Category Archives: Events

Guess the Baby Food – Baby Shower Game

Leave a reply

Doing a quick little post to share an easy, fun baby shower game I planned for one of my cousins!

This was back in Spring of 2021, so wanted to plan games that didn’t require a lot of person-to-person interaction, still upholding social distancing in large groups.

Enter the Guess the Baby Food Game..in individual form.

I have to say, I love how cute these little taster trays turned out. Looking back, I wish I would have planned the food color order a little better – maybe have an ombre moment or a rainbow-tized tray.

Either way, they were such a hit at the party and pretty easy to plan.

General details/tips if you plan to play this game at a baby shower:

  1. Paint trays from the dollar store are the perfect size
  2. I numbered each slot with a Sharpie
  3. I used baby food pouches and squeezed directly into the tray. One baby food pouch = ~16 tray slots
  4. For the game card, I had one line for every ingredient. So one flavor was Prunes, it had one line listed. If it was Avocado, Peas and Apples, it had 3 lines listed. We did one point per ingredient.
  5. Not pictured, we handed out little spoons for people to taste with.

Hope this inspires you to plan a fun baby food tasting game – please share if you do!

Warmly,
Mrs. Alex Paul

Perfectly Pink Floral Baby Shower

Leave a reply

Adding a new baby girl to the family meant a perfectly pink, ultra feminine baby shower. Flowers and candles and wonderful memories!

My favorite part of any party – the tablescape:

Each placesetting had a wreath with a namecard, hand sanitizer and a pink mask as this was still during covid times.
The beverage station had refreshing cucumber water, passion fruit juice (or as us Peruvians call it, maracuya) as well as a champagne – juice mixing station.
Diaper Raffle Station
I love having guests write their address on the thank you card envelope – one less step for a new mom to worry about!

So proud of how this intimate pink and floral baby shower turned out – hope you enjoyed my little recap!

Santa Barbara Bachelorette Weekend

Leave a reply

Back in 2019, I was the maid of honor for my best friend Ali. And other than the wedding, I was MOST excited to plan the bachelorette party.

The bride’s requests were: a fun, low-ley weekend making great memories with our friends in Santa Barbara. Added in two of the bride’s favorite things: rose gold & leopard.

Perfection.

So here you have it, a collection of pictures from the last girls getaway I had before the pandemic happened.

Custom Drink Stirrers from etsy
Attendee gifts
Charcuterie from Pickles and Swiss
The Perfect Husband game printable from etsy
Chalk wall at The Valley Project
Frose at The Lucky Penny
Lunch at The Lucky Penny
Wine Tasting at The Deep Sea Tasting Room
Santa Barbara Bachelorette Weekend Itinerary

Llama 2nd Birthday Party

Leave a reply

My baby boy turned 2!

Being Peruvian, llamas have always been a part of my cultural identity..so a llama birthday theme was a no brainer. Plus, llamas are definitely haven’t a moment right now, so finding decor was beyond easy.

We had delicious strawberry shortcake birthday cake, Peruvian alfajores and amazing personalized cookies from @asweethabit. No shortage of sweets at this party!

And we had these adorable plates from Meri Meri to serve them on!

We had the party in my parents’ backyard. And I had the brilliant idea to do a balloon garland across their pergola.

What I didn’t realize, is that the total length was more than 40 feet.

Thank god for a balloon pump.

But overall, I love how it turned out. The colors were bright, festive..and it helped add a punch of decor to a big space.

We did some rental tables, linen, heaters – and even a rental softplay space for the kiddos! I highly recommend @ABCPlayrentals.

I didn’t get all the pictures I wanted of everything – like the food truck we rented for the party! BUT, we made incredible memories and really lived in the moment celebrating my baby’s 2nd birthday.

One of the best days I’ve had as a mom! <3

Care Package Centerpiece

Leave a reply

There are few things I love more than a good centerpiece.

A romantic floral arrangement? A tall candelabra? A hurricane with beautiful shells? Yes, yes and yes.

So when my boss came to me one day and asked me for help with a centerpiece, I was all for it.

Then she handed me a piece of paper with a wishlist on it. Gallon Ziploc bags. Granola bars. Disposable spoons. Toothpaste. Our hotel was hosting an event for the local Ronald McDonald House and we needed care packages to serve as centerpieces. They’d be donated after the event.

