizzas and three pitchers of drinks were included in the party package.  We opted to order two more pizzas.  The pizza was a big hit!  It is brick oven pizza.  We opted to get pepperoni, cheese, and Hawaiian pizza.  The kids loved the pizza especially after working up an appetite on the equipment.  The park provided the plates, napkins, cups, and even a Sharpie to write names on the cups which was nice so I didn't have to worry about it.

Velocity Island Park offered to store a cake for us but my son wanted cookies instead so we kept them out at the our private cabana.  The party host brought us waters and our sodas during lunch.  It was nice not to have to walk back and forth to the restaurant to get things.  It was also really nice that I didn't have to clean my house before or after a party since we had it at the park.

Overall, we had an AMAZING experience at Velocity Island Park and my kids cannot wait to go back!  We thought Woodland would be far away but it only took us 30 minutes to get there from our house.  I also thought that party guests would not want to drive out there but it was not an issue for us at all.  It's well worth the short drive!  If you are looking for a fun and active party for a summer birthday, I would highly recommend Velocity Island Park!  The kids are still talking about it!



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Avery's Daniel Tiger Party

Hi friends!  I hope that you are doing well!  We are pretty good.  I'm having a small flair up with my liver but hopefully it will pass soon.

Today, I'm sharing a few things from Avery's birthday party.  My kids LOVE picking themes that I can't just run to the store and buy.  Avery's birthday is a couple days after Christmas and I was just spent so I didn't do a ton of crafting.  I did want to share the few things I made with you.  Most of it came from the PBSkids website.   (I am no way affiliated with PBSkids, I just appreciate that they had a bunch of printables on their site for free.)

First I made this Trolley with print outs and directions from PBSkids.org.  I used a smaller sized diaper box (the box that holds about 100 diapers) and it was too small for the directions they gave.  I'd say a box that holds about 150 diapers would be better.  I also had to freehand cut the red roof part down because after I put it on my box that was too small, the roof looked way too big.  I used the blue Marvy circle punch for the wheels/light and I think I cut the gray paper at about 1.5 inches in width.  The directions on the site and a little vague.

Here's my little Avery Tiger.  I got the sweater from a local moms group when I posted about trying to find Daniel Tiger items locally.  The lady and her husband made this super sweet sweater for their daughter.  They found a sweater like the ones the kids wear on the show and sewed a Daniel Tiger patch on it.  It's so cute and I'm so lucky that wonderful lady saw my post!  I couldn't find tiger pants so these are actually $3 Walmart zebra print leggings that Dustin dyed orange with Rit dye.  I tried finding red shoes but they were all about $30 and I didn't want to spend that on shoes she might wear once.  The buns are supposed to be her tiger ears.  

I didn't get a picture before the party started since I was running around like a crazy person but at each of the place settings we had a couple coloring sheets (print them here) and I tied a few crayons together with Halloween Divine Twine.  I also put little bottles of bubbles which was a HUGE mistake because we were at an ice cream parlor and I wish I would have put Divine Twine on those too.

Here's Avery with her cake that was a nightmare to get.  It's from Bel Air but if you order one, be sure to call the night before or the morning of to confirm that they actually MADE your cake.  We got to the store and they had NO cake for us.  Finally, they said they would just make us a cake and give us our money back but it would take 10 minutes (which was AWFUL because we just swung by to pick it up on the way to the party.)  It's one of those images they print and put on the cake so I'm sure they have them at different stores.  

Here's the favor I made for the party.  I'm trying not to give so many little dollar store toys to kids for goody bags because well I dislike getting them.  I feel guilty throwing them away but they are usually cheap and break.  I've switched to only doing consumable favors (not just food but things like bubbles, crayons, etc... that can be used up.)  I was going to make cake balls but my friend Summer convinced me to do pretzel tiger tails which they do at Disneyland as Tigger tails.  (They actually have this as an idea of PBSkids too.)  I put them in a long bag and tied them with Halloween Divine Twine which looks great at a tiger themed party.  Dustin made the print out that I placed in the basket.

Have a grrrrrr-rific day, everyone!

Super Cute Kid Treat

Hi friends!  I hope you well!  I am getting LATE with this blogging thing!  I also forgot to take pictures of the crafts I completed so I'm just off my game.

Today, I'm sharing a SUPER cute treat that I help my friend Megan prepare at her daughter's birthday.  They are dirt and worm cups.  I've made dirt and worms before for my kids but I never thought of using an already made pudding cup, that was Megan's idea.  That's genius!  This is perfect for parties or bringing to school for a birthday treat.  You just crush up some chocolate sandwich cookies, put them on top of chocolate pudding, and add some gummy worms.  This is perfect for people who don't like cake!  I usually make pudding and put them into ramekins BUT I don't have enough ramekins for a bunch of people and this is just the perfect size for kids to hold in their hands.  Hopefully, Megan is ok with me sharing her idea here.  I just thought it was perfect!

Have a great day, everyone!  

Pink and Purple Birthday Party

Hi friends!  I hope you are well!  We are ok.  A couple of the kids seem to have a little cold.  Fingers crossed that it doesn't get worse than that.

Today, I'm sharing some pictures from my daughter's birthday party.  Sigh...  I'm late in sharing the pictures.  I was late in having the party.  I guess the theme should have just been LATE.  ;)  Originally, we were going to do a Princess Tea Party themed party but we were so sick in late December and almost all of January.  We decided to throw together a little party and this is what I came up with.  I spent almost nothing on this party but we were all happy with it.

I always have this line and hook thing (I don't know what it's called) from Ikea up for the kids's art.  I decided to change out all the kid art with some pictures, doilies, and some Whisker Graphics Bitty Bags.  

I love this little area!  I framed a doily that I wrote on.  The writing says "Thanks for coming to celebrate our Cutie!"  We gave away Cutie oranges as party favors because I'm kind of done buying tiny cheap toys that will get thrown in the trash.  I added a jar with burlap and lace, a candle, and a framed pic.  I thought this was so cute!

I found this little chest in front of a neighbor's house one day with a bunch of stuff and a sign that said "free."  Woot woot!  I added a bunch of dress up items for the little girls to play with.  There was jewelry from the Dollar Tree, headbands, tutus, hats, etc...

Here's the gift table and back door decorated.  We also hung some balloons that I blew up from the light fixture.  So easy, so cheap!

Here's some of the food I made for the party.  Let me know if you want any recipes!

My daughter LOVES balloons and lollipops so I made these little balloon bouquet cupcakes for her.  I used the cheap thin ribbon from Michael's to tie a bow around the center lollipop.  

I made dipped marshmallows in pink and purple.  I put them in a jar with some sprinkles at the bottom.  These were a HUGE hit and they are SO much easier than cake pops!

I made some colored popcorn for the party as well.  This is SO easy and everyone loves it.  Let me know if you want a recipe post!

I hope you enjoyed a look into my daughter's birthday!  Have a great day, friends!