gumball birthday party ideas

My  friend Kara, of Kara Party Ideas, features a party every day on her popular blog. So when I saw this fabulous gumball party that she styled for HGTV a few months ago, I knew that I wanted to return the favor she’s paid me many times.

I think my favorite detail of this party are these DIY gumball machines. So very clever! At first look I thought they were real, but Kara created them. She’s planning to post the DIY details soon, but maybe a flower pot, glass candy bowl and wooden circle from the craft store? Hmmm… we’ll just have to wait and see, but I’ll update my post when she shares. 

And here’s a look at the dessert table she created with cookies from Batches and cupcakes made by Dippidee {she added red gumballs to the tops to resemble cherries}, with cupcake liners from Hey YoYo

I love this old candy store game idea. And check out these gumball cake pops Kara made!  Enjoy the eye candy {wink} and then hop over to Kara’s for even more images and more resources. Photography by Lyndsey Fagerlund

As always, I hope you’re inspired!

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introducing mod candy cane

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The Mod Candy Cane collection is the first of two Christmas/Winter collections that you’ll be able to find in The Celebration Shoppe this season. This collection offers a whimsy, yet sophisticated, take on the candy cane. I’m still very much in love with the luxury of the red and Tiffany blue palette. Isn’t it lovely!

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Once the invitations are mailed (already in the shoppe waiting to be customized), start planning a fabulous “Sweet Spot” on your table for all the fabulous goodies you’re going to share. 

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Like Peppermint Bark,

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Peppermint Sandwich Cookies (super easy DIY way to pull these off: buy tea cookies from the bakery, fill them with vanilla icing and roll the edges in crushed peppermint or sprinkles… YUM!),

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 Soft Peppermint,

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Peppermint sprinkled cupcakes (picks come with Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a full sheet of snowflakes; shown with foam adhesive square for 3-D effect), and

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fabulous snowflake and Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday (your choice) butter cookies from our partners at Sweet Tooth Cottage and available with this collection!

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 Here’s a closer look at the lovely and melt in your mouth cutout snowflake and whimsy frame, which you can personalize if you like (see below).

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And don’t forget that your guests might want to ”Warm up” with a little hot chocolate or maybe even a toddy! You can be preppared with soft peppermint sticks for stirring and peppermint schnapps for extra warmth. {wink}

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And a personalized cookie as a placecard or with your guest’s mug could be an adorable touch, don’t you think!

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If you’re guest’s prefer the sparkle over the warmth, then label their stems to help them keep track with our beverage markers, and

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make sure you have plenty of bottled water on hand too. (These are beautiful as vase and votive wrappers too!)

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And you can’t let your guest’s go home empty handed, so make sure you pack up some goodies in these adorable take-out boxes (available at Dollar Tree) with our favor tags and red grosgrain ribbon, or

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send them home with prepackaged goodies in our cello toppers that say “Have a sweet day!” (Our partners at Sweet Tooth Cottage ships our cookies in heat sealed cello bags–for freshness as they have no preservatives–that are the perfect fit for our cello topper printables. All you’ll need to do is print and attach. And remember, shipping is included in our Sweet Tooth Cottage pricing as they ship directly from the bakery and separate from the rest of your order. E-mail us at customercare@celebrationshoppe.com with any quesitons.)

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Here’s a look at how beautiful your table can be with a little DIY inginuity. Our “Sweet Spot” sign is attached to a small white dowel wrapped in red ribbon for that candy cane effect. Much less sticky than the real thing. And our cake plate centerpiece is made of large plastic snowflake ornaments stacked on top of one another and balanced on a square white cake plate that was flipped on its end. In the top shot you see that we used the bottom tier for our cookie rounds (printed sugar paper with the same designs as our cupcake rounds). I also used those same large snowflake ornaments under and on several of the other plates on the table to break up the solid white tablecloth and hung them from the ceiling on clear fishing line to give the table height.

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Last in the line-up, but the first thing to greet your guests is our “Welcome” sign. It’s 8×10 and can either be trimmed out as we have done (hung with a beverage wrapper) or matted in a white frame. Or even hung over a beautiful white wreath on the front door.

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This collection will be in the shoppe on Monday, November 15 (new dates!) and then the printable collection will be 40% off through Wednesday, November 17! As always, I hope you’re inspired!

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real parties: sweet shop

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A month or so ago Glory from Glorious Treats shared her daughters Sweets Shop birthday party with me. She did such a fabulous job with the color palette and all the goodies. Just check these out!

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I’m really in love with these candy cookies. I’m going to have to give them a whirl sometime! {wink}

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 And these cupcake cookies are equally adorable. Can you tell that the sweets themselves blew me away?!

But this party wasn’t just about these beautiful treats, you must jump over to her blog and see the party in its entirety: games, decorations, favor bags and more.

Enjoy!

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lollipopping around

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There is nothing better than sugaring up your friends’ kids at a birthday party and sending them home… right?! {giggle} No really, I just felt inspired by the lollipop recently. It’s colorful and it can be very creative. Here are just a few lollipop inspired ideas from around the web:

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Happy Monday!

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bright birthday

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You don’t always need a particular theme to celebrate a child’s birthday, especially as they grow into that tween stage. That is what this inspiration board is all about… color!

Our sweets treats birthday invitation works for any age (the number on the top can be customized). And don’t you just love the polka dot cake plate and cupcake wrappers (all ours). I’ve used both of these for some of my own gatherings. The birthday plates and bright polka dot candles are all ours too! To complement the bright yellow, orange, green and blue palatte, I found this fun birthday party banner in an etsy shop, Blue Moon Studios. And last but not least, the cool blue candy table is from theknot.com. (Tip: Check out dollar stores for glass jars and vases, as well as colorful candy ideas. You might be amazed at what you find.)

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