I was stumped.

I know from my past work as a fundraiser that there are some amazing non-profit themed centerpieces out there. I’ve seen beautiful bowls of food for a Food Bank event. Unique pieces of art made by children of a Boys & Girls Club. But a care package as a centerpiece? That, I hadn’t seen.

I decided to start with the container itself. After going to so many stores and scouring the internet..I found the perfect item at Party City: A red, plastic trifle container. It has a little bit of height and is translucent so you can see what’s inside.

After finding this trifle container, everything else came easily. I focused on getting as many red & yellow items from the Wishlist, since those are the strongest colors associated with Ronald McDonald. Luckily, so many things out there have red & yellow packaging! Toothpaste (lots of red brands), mac-n-cheese single cups (very yellow), Glad storage bags are literally red and yellow.

So I had my red container, red and yellow care package items – I added a yellow ribbon with a gift tag featuring the Ronald McDonald House’s logo and voila – a care package centerpiece worthy of this fundraising event!

Hope this helps inspire you to make a centerpiece for a great cause that speaks to your heart!

L,

Mrs. Alex Paul

Romantic Huntington Beach Wedding

Leave a reply

This year, Alex and I are celebrating our 7 year wedding anniversary.

SEVEN YEARS.

(And no itch here, lol)

I think about my wedding day often – not just because it was the absolute best day of my life – but because I’m lucky enough to work at the very place I got married. And each time I see couples get married on that lawn, I think about all the happy memories I celebrated in that same spot.

Cheers to July 30, 2011

Planner: Lisa Simpson
Venue: Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach
Photographer: Kathleen Clark
Lighting: PSAV
Florist: Fantasy Floral Designs
Chair Rentals: Chiavari Chair Rentals
Dress: Deborah’s Bridal

L,
Mrs. Alex Paul

Black and White Dinner Party

Leave a reply

One of my New Year’s resolutions for this year was to entertain more.

I’m always saying to my husband, “we should have so-and-so over,” or “this recipe is delicious, we should make it for a dinner party.”

But here we are, married for 6 years and we rarely have people over. (All that serveware I registered for going to waste!)

So, this year, I decided to host a Cousin Potluck Dinner for the cousins on my dad’s side of the family. A dinner party that was 18 people big. #gobigorgohome

The main inspiration for this dinner party was this paper placemat. It’s elegant, yet casual and has a fun vintage feel to it.

I knew I wanted to highlight the design with a clear glass plate (9 inches) and silverware that mimicked the drawn cutlery.

I also wanted to keep the black and white theme with a marble placecard. These are actually marble subway tiles from a hardware store..less than $1 each!

The centerpieces were a combination of white hydrangeas, white roses and mini pink carnations.

 

Along with the black and white theme, I wanted it to feel warm and romantic. I found tall candelabras at Goodwill and paired them with small mercury glass votives filled with roses.

All in all, my first major dinner party was a success.

It was such a fun evening full of candlelight, beautiful flowers and amazing memories <3 Thank you to my wonderfully large family for joining me for our first annual Cousin Potluck Dinner!

Hope this helps you plan a black and white soiree of your own!

Rentals (Chiavari Chairs, plates, silverware, napkins, water glasses): Party Plus Rentals
Paper Placemats: Hester and Cook
Black and White Straws: Target
Marble Placecards: Lowe’s

L,
Mrs. Alex Paul

A Peter Rabbit Baby Shower

9 Replies

So, something amazing happened last month.

My mom hosted 2 baby showers for me. They were Peter Rabbit themed. And incredible. And perfect. And I absolutely loved them.

How great does my mom look for being a grandma-to-be?!

And even though my mom was in charge, I may have taken over a couple of the details because I’m a control freak like that. #sorrymom

As guests came in, we had a Peter Rabbit book as the guest book with no-bleed sharpies (very important!).

We also had our first game – one of my faves- the Don’t Say Baby game. To jazz up the clothespins, I added these adorable baby bottle stickers by Jolee’s Boutique.

For the tables in the backyard, we did rounds with chiavari chairs (my fave!) and this BEAUTIFUL linen from La Tavola.

   

For the food, we went with a veggie inspired menu – Peter Rabbit was all about sneaking into the garden afterall.

We had little sandwiches (all pescatarian friendly!), assorted salads and a make-your-own-veggie-tray station with lots of vegetables, hummus and ranch.

