Baby Shower: Popcorn Buffet

Try something different...opt for a popcorn buffet for a baby shower (or any event)!  I always knew that I wanted to use the "about to pop" idea for my baby shower. And I love popcorn, so creating a popcorn buffet worked out perfectly for my shower.  If you enjoy eating all types of popcorn, this is the buffet for you!  I find the popcorn buffet to be an economical alternative to a candy buffet. You can offer up  a plethora of flavors to please all palettes, sweet, salty, spicy, savory, you name it!  Here's what I offered, and how I added Flair  to the display.  

 Popcorn Garland

 

Popcorn ball "Pops" with baby bottle toppers. (I love to use these toppers)

 Popcorn Ball topiary. At the end of the night, these were no where to be found!!

 Popcorn boxes filled with butter popcorn

Guests  had the option of adding butter, ranch, or nacho cheese flavorings to freshly popped plain popcorn 

  Various flavors of popcorn were offered  including Asiago & Cracked Pepper, Caramel & Chocolate, White Cheddar, Peanut Butter, Chipotle & Lime.

 You dont' have to limit yourself to candy and deserts for a sweet ending. Popcorn can be sweet as well!

Baby Shower: Building our Family Block by Block

Happy New Year All...(as I blow a bit of dust off of my blog)!! I'm looking forward to what 2013 has in store for The Flair Factor, that I'll share with you on Fete Fanatic. Between the baby and business..I should have lots to share! In fact, just the other day I received an inquiry about my baby shower and realized that I never shared photos on my blog! First off, let me send a big THANK YOU to Chris over at Celebrations at Home and Baby Lifestyles for featuring my shower! Please enjoy the details and photos below!
The theme.. “Building our family one Block at a time". A celebration starts with the invitation, so I chose a modern style that gave my guests a peek at what to expect. Christine of The Olive Branch Papery executed my vision for the stationery perfectly!

Decor started at my front door with over sized building blocks which flanked the entrance of the porch, and a handcrafted ruffled wreath on the front door.

Typically a family member or girlfriend plans a baby shower to honor the mother to be. My shower was planned by my family and friends, but I just couldn't resist adding my styling expertise! :-)  I customized unpainted building blocks with paint in the color scheme of pink & aqua (I love shades of aqua!). Expecting a baby girl doubled the fun when styling the shower. I absolutely love feminine touches, and knew that I had to incorporate girly elements. Along with building blocks and teddy bears, ruffles and rosettes were my style trend of choice.

Guests were welcomed with a pink grapefruit or berry lemonade spritzer with tiny pacifiers adorning the drinking straws.

Tables were dressed in fitted white ruffled table toppers which I designed to accentuated the aqua linens. The centerpieces were hand painted building blocks with teddy bears dressed up in little pink skirts, a rosette bow, and a signature logo tee which matched our stationery.

  Ruffles and rosettes were incorporated into just about everything.. the cake, signage, table linens, guest of honors chair sashes, custom pillow (for my back)…Everywhere I could put them!!

Signage included handmade “baby girl” banner created with ribbon, painted wooden letters, and  fabric rosettes

Prizes for the shower games were wrapped in the colors of the shower and doubled as decor on the fireplace mantle.

Guests went home with personalized teddy bear favors and lots of popcorn!”

Popcorn Display will be featured in a post to follow!

Can you pick me out? :-)

Holiday Happenings

The holidays are here! And pretty soon it will be time to set resolutions and goals for the New Year! Over the weekend I hosted a time management event to  help everyone get their New Year off to a good start. Since its customary for The Flair Factor to end events of a sweet note, I decided to incorporated a simple treats table with holiday accents in keeping with a festive atmosphere. Take a look.

These are tricked out store bought oreos! I just love these tasting mini frying pans.. too cute.

 Chocolate dipped strawberries displayed on silver tasting spoons. I lined the trays with coconut to represent snow. 

 Rice Crispy Treats 

 These are cake truffles. I put them in tiny gift boxes and added jingle bells.  

 I love bling for the holidays (or any day).. check out the trees and reindeer!

Enjoy your holidays!

Breast Cancer Awareness

A few weekends ago, I was invited to create a sweets table for a local business owner who was hosting a spa party for Breast Cancer Awareness month. Floral designer Zakiya of Zakiya's Way wanted to do something special to honor her family and friends who survived breast cancer.  Guests were treated to comfy plush slippers, spa products and massages.  I was thrilled to be in the company of such beauty and strength. Thanks Zakiya for having us!!

Custom Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Ribbon Garland

 Sweet Treats included Red Velvet & Vanilla Cake Pops, Chocolate Covered Oreos, Dipped Pretzels Rods, Coconut Raspberry Marshmallows, Cherry Tootsie Rolls & Hershey Kisses. 

 

Chocolate dipped Rice Krispies Treats  

Treats in vintage milkglass (I LOVE)!

Chocolate Pink Ribbons & Dipped Pretzels

 Chocolate covered Oreo Cookies 

Cake Pops and Oreos by Sweet Temptations.. YUM!

Cheesecake Pops

 I'm thinking about making these simple DIY cheesecake pops! I made these pops from store bought cheesecake for a dinner I hosted about two years ago.  There were pumpking cheesecake (perfect for this time of year) and plain cheesecake pops covered in graham crackers and Oreo cookie... YUM! 

Before we say goodbye to summer....

I have so many things to catch you guys up on.  The past few months has been consumed with family activities. From the birth of my daughter to
the passing of my beloved father, I have been surrounded with loved ones for support. The addition of our little lady attracted the family youngsters to constantly want to spend time at my house. So with summer coming to an unofficial end, and the kids back to school, I will have some time to update my blog. 

During the summer I was asked to collaborate with Onida Cruz of Onida Cruz Weddings & Events
 (Opulent Creations Events) to create simple party ideas. I knew it would be a blast to partner with Onida especially being new moms of precious little girls, with tons of ideas to share. We started with a pink and green (one of my all time favor color combos) Asian inspired design.  The "Oh" (pun intended) so talented Olesha of Oh! Boudoir Photography took the photos for us.

Kids tables just their size were set with wooden chopsticks, takeout boxes to store their treats, and
fortune cookies acted as placecards. I simple cut out strips of paper and stuck it partially into the fortune cookie to be reveal the names.  A bamboo plant set on top of a bamboo block placemat, moss balls, and cute kimono boxes anchored the table perfectly as the centerpiece.

Non pro-pics (Taken by yours truly...me)

No care in the world about the design and styling... all they want are those balloons!

And of course they loved the goodies on the sweets display!

I loved the ever description Onida gave me over on her blog.. "sweet treat architect"! I'll definitely have to use that one! (Thanks Nida!) .  The kids were on a sugar high after packing their take out boxes with  cake pops, pink polky biscuit sticks, chocolate covered fortune cookies, and Rice Krispie pops and washing all the sweets down with strawberry milk!

Chocolate covered fortune cookies atop a bed of chow mein noodles for that extra Flair!

I couldn't resist these fan plates, they were a great find and looked great were perfect for our theme.  How cute does the Cake pops look on the plate?? 

Rice Krispy pops

I embellished the strawberry milk with parasols... cute, fun and worked well with the theme 

I had a great time creating these tablescapes with Onida this summer! We put our heads, talents, tons of props together to bring you festive party ideas! Stay tuned for more!!

I have a new name... Mom!!!

Please pardon my disappearing act, it was all for a good reason.  This past April we were overjoyed to welcome our first child.  Introducing our precious baby girl....