Friday, January 8, 2010

Little Miss Heirlooms Giveaway









I am thrilled to announce that the mastermind behind Little Miss Heirlooms is hosting a fantastic Kate Landers Events, LLC, giveaway!

The winner can select their choice of one of four prizes!

Select from...4 sheets of the personalized or monogram gift wrap; a pair of light pink felt fairy wings; a custom luxe bunting order with up to 8 flags personalized with your child's name, in light pink flags with raspberry letters, or red with light blue or winter white letters; OR a custom fabulous festoon party hat personalized with your child's name or "The Birthday Girl," "The Birthday Princess" or "The Birthday Boy" in any of the colors shown, ALONG WITH 8 classic paper party hats to match!

You have until January 15th to enter, so don't delay!

To enter, review the steps on Little Miss Heirlooms Blog. You need to become a follower of her blog (I LOVE following her blog!), a follwer of my blog, and for additional entries she has generously posted many options for you.

Thank you Little Miss Heirlooms!

Best of luck to all who enter!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Childrens' Party Tips #1: Invitations









I thought it might be nice to share some simple advice for childrens' party planning. Tid bits along the way! If you would like advice on anything regarding your child's birthday party, please contact me, I will do my best to answer as promptly as possible!

Childrens' Party Tips #1: Invitations

As you may know, I worked in the high-end custom stationery industry for over three years. I absolutely loved helping customers create birth announcements, baby and bridal shower invitations, engagement and birthday party invitations, of course wedding invitations, moving announcements...but childrens' party invitations were always a personal favorite.

Whether they were printed by letterpress, thermography or lithography (or engraving!) they were so fun to create. There are so many stationery designers out there today with a unique flavor. Papers are made of cotton, card stock is thick and heavy or light and airy, embellishments such as ribbons, threads, glitter or die-cuts are prevelant everywhere. And I love to see some of my favorite creative designers from the fashion world and domestic design world creating lines of invitations and stationery. It is wonderful to see your favorite dress pattern in an envelope lining!

Because of my love of invitations and passion for paper products, I decided I wanted to create my own line of invitations for Kate Landers Events, LLC. I wanted to offer something that was so simple, a great price point and designs that I was asked for all the time when working in the industry.

I worked with two extremely talented artists co-designing invitations that had the classic, charming, darling, simple, sophisticated, old fashioned, and whimsical feel I was looking for. I feel so very charmed to have had the opportunity to work with them, and look forward to releasing to you new exciting designs for both invitations as well as gift tags and custom labels later on in 2010.

For the line of invitations for Kate Landers Events, LLC, I was very particular about the card stock used--I wanted it to be the best quality I could offer. Textures and colors were extremely important.

I also wanted to offer low minimum order quantities, because I know that it isn't too often you need 25 invitations to a childrens' party, which is the minimum for many stationery companies. Therefore we have a minimum of 10, and after that you may order individual invitations to suit your needs.

I also wanted to include complimentary proofs for all our orders, so that you always have a chance to see a digital version of exactly what your order would look like before going to print, just in case there were any errors we could prevent by doing so.

And then the mailing labels on the front of the envelope--I have seen them popping up everywhere these days, adored them, and wanted to offer a fun and bit more unusual way to include your return address. Not to mention it adds some character to the very front of the envelope, so as soon as the recipient pulls it out of the mailbox they will know it is something special!

As you can tell, I could talk forever about invitations, but I will stop here about our designs, and move on to the tips!

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Call me old-fashioned, but there is something so charming about an invitation you find in your mailbox. Whether it is traditional on paper or whimsical in a bottle or box, it not only gives you the need-to-know information, but also helps set the theme of the event, and build excitement for your guests!

Invitations for a child's birthday party should be sent out approximately four weeks before the event. I know for many people, they feel more relaxed about sending out a child's invitation and sometimes allow just a week or two. There is no set rule you must follow on this, however I suggest sending them out as close to four weeks as you can, as a courtesy to your guests.