For dessert, we had two cakes (two is better than one, amiright?) from my favorite bakery – SusieCakes in Newport Beach, CA! We ordered the luscious lemon and southern red velvet. Heaven.

We also ordered petit fours and delicious fruit tarts from Assal Pastry in Irvine, CA. SO incredible.

For the second shower, we had another red velvet, bunny-themed cake from SusieCakes. #addicted #imayhaveaproblem

But it’s adorable, right?!

Now onto my favorite part of baby showers – GAMES.

I wanted to try out a new game – Fruit of the Womb. Matching the fruit/vegetable that corresponds to each week in pregnancy..not easy, my friends!

The winner correctly guessed 8…8 out of 34 guesses. So definitely a tough one – but it’s gender neutral and all it requires is the gamecard (printable at the end of the post) and a pencil! Plus it’s kind of fun to torture your guests for 10 minutes..

The second game we played was Guess the Baby Food!

(Printable below)

This is another torturous game (I mean, have you tasted the the green beans they make babies eat?!) – but again, so fun for me to watch people play.

For the baby shower favors, we gave my favorite little candles by Voluspa. They had the perfect light blue and white candles – and as a bonus, they smelled SO GOOD.

Printables:

Dont’ Say Baby Sign: don’t say baby peter rabbit

Fruit of the Womb Gamecard: Fruit of the Womb

Fruit of the Womb ANSWERS (Word): Answers for Fruit of the Womb game
Fruit of the Womb ANSWERS (PDF): Answers for Fruit of the Womb game

Guess the Baby Food Gamecard: Guess the Baby Food
Guess the Baby Food Paper Wraps: baby food wraps

Only 5 more weeks ago until the baby is born – and my mom officially becomes a grandma!

L,
Mrs. Alex Paul

A Rosy 80th Birthday

Leave a reply

My grandmother – the most incredible woman on this planet – just had a major birthday.

And throwing her an 80th birthday party was one of the greatest honors of my life.

Look at her killing it at 80.

All 6 of her children, 9 grandchildren..and 1 ex husband…turned up to celebrate this wonderful matriarch.

Her dream? A rosy 80th birthday with dinner and dancing.

My favorite decoration was the floral, textured photo backdrop and a sparkling 80.

That same coral fabric helped make the roses pop in our centerpieces. AND it matched the coral “80” straws in the champagne glasses. #matchymatchy

I printed old, black and white pictures of my grandma and put them in antique-style frames. Guests each got to take one at the end of the night – such an easy party favor and it’s extra sentimental to my family.

One of my favorite parts of the decor were the custom plates..and by custom, I mean plates from Party City and a clear, personalized sticker from Etsy. Put those two together..and bam, an awesome custom place setting.

#felizcumpleaňosluz

Once dinner was over and people had had a little too much bubbly, we busted out the photo props!

Thanks to my Silhouette (#OBSESSED), I made some custom photo props especially for my grandma.

Along with the normal mustache, lips, crown..I added a Peru (obviously), a sparkly silver 80 and a heart that says Mamayu, which is a nickname that her oldest grandkids call her.

But the most popular photo prop was a word bubble that says CARAJO..her favorite Peruvian swear word. #classygrams

Happy 80th grandma – here’s to many more! <3

L,

Mrs. Alex Paul

Disneyland Pregnancy Announcement

1 Reply

So recently, my husband and I made a little announcement.

Baby Paul arriving November 2017.

Exciting. Terrifying. All of it.

One of the first things I did when I found out (other than go into a deep emotional panic) is look up pregnancy announcement ideas.

I knew I wanted something that really reflected my husband and I…not that we’re Disney freaks or anything..but being that we’ve been to Disneyland, Disney World and some Disney Cruises…we might just be Disney freaks..

Going to Disneyland and scoping out photo spots was so fun – and an opportunity to sneak in a churro in between takes.. #priorities

We almost went with the It’s a Small World photo – and the caption Something Small Arriving November 2017. I mean, it just begs for that sentence!

But we decided to go with the close-up castle shot – just so classic!

So excited with how our announcement turned out. And what’s awesome, is that we have an awesome, built-in keepsake in our Mickey Ears hats! Hope it helps you plan out any special announcements you have in the works! 🙂

Love,

Mrs. Alex Paul