Naptime Notes
Show All » Party Planners » Baby Shower Ideas
Sunday, June 28, 2009Cowboy Baby Shower
The new little cowpoke is nearly here. Time for a western style baby shower to welcome the little fella with friendship and fun. How can you make your little cowboy baby shower round-up a delight to the guests and mom-to-be? Don't hold back the horses! Let 'er rip with color, flavor, fun gifts, conversation and hopefully some cowboy memories for the scrapbook. 
Invite your shower guests with cowboy baby invitations that sets the scene. Our little buckaroo cowboy shower invitation sets the scene to welcome the little boy. Your decor and menu can continue the theme with colorful bandanas, cowboy hats, western decorations and a delicious country-style spread! Making the party especially fun for your guests adds to their excitement about the little buckaroo on the way, makes them glad they came and thanks them for the baby cowboy gift they brought!
Set out the welcome mat with fun western decor like we found on the web. (Just click the links below to go straight to these items.) Besides cowboy baby shower plates and napkins, decorations and favors, extend your decorations to a toddler cousin? Do you have a toddler you can put in a western costume during the party? The little cowboy will create a lot of fun conversation. For the centerpiece, consider a "cowboy diaper cake," like the adorable one shown here, that doubles as a gift for the baby!
More cowboy baby shower decorations can be made using bandanas and cowboy hats:
tie a rolled bandana around a small potted plant as a shower favor and/or table decoration. You can find bandanas in almost any color to match your cowboy shower color theme. Red? light blue? navy blue? All will work well for a baby cowboy!- put a cowboy hat on each table. They can be worn by the guests who enjoy the theme, and taken home. A tiny baby cowboy hat would get some ooohs and ahhhs!. For color, you could tie a rolled bandana around each hat.
- fold bandanas into fun origami shapes, silverware pouches or tie them in a knot around each bundle of silverware
Don't forget, while planning your shower, the simple rules of baby shower ettiquette. Don't assume your guests will bring gifts, or tell them what to bring on the invitation. Choose your activities with your guests preferences in mind. And, make it a special party for the mom-to-be AND your guests! Lastly, the new mama needs to send personally written thank you notes for each gift received. You could help her by providing a copy of the address list from the shower invitation.Make your shower gift a huge hit by playing on the theme... gifts that will be fun to give at the shower, and fun for the parents later! Check out these adorable gift ideas for baby and cowboy baby room... from baby cowboy toys to cowboy baby booties.
Posted By: Naptime Productions @ 9:13:10 PM
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Show All » Party Planners » Baby Shower Ideas
Friday, June 26, 2009Cowgirl Baby Shower
If the little cowgirl on-the-way is busy kickin' mama's insides, it is probably time to get cookin' on the pink cowgirl baby shower plans. So round-up a list of friends and family who are excited to welcome this new little cowpoke, and let's plan some fun.
First, figure out where and when. Then you can get moving on the cowgirl baby shower invitations. Once that is done, you can work on shower details that will make your cowgirl shower fun for everyone. If your group is comprised of game lovers, you can plan a few light-hearted games. Since most crowds are a mix of game-lovers and game-haters, you many want to pull back on the reins and limit yourself to one or two games. 
What people enjoy most at a shower is sharing in the mom-to-be's excitement, enjoying a delicious meal, and catching up with common friends and relatives. For this reason, the games that work best are conversation starters and funny games. Also wonderful are activities that provide items for cowgirl baby's scrapbook, like parenting advice cards from the guests. Sharing cards handed out at the shower are filled out by each guest and put into a scrapbook for the mom-to-be.
Bright pink plates and table covers can be accented with western bandanas and daisies for a great cowgirl look. A cowgirl theme shower can play on the fun of being a girl, hopefully tie into the mother's plans for the nursery, and give you a focal point for your menu and decor. For cowgirl baby shower decorations, consider pink paisley bandana fabric, or pink gingham for a country look. Pink bandanas could work for napkins or shower favors. These paisley tote bags would make great shower favors, too. For cowgirl shower decor, how about scattering pink cowgirl hats and pink paisley wrapped mints on the tables?