Invitations should contain the basic information, and typically is in the following order:

Event Name/Description
Event Date
Event Time
Event Location
RSVP Information

I tend to recommend that if you plan to receive replies via e-mail, that you still provide a phone number as well. Almost everyone these days has e-mail and gps, but just in case they get lost or wish to speak to you over the phone, it would be a courtesy to provide them with that information.

Same invitation wording would be as follows:

Please Join Us As We Celebrate
Ava's First Birthday
Saturday, January 27th
2:00-3:30pm
12 Winterberry Lane
Wellesley

Kindly Reply 800.555.5555
info@katelandersevents.com

You certainly may request an "RSVP by" date if you need to know how many guests will be coming before the party for caterers and such. In that case, you would just change the above to "Kindly Reply by January 19th" and move the phone number or e-mail to the following line.

You can add poems, a play on words or thematic elements to your invitation copy, to make it all the more fun. You may also keep it very clean and simple, and let the invition design itself do the talking. It is completely a matter of personal preference.

I always suggest hand writing addresses for the invitations as opposed to labels. It just adds a personal element that cannot be beat.

Double check that your invitation doesn't require additional postage. If you are unsure of the weight or dimensions (square envelopes always require additional postage) I suggest popping in your local post office and find out before sending.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Pink and Green Birthday Party
































Pink and Green have always been two of my favorite colors.Integrating Pink and Green into partyware for a cheerful color combination that can be a theme in and of itself is great fun! Kate Landers Events, LLC, has a lot of Pink and Green Partyware and Tableware, Decorations and Gifts perfect to make your Pink and Green Birthday Party spectacular! And one of the best things of all: it is great for 1st birthdays through 100th birthdays! The perfect color combination for celebrations for children of all ages.

For invitations, check out our darling Pink and Green Cabana Stripe Invitations! They feature rounded corners, yummy inks, fabulous cardstock, and coordinating cabana stripe mailing labels for the front of the envelope. $2.25 each, minimum quantity only 10, then you can order singles after that!!! Also available in green and white cabana stripes with pink ink.

Tableware: we just LOVE our yummy, preppy shades of pink and green melamine plates and tumblers! Tumblers $7 each, plates $9 each. Perfect for a more sophisticated, eco-chic party table--and GREAT for lunch to enjoy as daily dishes after the party is over. They are durable, and dishwasher safe. LOVE them!

We love our charming pink gingham cloth napkins with white rick rack trim. BUT, just picture green and white gingham, with pink rick rack trim! Custom cloth napkins can be created for you with trims and fabrics we can get for you--and trust me, we will do our very best to get you what you are looking for and dreaming up for your next big event! Set of 4 napkins $18.

Personalized paper napkins are always a favorite--perfect and available in many shades of pink and green to match your decor!!!! Also available in light pink or citrus green swiss dots or cane print--who doesn't love pink cane print paper napkins, or pink swiss dots? And citrus green cane print is beyond preppy, and darling for use after the party is over!!! Starting in increments of 25 for the swiss dot and cane prints, and increments of 50 for the solids.

One think Kate Landers Events, LLC, LOVES is party hats! And our exclusive designer fabric party hats are no exception. Matching table cloths and table runners can be made to match (e-mail us your custom order to info@katelandersevnts.com), and give you the ultimate Pink and Green Preppy Party!!!! Choose from Pink & Green Damask Party Hats, Pink & White Cane Print Party Hats, Pink & White or Green & White Diamond Party Hats, Pink & White Houndstooth Party Hats, and many, many more customizable options. Each designer fabric party hat is custom made to order, and is a darling heirloom piece to pass down generation to generation. $16.00 each.

If you are hosting a larger crowd and prefer Pink and Green Party Hats made of paper, we have those too! Select from Pink & Green Argyle Party Hats, Pink & Green Nautical Stripe Party Hats, Pink & White or Pink & Green Nautical Stripes or Swiss Dots or Large Spots Party Hats, and many more patterns to dream up in your Pink & Green color-scheme. $2.45 each.

