A Toast to June Weddings

June is often considered the beginning of the wedding season. My sister managed to put college graduation and wedding in June on top of it being her birthday month. Weddings are definitely occasions for parties: engagement parties, bridal showers, couple showers, bachelorette and bachelor parties, rehearsal dinners, and of course, what is a reception but a big party?

If you’ve seen the movie The Wedding Planner, you see her feeding the best man what to say as he makes his toast. But most of us don’t use a professional wedding planner, so today I wanted to share some articles I found that offer help for wedding toasts.

Great “how to”s and tips:
How To Write and Give a Great Wedding Toast

Father of the Bride

Galleries of good wishes:
Samples of Wedding Toasts

Wedding Toasts

These 3 have quotes to use for a specific purpose:
Best Man Wedding Toast

Sister Wedding Toast

Reception Toasts

The above articles have links to other helpful sites, too. Click here to read more!

Schools Out – Hurray!

At least that’s what the kids say. Sometimes the parents aren’t so positive, although with all that happens the last month, I usually found it a relief. Here in Kansas schools get out this week. I know in Washington state they go another month.

At the start of summer vacation kids usually are just so pleased to sleep in and play, play, play, that they’re pretty content. But it’s also fun to give them the anticipation of a party, say at the pool, or lake, or park.

Encourage your kids to plan the party themselves (of course, adults always have veto power over any ideas). Have the kids pick a theme—whether it’s a food theme (i.e. ice cream sundaes) or an activity theme (i.e. pool party)—decide on the guest list, the food, decorations, if any, and make or choose invitations. Fill-in party invitations are quick and easy, yet are another task to occupy the kids while they enter all the info. Of course, you’ll want to remind them, that part of party duties are the clean-up, too!

Need party ideas? Check out these sites:
more4kids.info
home.ivillage.com
wilton.com
healthy-kid-recipes.com

And here’s one with Slumber Party Ideas:
Summer.about.com Click here to read more!

Memorial Day Parties

When I think Memorial Day parties, I start thinking of the food. Barbecued burgers, or pork ribs (I prefer boneless) or chicken, and potato salad, watermelon and/or cantaloupe, chips, carrot sticks, deviled eggs. With all that, dessert isn’t need in my opinion, but many in my family wouldn’t agree.

Memorial Day is a good time to invite someone over for a casual “dinner” party. Depending where you live, eating outside may not be an option, but we’ve barbecued when it was snowing, because it just tastes so good fixed outside over a grill.

IBY carries invites (both fill-ins and printables) that fit this kind of event. My favorite is the one below.
I can almost smell it cookin’! Guess I’d better start thinkin’ whom I’m inviting…
Click here to read more!

Mother’s Day

Today is Nurse’s Day and Teacher’s Day, and, of course, you are probably all aware that Mother’s Day is this coming Sunday!

Many years ago I used to be a telephone operator – Mother’s Day was our highest volume call day of the year. Nice restaurants will be swamped as families take their moms out to breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. Flower shops will be busy on Saturday. This whole week people will be standing before card racks looking for just the right card to send to their mother. And don’t forget the gift shopping.

I look over my time as a mother and some of my most memorable gifts are the personal words written in a card that meant more to me than any gift. Personal notes may not be as elegant or cutesy as what you’ll find in a card, but if you say them with your heart, express something particular about how important your mother is to you, she will appreciate it very much.

Okay, I know some of you aren’t satisfied with a gift of words. I really like gifts of service and maybe your mom would, too. Some I remember fondly are home cooked meals where I didn’t have to lift a finger (or decide what it was going to be!), massage certificates, pedicure and/or manicure certificates, coupons for specific housework items being done for me or for time without children. Of course, physical gifts are good, too, especially if you put some thought into what your mother would like. Gift certificates to her favorite store or restaurant can be a success, too.

I’d like to share a funny from last year. My daughter and her family were spending the weekend at our house. Sunday morning my husband whispers to her five year old son, “It’s Mother’s Day. Go tell your mommy ‘Happy Mother’s Day.” His answer was, “She knows!” Yeah, she does, but she does like to hear it, too! Click here to read more!