We found some beautiful cowgirl shower gifts including wall art, blankets, a brown and pink western diaper bag, and the cutest cowgirl boots you ever saw! Click these items to link to the site where they are sold.
Yee ha! Time for a western theme cowgirl baby shower!
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Show All » Party Planners » Bridal Shower
Wednesday, June 24, 2009Beach Bridal Shower Planning
Love the feel of warm, white sand between your toes? If the bride and groom-to-be are beach fans, too, maybe a beach bridal shower for couples (or traditional bridal shower) is the way to go. Sunwashed colors, relaxing atmosphere and a cool beverage. 
Let us help you with some beach bridal shower ideas. Begin with an invitation to set the tone for your party. Then choose beach and seashell decor to pull the theme through the event itself. Finally, serve your favorite tropical paradise food and colorful beach resort beverages. Perhaps your guest would be inspired to wear their beach attire or favorite hawaiian shirt? You can encourage this with a simple "tropical attire" or "casual beach attire" as the last line of your invitation.
Here are some finds to further the beach showers theme.... Fun place card holders also make great little sign-holders for your beverage table... lemonade, margaritas, passion fruit punch.
Shell-theme tableware is not easy to find on the internet, but you will find tropical-theme paper and plastic ware at most party stores. All you really need is lots of bright color... mixed tropical hues of red, cyan blue, orange, green. Going for authentic? Try coconut shell mugs!
If you are looking for some party activities, you could use the "Survivor" party idea, breaking your guests into teams with matching bandanas and lei's. 
Decorations could include a tiki bar, and hawaiian luau or tropical flower accents. Consider grass skirt table skirts for a festive look. Pineapples make nice centerpiece addition or decoration for your food table. The DIY Network has a great article on Carribean party decorating and food.
Gorgeous shell shower favors for tropical inspired showers are easy to find and lovely to receive. Take a look at the selection of items sold along with these examples!
Aloha!
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Show All » The Memory Bank » Top-notch Tips
Thursday, June 18, 2009Watermelon carving: surprisingly fun!
So you are doing your own catering at your upcoming party... Aunt Kim is bringing her famous tossed salad, Alex is at the grill, Cindy is making the potato salad. If you want something special to add to the table during the summer months... graduation parties, family reunions, pool parties... how about a fruit salad served in a watermelon bowl? It adds a lot of color to the table and would really work well with a tropical theme or jungle theme party.
Looking online, we found several unique ways to carve a watermelon bowl, from your standard zig-zag cut at the edge, to cookie cutters pressed into the watermelon with the dark green skin removed in the shape. Watermelon.org has some great ideas. You can see many examples of professional work by searching google images for "watermelon bowl" or watermelon carvings.
The most beautiful we found was leaves carved into the "rim" of the watermelon bowl. Our final product was not even in the same league as the gorgeous watermelon carving we found online, but we came up with the following simple creation. Which means that you can, too!
How we did it:
- Use a permanent marker to lightly draw your leaf pattern around the watermelon.
- Remove the center of the leaf circle, and most of the watermelon using a melon ball tool, or a spoon.
- Scribe a line along the pen lines you made. Cutting only through the green skin, make cuts on both sides of the pen lines, and then scrape under the skin between the lines to remove the dark green.
- When you lines are all cut, slice a 1/2" deep cut in the center of each "leaf" to reach a little pink. Then angle cut to the same point to cut out a wedge, showing pink along the bottom.
- Finally, cut some more small wedges out in the direction of leaf veins.
Posted By: Naptime Productions @ 10:45:24 PM
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Show All » Party Planners » Baby Shower Ideas
Monday, June 15, 2009Forest Animals for the Baby Nursery or Baby Shower
Is your nursery going 'au natural'? Of the wooded variety? If you want ideas for decorating forest theme and want appropriate artwork and baby nursery bedding for your forest theme bedroom, take a look at these forest friends. KidsLine has a forest crib bedding line, shown here, and beautiful forest artwork will turn a simple room in forest colors into a dream baby nursery. Baby Raccoons, owls, bears, rabbits and fawns are great baby nursery ideas for your baby nursery / forest theme.