Birthday Bunting is a must in our book, and we offer the most luxurious bunting around! Custom made to order by a brilliantly talented artist (exclusively for Kate Landers Events, of course!) we offer fine wale corduroy and velveteen birthday bunting sure to make your party more festive. Shown in Pink & White, we would of COURSE be thrilled to create a custom Pink & Green Bunting order for you! $8.00 per flag for the first 8 flags, $6.00 per flag for each additional.

Our Pink and Green Lattice Personalized Gift Wrap is darling to wrap birthday gifts for the birthday girl, or for wrapping up darling little favor boxes for each of the guests! Wrapped packages made lovely centerpieces (especially with stunning ribbons and trimmings are used) or displays on mantles, piled on that arm chair in the corner--a great way to use the gifts for decor as well! Our custom wrap is available in sets of 4 sheets for $20.00.

Pink and Green Taffy Wands are a delightful treat, and perfect party favor. The strawberry and Peppermint are the perfect shades of Pink & Green and look fabulous in a clear glass jar or tied up with personalized favor tags (we do those too!) for each guest to take home. A treat enjoyed by guests of all ages. $1.85 each.

What Birthday Girl wouldn't love a custom ribbon? Perfect to tack onto a ribbon board after the party as a momento of the event, our Custom Birthday Girl Ribbons are a darling gift (and perfect package topper!). $6.00-$9.00 each. Want Pink & Green instead of Pink & Cream? No problem! With a minimum quantity ordered, we can custom create that for you! With your own saying too!

Looking for a charming Pink and Green Gift? Our Preppy Monogrammed Calendar is perfect for keeping track of all future birthdays, our Monogrammed Felt Initial Hair Clips are precious for little ones, and our Custom Smocked Monogram Frock is picture perfect for any little girl up to size 4 years.

Soon we will be offering custom tissue paper pom poms which add a dramatic element to the event, instantly making your party space more festive. Please contact us with your inquiry, we would be happy to place your custom order for you.

We will also soon be offering monogrammed latex balloons, which of course could be done in pink with white and green with white monograms!

Don't forget the cake! We love birthday cake, and have included some pictures of Pink & Green Birthday Cake inspiration!

We hope you have enjoyed these ideas for your next Pink and Green Birthday Party and look forward to sharing more birthday parties with you soon! Have a birthday theme you would like us to feature? Let us know! We would love to hear about it!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

A Sailboat Birthday Party


















A stylish sailboat birthday party is a fabulous way to celebrate a little boys' birthday in classic fashion. We consider it appropriate for a first, second or third birthday--though my husband would probably love the sailboat theme for his next birthday so I guess it works for boys of all ages!

We wanted to help you create a look you love for your little guys' next birthday party, and therefore we are creating a little "storyboard" of images of products you can use to create a perfectly stylish sailboat birthday party!

It starts with the color-scheme, then invitation. Kate Landers Events, LLC, offers an exclusive line of stitched invitations that are truly little works of art and will surely make a splash when your guests receive them in the mail. Combining textured and smooth stock, vivid silky threads and inks, our line of simply stitched invitations are not to go unnoticed.

We will go with the light blue, red and white theme for our Stylish Sailboat Birthday Party, but of course you can select any color scheme you like best.

After the invitations have been printed, addressed, sealed, stamped and sent, let the fun begin working on the details for the rest of the event!

We absolutely LOVE our line of Rice's Melamine Plates and Tumblers for birthday parties. They are more eco-friendly, incredibly stylish, practical, functional, and the perfect size for little ones. The best part of all? You will have these dishes for every day use after the party is over. They are dishwasher safe, and can survive many tumbles and sticky fingers.

We adore the Classic Red Melamine Plates and Tumblers alone, or mixed with the Light Blue Melamine Plates and Tumblers. Melamine Plates $9.00 each, Melamine Tumblers $7.00 each.

Kate Landers Events, LLC, also offers an exclusive line of Children's Cloth Napkins are absolutely darling paired with our melamine dishes. They are available in 8" or 10" squares, 2 layers of ultra soft yet durable cotton, trimmed with rick rack for a stylish yet simple appearance. The best part? Other than teaching little ones what it feels like to eat a meal with a napkin on their lap or tucked into their shirt, these napkins make adults happy because they are machine washable and dryer safe. A light press is all you will need after a wash and dry to get them back to party-perfect shape. Each set is custom made to order. Available in sets of 4 for $32.00. We love the classic white cloth with white rick rack because the are so easy to keep clean, and can easily match your other dishes and flatware. But, we can't resist the look of the light blue napkin with white or red rick rack trim, and the white napkin with red or light blue rick rack trim. So many combinations!

