Beatles Bash - Easton's #1 Hit
Just when you think you can't "top" your last party you blink and need to plan another spectacular event! The love is definitely in the details with this one. My son turned 1 (already) in early September and my family went from planning the Wild One party for my nephew into a completely different direction for Easton's #1 Hit - the Beatles Bash! In order for this party to stand out we needed it to be opposite of the Wild One party. This party had strong prints, bright colors and music everywhere! Here are a few of my favorite things from this party.
Before I begin sharing the amazing photos I need to give credit to Nicole Priest for taking them. I spend weeks planning a party and in the blink of an eye it is over and after I always second guess whether or not all of my little details, that I worked tirelessly on, were captured before the moment was gone. This time I waited a few weeks having that in my gut feeling that perhaps something was missed and I would be sad that I didn't document it. Nope, my gut was wrong. Nicole captured everything and then some! Not only did she get all of the details, but she captured the moments. She got the smirk on the birthday boys face in the arms of his grandma, the laughter of kids, the taste of sugar when mom wasn't looking and the love among family and friends. I cannot tell you enough how thankful I am to have a photographer like Nicole who gets me, fits our family and creates this lifelong memories with us. Relax, enjoy your party and hire a professional! Thank you Nicole Priest Photo!
The Black & White Stripe! I knew I wanted black and white stripe anywhere that I could put it. I used the stripe on the table runners, the cake, the fabric backdrop, the paper goods…. just about anywhere I could.
Cake by Singer Sister Sweets
The Invitation! I love to make invitations. I think it is definitely one of my favorite parts of event planning. I feel like a good invitation really sets the tone of a party. It allows your guests to touch it, read it, post it on their wall and think what you may eat, drink or play at the party. For me, invites are being passed up for electronic options and I dread the day people don't send out any invitations at all. It took me a while to develop the concept for this invitation and in fact it was plan B for me. Laying in bed one night I had the idea of a "press package". When I casually mentioned it to my husband he got a little glimmer in his eye and said, "where did you see that?". I quickly responded that I didn't see it online, didn't see it on Pinterest and thought of it all on my own. He loved it! Making my husband excited about a party is often tricky so I knew this would be fun. He wrote the biography for the invite and created the Beatles CD. Guests were encouraged to listen to the CD prior to the party….and it paid off when one of the trivia questions asked was to name 3 songs on the CD.
WILL CALL! Being a music junkie I have spent countless moments of my life standing at the will call booth with friends, waiting to get a ticket for one of my husband's shows or begging for that last ticket to a sold out show. The Will Call table was set up to the be the "first stop" when arriving at the party. Guests received their All Access pass and autographed a record for the birthday boy.
The MERCH Table! My sister and I worked really hard on this part of the table. All of the prizes from the games were on the merchandise table. Everyone knows that if you have been to a really great concert you need to find some merch to take home. We made ALL of the tshirts that you see here, my husband designed the guitar pics from D'Addario. We painted all of the miscelleanous instruments black to keep the black and white color scheme throughout the event. The framed photo had baby stats on it. The games were also displayed on here. We played find the music notes to create your own song, musical records and the classic package unwrapping game for the kids. We even did an adult Beatles trivia game for a prize.
The Concessions Stand! Every concert comes with some pizza, soda and snacks, right? The concessions stand featured a towered of old fashioned bottled Coca Cola, salad and personal size pizzas.
The Cake Stand! I really wanted a statement piece of furniture. I sweet talked by husband into repurposing this piece of furniture we found and thought it would be great for the cake! We served cookies and the smash cake from Singer Sister Sweets. Rebecca is always a gem to work with. I trust her completely and try to leave as much design as possible up to her. As a creator myself I know that it is most fun when I have creative control. I showed her some of my items and let her create what she felt matched best. The cookies were so cute!
Cake by Singer Sister Sweets. The number one and cake stand were purchased from Home Goods.
The Records! I scored an amazing deal and managed to pay $20.00 for 180 records. We created new record labels for all of them and stuck them on to repurpose them for our party. We used the records as centerpieces on the tables like a charger, hanging from the ceiling and even as fans to cool down in the 100 degree heat that day. I loved them!
The Stage! And of course, the fan favorite, the stage for the kiddos to play and perform. The stage was on a cement portion of the yard and was flanked by two large black balloons with fringe. We had kid size drums, piano and blow up guitars. I don't think there was a single kid who didn't play on the stage at some point. They definitely gave the best performance of the day!
As always, a HUGE shout out and thank you to my family for their dedication to me during my party mode! I could not have done this without them. My sister, my secret shopper, thank you for helping me spend my money! My mother, thank you for spray painting until you thought your fingers would never be clean again and my husband for standing by me on this magical mystery tour! In the end my friends, what is the key item for a Beatles Bash? You already know the answer… All you need is LOVE!
To see ALL of the party photos visit the gallery here.