Cookies with Santa

Christmas season means visits to the big guy in red, and we love inviting him to our shop! Last year we started working with Santa Claus to put together a fun, smaller sized cookie decorating party. Getting time with Santa can be hard for parents, and our goal is to make it easy and less stressful in a smaller environment. We sell around 16 tickets to each event, and try to make them a magical experience for all the littles.

Photo overload! Sorry, but we played with so many fun tabletop combos over the six different events. We used everything from traditional looks to colorful candy looks. I wanted to get pictures of the different supplies we got in this year because there were so many fun options. We also wanted to show how much fun you can have with your tables mixing and matching different patterns and styles. The best part? Wendi, owner of Sweet Sugarlicious, created coordinated cookies! She's incredibly talented. She made a beautifully decorated cookie for each attendee, and then plain cookies that they were able to decorate. 

When the children arrived at the event, they headed over to the letter writing station to put together their Santa letter. If they put it in the "magic North Pole mailbox" they received a letter back from Santa a couple weeks later. During this time, they were also able to get in some time with Mr. Claus. I love that we have a relaxed environment where kids are able to take their time going to see Santa. If they need some time to warm up, they have that. If they want to stay up there and chat his ear off, they can do that. Halfway through the event, Santa read The Night Before Christmas to an attentive crowd. He is so personable and asked kids to help turn the pages, which they loved of course.

We save the cookie decorating until the end (mainly because of the sugar intake haha), and the kids always have a fun time creating a masterpiece. Santa comes around while they are decorating, and it's fun to see their excitement showing off their cookies. Cookie decorating is a classic and always seems to be a hit with the littles. 

Another year, another set of successful Santa events! Thank you to Santa Claus for coming all the way down from the North Pole to make them extra special.

Shop what we have left of our Christmas goodies here!

Lots of Love,

3rd Annual Nutcracker Tea Party

For the past few years we have held an annual tea party with the Nutcracker dancers from Ballet Wichita. We were excited to welcome them back again this year! Around twenty littles got together for a morning of treats, dancing and fun. Their faces light up as they walk in to mingle with the dancers that arrive, and we have loved keeping this tradition alive. Special thanks to my talented friend Jill for capturing the event.

The nutcracker supplies that we got in this season have beautiful tones of pinks and blues, so we ran with those colors for the look. We picked a couple fun holographic and oil slick plates to add some dimension to the table, and mixed them with a pretty blush pink. Each guest received a Nutcracker hat or Sugar Plum fairy tiara to wear. Those are a fun way to add a pop of color to the table. I worked with a shop favorite, Avery & Grey, again this year for the party favors - glitter snap clips (when we have had boys attend in the past, we usually do a mini nutcracker for their favor in case you need an idea!). We always like to have fun with our backdrop for this event, and this year was no exception. In perfect timing, Creative Heart Studio posted a nutcracker balloon mosaic template on her website  last week. We had never attempted one of her fun designs, but thought this would be the perfect one to start with. It was a lot of work, but thanks to shop girl, Emily, we had it created just in time for the party to start! The pink nutcracker was a hit and kids loved how whimsical he looked.

Food wise, I kept it rather simple and tried to stick with a morning tea theme. I happily hired my talented sweet go to girls: cookies by Sweet Sugarlicious and cupcakes by September Moon Cupcakery. They did not disappoint - all the littles were excited with their pretty desserts. I picked up some mini cinnamon rolls, muffins and scones, as well as some fruit. The fruit I laid out to look like Christmas wreaths for a fun touch.

The dancers from Ballet Wichita always do such a wonderful job! This year, they sent the Sugar Plum Fairy, Clara in her nightgown, a rat and the Nutcracker. The danced with the children, smiled for pictures, and performed the Sugar Plum dance. The kids were in awe and loved dancing along (if they weren't being shy). I always love seeing the littles that are excited to show off the dance moves they know. We cannot thank them enough for coming and performing for our tea party! I highly recommend snagging some tickets for this year's Nutcracker. They have a new artistic director and he is putting together a beautiful, traditional Nutcracker with a touch of magic!

Thank you to everyone that attended our event this year! We had so much fun putting it together for you, and look forward to continuing this tradition in the future.

Shop this post: Nutcracker Hat Set | Nutcracker Cupcake Kit | Shining Star Plates | Oil Slick Small Plates | Pink Small Plates | Pink Napkins | Pink Chargers | Avery & Grey Snap Clips - Find in store or contact us | Balloons - Contact us to order

Lots of Love,

Oh Christmas Tree!

Decked our house with balloons and garlands! With a one year old and needing a new tree, I decided to have fun this year. In the past, we have gotten real trees, but we realized last year having to keep the house warmer for Elizabeth, the tree died rather quickly. I was researching good fake trees and found some flocked options that I liked, but after thinking about it decided to hold off for a year. EM is at the age where she gets into, pulls on and messes with everything. I figured flocked snow would be eaten, ornaments broken and messes all over. After seeing an adorable balloon tree on Instagram, I decided what a fun way to still have a tree, and try out a new concept for the shop!

After playing with some colors, we decided to mix pastels and pearly dark colors for the tree. I love the mix against my light bluish grey walls. Plus the settle pink added a fun girly touch for my little miss. We maybe like pink in this house! I think there are so many fun color possibilities with these trees. Pink Santa ended up being the perfect tree topper!

After finishing off the balloon monstrosity, I decided to keep going with our decorations. I pulled out some of my favorites from the past, and mixed in some new from the shop this year - I've been crushing our bottle brush trees since we got them in! Grabbed a few pink and love them with my paintings. Still a few of those left in the shop! Last year, I snagged some pretty faux greenery garland (since the live died quicker than the tree did) and they work great on my dresser and mantel. Stockings, I use traditional velvet stockings from my childhood - love the bell! Reminds me of Christmas Eve night hearing them get stuffed by Santa. Elizabeth got in the holiday spirit with me today for photos and rocked her adorable new Christmas bow by Avery & Grey - one of these beauties left in the shop! The red glitter candle is my favorite Volcano scent and is also available in the shop, as well as other holiday scents and containers. If you aren't quirky and crazy like me, and actually put up a real tree, make sure to check out our fun ornaments before they're all gone. We got in so many fun ones this year! Thinking I still need to do a cute tree for EM's room using some of these.

Hope your decorating is going well! What's your favorite item to get out every year?

Lots of Love,