{GWD Parties} Bright Modern Construction Party

When my son Dashell was closing in on 4, he came out of his room one day adorned with all of his toy tools and declared that he would like a Construction Party! 

This was the first time that he had ever had a strong opinion about his birthday party theme and so I was thrilled to be able to embrace his enthusiasm for all things tools and construction and help bring his dream to life.

The Entryway

Over here we are big on making sure that our guests are swept up in the magic of our theme the moment they arrive. For this party, I created giant sign declaring the space "Dashell's Construction Site" and hung it at the entrance to the party. 

On the ground below, were a few saw horses I had built and then outfitted with fun signage: "Entering Construction Zone"...

...and "Hard Hat Area Ahead". 

And Dashell had a blast decorating the driveway with tons of construction cones!

Party Attire

The sign at the entrance, "Hard Hat Area Ahead", gave the guests a small hint as to what was to come next. As they drew nearer to the party, they were met with a large sign "Grab Your Gear and Let's Build" which was hanging over rows and rows of personalized tools belts and toy hard hats decorated with party circle stickers stating that they were about to be part of "Crew 4". 

Each little guest was thrilled to put on their very own construction gear emblazoned with their name and packed with toy tools!

Party Central

After appropriately suiting up...

 

...the guests gleefully entered the official party area and the fun times were on! Once past the custom saw horse declaring "Authorized Crew Members Only", 

they were face to face with the "Dig Zone"! 

A huge box we constructed and filled with sand, wood chips, tons of shovels and construction vehicles. The kids loved it!

Completely inspired by the cardboard bulldozer masterpiece originally created by Pure Joy Events, we set out to create our own bulldozer which the kids loved climbing on...

...as well as a cardboard wrecking ball which ended up being the hit of the party! 

I wrapped large empty boxes in seamless paper with brick wall detailing and then Dashell brought out all of our cardboard blocks and the kids simply could not build and wreck enough "walls"!

And just in case any of our little workers needed to take a "break", I made sure to continue our construction theme inside as well!

The Dessert Table

Every party needs a dessert table to help capture the magic of the theme. 

For Dashell's construction party, I baked a chocolate sheet cake and then crumbled it up and arranged all the beautiful construction vehicle cookies (masterfully created by Angela at Oh Sugar! Events based on my designs) to look as through they were really going to town on a mound of dirt! 

For the cupcakes, I crushed up a chocolate cookies and rolled the chocolate icing that topped the cupcakes in the cookie crumbs to make them look like dirt mounds and then decorated each one with a fun cupcake topper and construction themed cupcake wrapper. I then arranged all of them around a pile chocolate doughnut hole "boulders" and placed one the vehicle cookies on top to complete the feeling of an actual construction site.

The perfect miniature cement truck and dump truck cake pops, created by Entirely Sweet, were displayed in aluminum lunch pails and their arrangement was punctuated by adorable fondant construction cones, made by Brittany at Edible Details. 

The center piece of the table was a two tier cake that I designed, and was beautifully executed by A Sweet Design. 

Cranes lifting giant number 4's, dump trucks spilling their loads and bulldozers digging were all part of this cake "under construction". 

Each one of the vehicles was painstakingly hand sculpted by Brittany of Edible Details and Dashell (as well as all the children) couldn't have been more entranced!

Favors

When the time for the party to end drew near, each child left with their personalized tool belt packed with toy tools, their own hard hat and a fun construction themed puzzle. 

And, of course, so many fun memories! I still have parents come up to me (of both boys and girls) and tell me that their child continues to enjoy putting on their tools belt fixing everything around the house. It's those kind of stories that remind me that when we design these parties we are helping to create a little bit of the magic that is part of childhood.

Vendors

Party Styling and Cake Design - Gwynn Wasson Designs

Party Decor Design - Gwynn Wasson Designs

Fondant Construction Cones and Fondant Vehicles - Edible Details

Cookies - Oh Sugar! Events

Cake Pops - Entirely Sweet

Cake - A Sweet Design

Aluminum Lunch Boxes - LunchBoxes.com

{Fun Freebies} Eek-O-Ween Halloween Printables!

I love Halloween because it has so many different personalities (just like so many fabulous women I know!) It can be dark and dramatic, a little creepy and scary (btw: not like the woman I know!)  or even bright and fun. This year I was in the mood for something light and "eek-y" (not dark and icky.)

Many of you might be like me, still trying to make my little ones costume dreams come true (even though they seem to change every-single-day!) And so if you are thinking about throwing a fun Halloween Party you don't need any added stress. You just need it to be simple and simply fun. So to help you out here are a few ideas and a few fun printables!

For this little soiree I paired a few standard party goodies (cupcakes, cake, and lollipops)... 

...with a few yummy new treats like Venom Smoothies (recipes coming soon)...

...and Spider Guts Parfaits (tutorial coming soon).

 Now I bet you are wondering... where are those Free Printables you mentioned earlier??

In this little collection you will get FOURTEEN PAGES of Eek-O-Ween fabulousness!

