Holiday Party Tips feat. LaDawn!

Happy Holidays! They're here, whether you like it or not. I'm not hosting my own holiday party this year, but I am helping a friend out with hers, so I thought I'd share a little inspiration with you for your gathering, whether it be a big party or just a few friends!

Eats: 
I am excited to feature an Etsy shop called ladawnelaine. LaDawn is from the town across from my hometown - catch - it's in Canada! Such a small world. Anyway, LaDawn makes vintage inspired decor - mainly cupcake and cake toppers and party decor. It's gorgeous stuff that you should consider adding to your party, plus - she's offering Lovely Llorys readers a 10% discount through the end of November - november10.

LaDawn customized these cupcake toppers for me - I asked for Merry Christmas in different languages, so we are representing French, Spanish, Croatian, and Hawaiian! She can make them with or without the lace as well: )

By the way, I used this recipe to make just 6 cupcakes for my demo (I multiplied the recipe by 3). 

Gift Wrap:

I love wrapping gifts - a love not granted to everyone. I like pretty paper from the store, creating my own reusing paper grocery bags, or using old maps. I went with pretty paper from the store for this one.

My grandma (Llorys, as in Lovely Llorys), is a great lady who I take after in her knack for collecting things. One of her collections is Woody from Toy Story! I got this for her during Halloween clearance, isn't he cute?

First Christmas present = wrapped! I used LaDawn's handmade Christmas gift tags atop my reindeer with scarves wrapping paper! Check out these teeny tags as well, so cute! Now we just need to put up the tree; ahh I'm getting excited! 

Tunes:
The classics are great of course, but if you want to add some new songs to your holiday playlist this year check out these new albums:

via Starbucks; I'm loving the Shins version of "Wonderful Christmastime"

You can get all 58 songs on Sufjan's latest Christmas album for just $15. A great deal!

Dress:

Why not use this occasion to buy a new dress? I like these options for under $100.

Express - Because you know you can always use a little more sequins in your life.

H&M - This dress is only $18 and I love it! It's so sassy.

Apt. 9 via Kohl's. Super color appropriate and you could wear it to work, too!

I'd love to hear your holiday tips! What are you serving? Who are you wearing? And let me in on your favorite holiday songs!

Thanks again to LaDawn for her part in this post! Please follow her on Twitter @ladawnouellette and Pinterest and support her shop for your next party!

The Best Soirees Have Photobooths

 These photos are from the photobooth we helped create at our friend Gaby's birthday party, the theme of which was bowties and sequins. I've been wanting to share them for so long and she fiiiiiinally uploaded them to facebook, so here are some of my favorites! Above is the group shot, of course.

I love this last one. Where are they going? Beyond the streamers? Or are they just hiding from the camera? It's so artsy.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed these and maybe gained some inspiration for your next party! I love it when people take the time to set up something like this! It creates some silly memories! Happy Thursday. We're almost to the weekend!!!

Giveaway Winners!

Both of my recent giveaway winners were nice enough to make a really great post about what they won!

Kelly from Bax Cat and Co won the owl print giveaway from Heather Pritchett Illustration!

And Ashley from Love Love Love won the camera necklace from That Lil Prop Shop!

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaways and liked these talented ladies' facebook pages. I love doing giveaways and am working on setting up more! Also, if anyone is interested in doing a giveaway with me, leave a comment with your email address.

No photosets to share, but here are a few shots from my week: 

 Our favorite critter, Sirius Black. We hope/think he has a home, but unsure of who owns this friendly guy.

 Italy? Croatia? No, just Grand Rapids. Our friend has a great deck at her building downtown and we joined her for dinner and drinks. So very nice!

 Another friend had her birthday party on the roof of her building. 

Beautiful view of Grand Rapids!

(It was a sequins and bowtie party). I should have photobooth pictures to share soon! 

Last week was SO busy. I think the momentum will continue through until we move in two weeks. This coming weekend the lady with the giant necktie in the above picture will be moving back to California and my birthday is the day after, so we'll be saying goodbyes/celebrating. Hopefully time can move a little more slowly. Have a great week!

Now You're On the Trolley!

last night we went to our friend annamarie's amazing birthday party! she rented a space in an old building in grand rapids called the herkimer hotel. the theme was 20s/30s, and although i have almost purchased a fringy dress in the past, i had to make do with my wardrobe. i think the headband pulled it together although it definitely made it difficult to think, so tight! there were so many great outfits last night, i was really impressed! anyway, everyone contributed to the bar, so there were some fun drinks to try (mint julep like the kentucky derby!!) and classic tunes from the decades. there was also a photobooth! i love love those! wouldn't it be great if this was a real bar? and if we lived in the 1920s? ever seen midnight in paris? man, that would be an amazing time to live in.
the below photos are of the bar area. it just looked so fantastic! annamarie is a visionary, she throws such great events.

the next photos are behind-the-scenes photobooth fun! the birthday girl, annamarie is the one in the great long peach dress.

a huge thanks to my wonderful boyfriend, andrew, for taking the amazing photos of me! i don't have more of him because i don't have steady enough hands and i wasn't feelin' the flash look. i did take most of the other photos that i am not in though!

what decade do you like to celebrate? i'm thinking of expanding my wardrobe to be ready for all these themed events! it's so fun to dress up!