To use the same look as your baby shower themes, begin with a sweetly natural fawn or bunny baby shower invitation.
For forest baby shower decorations, go with natural tones, lots of leaf green and wood tones, and plush baby animals hidden among the gifts and furniture.
Great forest theme baby gift ideas... 
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Show All » The Memory Bank » Top-notch Tips
Wednesday, June 10, 2009Personal Anniversary Gift Idea
If you are looking for a cheap anniversary gift that is NOT one more thing he doesn't need, not expensive, is very entertaining, and is meaningful, check out this idea.
From the blog post:
"...I surprised my husband with a simple box from the craft store filled with 20 sentimental items we have collected over our 20 years of marriage... a pebble from a vacation, a photo from the fridge, a picture of each kid, and other memories.
It was very fun to look through together, a great conversation starter and the kids loved being in on the secret of filling the box. Total cost: $7 for the box."
Leave the box unfinished for sentimental reasons?
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Show All » Party Planners » Weddings
Wednesday, June 10, 2009Fabulous Fall Wedding ideas
Fall colors offer such wonderful possibilities for your wedding color scheme. The warm rich autumn colors make dramatic combinations and impact, beginning with a fall wedding invitation and ending in fall table decorations. You are not limited to oranges and browns. You may also delve into yellows, reds, burgundys, shades of green, and any earthy version of purple, magenta and gold and copper. An unexpected fall combination could be teal, tan and bronze.
Impact on your wedding tables is easy with gorgeous leaves scattered about. We found paper leaves of a couple varieties. The beautiful parchment leaves used to display cheese are detailed and come in various tints. A less expensive options are paper leaves sold for decorating bulletin boards. Fabric leaves are available at silk flower suppliers and craft stores. Many colors of glass leaves are available and would be fun color for your tables that the guests could take home. Textured colorful ribbons or material in fall colors, could make gorgeous table runners. 
These personalized honey jars make memorable and useable favors. The metallic touches on autumn place card holders could add some richness to your warm color scheme. 
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Show All » Party Planners » Bridal Shower
Tuesday, June 09, 2009Backyard Barbecue Couples Shower Ideas
Planning a non-traditional couples shower for your favorite bride and groom to be? If you are looking for a couple-friendly event that couples may even enjoy attending, make it party!
- How about a barbecue? Fun ideas to spice up your barbecue dishes
from delish.com. - Nix the gift show. To allow for a mingling, social event, don't require your guests to watch the gift unwrapping. Consider having a "display shower" where gifts are set out on a table as people come in. These can arrive "unwrapped" so that everyone can see the gifts as they walk by, be unwrapped as each guest arrives, or left to open later, without calling for an audience.
- Have party music playing to set the mood.
- Want time for the girlfriends to chat? Possibly add a "cigar lounge" area or plan an event that the groom and buddies can escape to, i.e. a sporting event.
- Are the bride and groom ready to tie the knot? How about the guests? Team knot tying games you could have fun with... campers version. Boy Scout version.
Want to have a little fun with the groom-to-be at the couples shower? Consider using this comic ball and chain invitation to set the mood. Pair with a lighthearted toast from the best man and maid of honor, gag gifts, and some general silliness. Can the groom sweat bullets on cue? This game should do it...- Create a quiz to find out how much the bride knows about the groom, or vice versa. Either the bride and groom can take the quiz, or the guests can.
- Possibly make "his" and "hers" teams for a relay games, like this one: GETTING DRESSED RELAY GAME- Have an assortment of wacky clothing related to the occasion: wedding veil, old bridesmaid's dress, tux jacket, ruffled shirt, top hat, corsage... what ever you can find. Divide clothing equally into two bags. Each team lines up, and the front person in line runs to their team's bag, pulls out and puts on one item. Then they race back to their line. The item they put on is given to the next person in line, who puts it on, then dashes down for a new item from the bag. This continues until the last item is added and that player returns, wearning all the items, to the team line.