Tea Party

Somehow little girls learn early about having tea parties. Pretend tea parties with dolls and stuffed animals. Pretend tea parties with friends. Of course, it always makes it special when the adults allow them to have real food with their tea parties. I remember my daughters never having tea to drink, but they loved using a little teapot and cups for water. Specialty foods were banana slices with sprinkles on them, cookies, sandwiches cut small and without the crust. We served them on the girls’ tea plates. If you have a little girl in your life who doesn’t have a tea set, I strongly recommend you get her one. ArsaToys has some really cute ones – see my favorite set.

Big girls (grown ups) like tea parties, too. I’ve gone to Mother’s Day teas for moms and daughters (every woman is a daughter, so no one is left out). I’ve gone with friends to a special tea shop either for lunch (with tea, of course) or for afternoon tea.

When my husband and I visited England, we were introduced to “cream tea”—a pot of tea, scones with Devonshire cream and strawberry jam, and cream for your tea, if you desired. I could eat that every day! And now I have a number of scone recipes that we really enjoy at home. My personal favorite teas are English breakfast tea and Lifeboat tea.

I’ve also had “afternoon tea” in England and in Canada. Along with the scones, cakes, and cookies, small sandwiches are served.

One of my friends is so known for serving tea, writing tea columns, etc. that her grandchildren call her “Grandma Tea.”

The best part of a tea party, whether formal or informal, is the chance to sit down and relax. Time to take your ease with friends or family, sip and chat, be soothed by the food and the tea—quite a contrast to grabbing a bite at a fast food restaurant.

So want to pamper your girlfriends? Plan a tea party. Make it extra fun by sending invitations. Click here to read more!

Ordering Invitations - What You Need to Know

Questions you should ask when getting invitations or announcements printed.

1. What is included in the printing fees?
2. What fonts are available? Is there an extra charge for specialty fonts?
3. What color ink is available? Is color extra?
4. What’s the minimum order requirement? (i.e. Is there a minimum number of cards I have to order?)
5. How long is the processing time?
6. Can I get a proof? If so, how?
7. If ordering online, you’ll want to ask about shipping options.

Checklist of information you’ll need when preparing your invitations
- What kind of party or event
- Who the party is honoring, if applicable
- Date and time
- Location – may need to include address
- Special instructions, such as what to bring or wear or pick-up time for a kid’s party, or “dinner following”
- RSVP or Regrets only and contact info, whether phone, email, or both

I know this list is pretty basic, but it is surprising how many invitation orders on our site leave off time, location, address, contact info for RSVP.

Other things you might want to know about invitations. Invitations can be flat printed or can be raised printed. Raised print is also called “thermography.”

Have other questions about invitations? Ask me at info@iby.com or via commenting to this entry. I’ll answer here. And if I don’t know, I’ll find out! Click here to read more!

Party Plates

For every party, you must decide whether you are going to use plates you have on hand (or can borrow), or plastic or paper plates. Some of the paper plates out there are simply beautiful. I’ve been adding paper tableware to the IBY site and keep thinking, “I want that one, and that one, and that one. My grandsons would like this one. This would be cute for a baby shower…”

When my kids were young, getting special party tableware to match the party theme was always fun. Sometimes we did large plates for the meal portion, small plates for the cake and ice cream portion, large & small napkins and cups for both. The few left over supplies we had were always fun reminders of the special occasion until they ran out – though I’ll admit the cake usually ran out first…

For small adult parties, I have glass party sets handed down to me from my mother-in-law. You know, the kind that have a place to set the cup that can either hold a hot or cold drink. (I don’t get them out any other time.) Or I might use my china, or other special plates, with my goblets. But if my party is too big for that, I like buying some pretty paper plates and napkins. For my youngest daughter’s graduation party, we simply used the school colors for solid color plates and napkins.

If at all possible, I prefer not to use plastic-ware for forks, spoons and knives, but when I do, I like buying the sturdy ones that don’t break easily. Click here to read more!