If you love the look of melamine but are serving 50 guests for that first birthday blowout and can't imagine needing all of those dishes again, do not fear, we always offer the classic paper party products as well! We are partial to our exclusive Custom Round Labels for birthday cups, paper napkin rings and anything else you wish to personalize with them. They instantly add your color scheme to the table, and add a splash of style to the simplest white paper cup. Available in sheets of 10 for $7.00-$9.00 each.

We also offer darling Personalized Paper Napkins, and recommend the light blue swiss dot napkin with the classic red matte ink, or the red swiss dot napkin with the navy matte ink, to match the sailboat decor. We often will use these for beverage napkins for the adults while also using the cloth napkins for the children seated at the party table. They are a perfect way to incorporate your color scheme in the smallest of details! Starting in quantities of 25 napkins for $17.50. There is a significant price break for larger quantities!

Party hats are a favorite item at Kate Landers Events, LLC, and our exquisite felt Sailboat Party Hat is at the top of our list for most stylish party hats for boys. Custom made to order, each hat can be created in your own color scheme. We just adore these hats from the lining giving them stiffness to the velvet ribbon that neatly ties below the chin. We also offer solid color felt party hats if you prefer to have the birthday boy wear the sailboat hat and all the guests wear coordinating hats in colors to match. It is a more cost-effective route yet still more eco-friendly. We find our felt hats to be heirloom pieces, and something your family will adore for years to come. Exquisite felt Sailboat Party Hat $20.00 each.

We also have a love of paper and our line of Classic Paper Party Hats is certainly a favorite. We suggest the Nautical Stripes, Swiss Dots, Large Dots or Small dots in Reds, White and Light Blues. You can mix them up or keep them all the same. $2.45 per hat, with a minimum of 4 hats per design.

Since we're on the subject of paper, there is no way to go without mentioning our fabulous exclusive line of Classic Monogrammed Wrapping Papers. We think the light blue, red and white monogram wrap would be perfect not only for gifts for the birthday boy (hint: wrapped presents are a wonderful way to incorporate your color scheme without having to go out and buy unnecessary decorations. Just wrap the gifts in your colors, use as a centerpiece of pile on that arm chair in the corner or line along the mantle, and you're done!), but would also be a great way to wrap little personalized favor packages from the birthday boy for each of the guests. Available in sets of 4 sheets for $20.00.

Our exclusive line of Luxe Bunting is out of this world. One thing we love about it most is the versatility. It makes a perfect backdrop at the party for photo ops, and later can be moved to the child's bedroom and used for years as decor, whether it is above his crib or big boy bed! We adore the red and winter white corduroy flags with light blue velveteen letters....a specatular look. Available for $8.00 per flag for the first 8 flags, then $6.00 per flag for each additional.

Soon we will be offering darling cupcake toppers (shown in photo of party scene with the paper party hats and while birthday cake) that feature light blue and white gingham fabric stars with red felt trim. They can be personalized with your child's (or each guests') initial!

We are also THRILLED to announce that we soon will be offering custom designer cloth table runners and table cloths. You can e-mail us at info@katelandersevents.com to inquire about placing your custom order early.

We will also be offering monogrammed latex balloons...big red balloons would be a great way to bring your color scheme to new heights at your son's birthday event!

And let's not forget about the tissue poms. We love them, and red and light blue ones hanging over a candy buffet would be icing on the cake. We will be offering those soon as well, and are taking custom orders, so please inquire!

Looking for gifts? How about one of our Preppy Personalized Hooded Whale Towels, or a set of our Cabana Stripe Stationery to write those thank you notes on!

We hope you enjoyed our Stylish Sailboat Birthday Party Post, and look out for our next party post for little girls!