- A wedding shower food game.
- Simple bridal shower game ideas for game lovers.
- Enjoy!
Posted By: Naptime Productions @ 10:50:57 AM
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Show All » Party Planners » Surprise Parties
Tuesday, June 09, 2009Keeping a surprise party a surprise
If there was one piece of advice I would give to anyone considering throwing a surprise party it would be to keep it as uncomplicated as possible. The simpler the plan, the less likely that someone or something will ruin the surprise.
When making reservations or signing contracts I was sure to never use an address or telephone number that could be used to contact me at home, avoiding the chance that someone would inadvertently reach my husband instead. I used our daughters address, cell phone number and email address as contact information even for the invitations and rsvp’s. 
We mailed Save the Date cards 2 months before the party. Our guests appreciated the extra advance notice and it gave us plenty of time to make adjustments to any incorrect addresses we may have had. If a Save the Date was returned, we knew we had some research to do.
The hardest task was finding a way to insure that my husband would be at his own party. How was I going to get him there dressed in his best and on time? I decided that our having to commit to an event well in advance with an Rsvp might work. I sent an invitation to our home for a make-believe wedding . I used the date, time and location of his party and the name of someone that I worked with as the bride. A name he would recognize from conversations about the office but not someone he knew personally. It was a name I wouldn’t forget if it happened to come up, which was part of the ‘keep it uncomplicated’ plan. It worked.
It was important for us to make the décor as personal to my husband as possible and it was relatively inexpensive to add little touches to the room. Do some research to see what color choices are available at a local discount or party store. The colors we chose were common and they matched the colors of a car my husband had hand-built and painted. We had photos at different ages blown up in various sizes, used low-cost clear plastic frames and placed them throughout the hall. Life-sized photos showed him in one of his first ‘big boy’ suits along with a picture of him in a tuxedo for his first prom. The photo for his invitation was at the age of 1. A picture of his blowing out the candles on his eighth birthday was placed on the cake table, etc.
The party was a combination retirement/60th birthday so there was a birthday cake and a cake in the form of the logo of the company he was retiring from.
The photo centerpieces were a huge success. They were unique and quite the topic of conversation. We found at the end of the evening that several of the photos from the centerpieces had been taken home as momentos. 
A no-expense touch that our guests commented on was that we pre-set the tables. Rather than stack the dishes, napkins and silverware at the buffet table, guests arrived to find their place setting ready to go. They were items we would have purchased anyway, but arranging them on the table in advance made the room look terrific. We found a heavier plastic white dinner plate with silver trim that looked like real china at our local party store. We then placed a smaller matching appetizer plate on top of that and then placed a clear plastic candy box filled with color coordinated foil-covered candies and tied with a satin ribbon in the center. We placed a matching folded dinner napkin and the silverware look-alike on either side of the plates. Once the small battery-operated candles that we placed in clear glass votives were lit, the tables were attractive without being expensive.
The last obstacle was the parking lot. How could we arrange for my husband to not recognize guests’ cars? Once the majority of the guests arrived, we blocked the entrance with a “Parking lot full” sign which forced him to park in another location a short distance away.
by: Anita G
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Show All » New Arrivals » Baptism Cards
Sunday, June 07, 2009Wow! Baptism Invitation
This baptism invitation goes beyond cute or chaming, straight on to gorgeous. This new design features your child's first name on the front cover, peeking through a window in the embossed, metallic paper. Inside, your personal information leaves room for details for both the service and the reception after. Elegance to convey the importance of this event to your family, and almost as beautiful as your baby!
Available in a soft blue, pale mauve or crimson red.
Take a look at our entire selection of illustrated baptism invitations, from sweet, to child-like, to elegant.
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