Just click here, download the PDF and party!

From everyone here at Gwynn Wasson Designs we hope you have a super Eek-y (absolutely not icky) Halloween!

{Give Away} FREE St. Patrick's Day Party Printables!!

I love throwing together a last minute holiday celebration for the "little holidays". It makes my heart sing to see my children's eyes light up at the sight of friends, sweet treats and some holiday fun! (Especially since at this age, so many of these holidays are new to them! "What's St. Patrick's Day, Mama?" So sweet and innocent, right? How could you resist?!) My big thing is that I feel that these special moments don't need to be pricey or filled to the brim with specialty treats. (Every St. Patrick's my mom would serve green orange juice and green eggs and that little bit of zaniness made the day sparkle with specialness for me!) 

Since St. Patrick's Day is on a Sunday this year, it's perfect for a family friendly playdate party. So have your little leprechaun grab their green, invite a few friends over and indulge in a little Irish-y fun! 

It doesn't take more than a trip to the grocery store, a few free printables and of course the laugher and warm company of good friends to make a memorable soiree. 

For this party I hit the bakery section of my local grocery to grab a few cupcakes and cookies and then lucked out in the bulk food section and added nice selection of candy. 

A quick trip down the beverage aisle and I was able put a little Jones Green Apple Soda and a few juice boxes in my cart. On my way home I swung by Party City and landed a few adorable mini "cast iron" pots, some tubes of mini gum balls and a couple rolls of green streamers. And just like that I had all my party basics!

For my St. Patrick's Day Lucky Bits of Gold dessert table, I pulled together lots of fun green items and played them against a vibrant golden backdrop, laced with a quatrefoil pattern, and then layered in other golden elements: sunflowers (both as cut flowers and as cookie pops and chocolate covered oreos), gold foil wrapped mini Rolos, and gold chocolate coins. 

Here's a little tip.... you can make any cookie into a cookie pop just by adhering a lollipop stick to the back of the cookie with a bit of royal icing. How fun and easy, right?! 

So if you don't have the time (or in my case... the talent) to make pretty holiday cookies, just take those cute cookies from your grocery store and give them a little pizzazz by putting them on stick.

On the backdrop I created paper fans (tutorial here) using the decorative paper from my printables collection and then dressing them up with a party circle. Quick, easy and a great alternative to a banner.

So if you're thinking about having a party this weekend, let me help you make it easy, breezy with a few FREE printables!! This collection includes the following items:

- 2" party circles (4 designs)
- 5" party circle 
- Juice box wraps (2 designs in 2 sizes for tall and regular boxes)
- Bottle labels (3 designs)
- Table labels (both blank and with text)
- Cupcake wrappers (6 designs)
- Straw flags (4 designs)
- Decorative paper (13x19" so you can make a large paper fan)

Just click here, to download the PDF. When you get to the page with the PDF click FILE in the upper left corner of the page then scroll down and click DOWNLOAD and enjoy!

                                 (This collection will be available for download until March 22, 2013)

May the luck of the Irish help to make your party this weekend sparkle with the laugher of good friends and many, many fabulous "golden" memories!

Credits...

- Printables and Party Styling - Gwynn Wasson Designs

- Shamrock cookies, candy, soda, juice and mini cupcakes - Ralph's

- Vanilla bean cupcakes - Kimberly's Cupcakes

- Sunflower cookie - Oh Sugar! Events

- Sunflower chocolate covered oreo - Bubbas Sweets

- Striped Straws - Sweet Shop Lulu

- Mini gum ball tubes and mini pots - Party City

{Give Away} FREE Oscar Party Printables!!

The Oscar's are this weekend and our Printable Party Collection from last year is back by popular demand! So gather up your girlfriends, chill a bottle of champagne and spend a few hours of quality girly-time dishing about hollywood romances and fabulous dresses!!

Just scroll down to the bottom of the post to find out how you can download lots of FREE Oscar Party Printables to help make your party extra special!

This Oscar Party Accessory Set includes the following items:

- 2" Party Circles (6 designs)

- Cupcake Wrappers

- Bottle Labels

- Table Labels (2 designs)

- Swag Bag Tags

Just click here to download the PDF. When you get to the page with the PDF click FILE in the upper left corner of the page then scroll down and click DOWNLOAD and enjoy!

(This file will be available until February 28, 2013)

{Give Away} $700 Gift Card Give Away!!

Are you ready for one AMAZING Give Away??! How about SEVEN $100 Gift Cards to fabulous shops like Target, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Pier 1 Imports, JoAnn Fabrics, Party City and HomeGoods just in time for the holidays?!!

I am helping Nancy of A to Zebra Celebrations celebrate a HUGE milestone... she just reached 20,000 Facebook Fans!

So let's get this party started! Entering is EASY. In order to enter, you just have to LIKE each Facebook page.  To unlock additional entries, please follow each vendor on Pinterest.  This will give you more chances to win!!

What are you waiting for? Definitely don't miss out... enter today!

a Rafflecopter giveaway