Saying "thank you" and showing gratitude was a serious part of my upbringing. Since as young as I can remember, I have been writing thank you cards to friends, relatives, and even strangers for various gifts, acts of kindness, and gestures of love. My parents were ever so diligent to make sure not a graduation, birthday, pageant, wedding, or reception went by without sending out thank you cards. As tedious as it was as a kid to complete those notes, now as an adult, I am ever so grateful that my parents instilled this lesson in me at such a tender age. It is a habit that I have carried with me my entire life. As a matter of fact, my first job out of high school (sophomore year of college) was at a stationary store in Lenox Mall, here in Atlanta. I enjoyed working there so much and was surrounded by beautiful papers and thank you notes each shift. Sometimes, the beauty of the handwritten card is even breathtaking and emotional. Not only do I love to write, but I love beautiful paper.
So, with that being said, the first project I completed for my
Five Love Language themed birthday party was the thank you cards. (If you missed my post about this b-day party I am planning,
you can find it here.) Saying thank you is a great way to show love to those who come to join you on your birthday. The thank you cards will be handed out at the end of the affair with the party favors. They are personalized on the inside with each couples name and includes a place to write their discovered love language as a keep sake from the event.
I made the thank you cards with card stock purchased at
Hallmark that were sealed with a band closed with a heart motif. It was also great that I found this love themed stationary in lavendar, which falls in line with our color story.
Above is a picture of all of the components of the thank you card.
To the right, is a close up of the inside of the thank you card. On the top flap is a thank you message. In the middle is the logo I created with the date of the event. On the bottom flap is the name of the couple with a line by each name to document their love language that they discovered at the party.
UPDATE: So after completing the thank you cards for the event, I started to think about how I wanted each couple to receive the cards. They can't be mailed after, because there is a place to add their love language (which they will learn at the party). Therefore, I'd like for them to open them at the end of the party and write their love language inside the card. So I was just going to sit them on the table, but then I realized that I don't want them opening them during dinner either. I concluded to place them in envelopes and near the end of the evening, pass them to the guests. With that being said, I have added some pics below of the final product, including envelopes. I punched holes in the flaps and placed purple bows on both sides. On the front, I made labels incorporating the logo and with each couples name on the label in a curly script. I sealed the envelopes with little purple stickers. I thought about doing wax seals (as I am a lover of wax seals, {see my wedding blog here with our wax seals}), but we are on a time restraint, as well as a budget. But the stickers add a fun touch, seeing as though the party has a casual feel to it anyway.
When thinking about centerpieces for The Five Love Languages Party that I organized, I contemplated many options. I eventually decided on flowers and candles. There are lots of ways to go about making a centerpiece for an event and typically, this is a part of planning that pulls the theme together and is able to incorporate a personal touch. Additionally, this may turn out to be a main focus so you want to be sure to put some thought into what to use as a centerpiece. Centerpieces are usually made with balloons, flowers, candles, or some sort of edible treat! However, there are no hard and fast rules to centerpieces. My favorite when planning my wedding was the "fish in the bowl" idea. Some times, people use their party favors as centerpieces, then there is no clean up or worry about what to do with them after. You can pretty much go in any direction, when choosing a centerpiece.
With our theme being somewhat "romantic," I decided that nothing is more romantic than flowers and candles. The candles I used were heart shaped floating candles. Unfortunately, the only one I could find (Pier 1) were red, and that was not apart of our color story so I was a little disappointed. So I decided to make submerged flowers in multiple shades of purple and put one floating candle on the top of each. I also put violet colored gems at the bottom of each vase. I made three of these! They were a big hit! (I will try to get some pics of them sitting on the table at the actual party from my client so you all can see what they looked like with the rest of the decor.)
Saying "thank you" and showing gratitude was a serious part of my upbringing. Since as young as I can remember, I have been writing thank you cards to friends, relatives, and even strangers for various gifts, acts of kindness, and gestures of love. My parents were ever so diligent to make sure not a graduation, birthday, pageant, wedding, or reception went by without sending out thank you cards. As tedious as it was as a kid to complete those notes, now as an adult, I am ever so grateful that my parents instilled this lesson in me at such a tender age. It is a habit that I have carried with me my entire life. As a matter of fact, my first job out of high school (sophomore year of college) was at a stationary store in Lenox Mall, here in Atlanta. I enjoyed working there so much and was surrounded by beautiful papers and thank you notes each shift. Sometimes, the beauty of the handwritten card is even breathtaking and emotional. Not only do I love to write, but I love beautiful paper.
So, with that being said, the first project I completed for my Five Love Language themed birthday party was the thank you cards. (If you missed my post about this b-day party I am planning, you can find it here.) Saying thank you is a great way to show love to those who come to join you on your birthday. The thank you cards will be handed out at the end of the affair with the party favors. They are personalized on the inside with each couples name and includes a place to write their discovered love language as a keep sake from the event.
UPDATE: So after completing the thank you cards for the event, I started to think about how I wanted each couple to receive the cards. They can't be mailed after, because there is a place to add their love language (which they will learn at the party). Therefore, I'd like for them to open them at the end of the party and write their love language inside the card. So I was just going to sit them on the table, but then I realized that I don't want them opening them during dinner either. I concluded to place them in envelopes and near the end of the evening, pass them to the guests. With that being said, I have added some pics below of the final product, including envelopes. I punched holes in the flaps and placed purple bows on both sides. On the front, I made labels incorporating the logo and with each couples name on the label in a curly script. I sealed the envelopes with little purple stickers. I thought about doing wax seals (as I am a lover of wax seals, {see my wedding blog here with our wax seals}), but we are on a time restraint, as well as a budget. But the stickers add a fun touch, seeing as though the party has a casual feel to it anyway.
The Power of Dreams 
One of my favorite things about birthdays is cake! And one of my favorite things about cake is the cake topper! Traditionally, people limit their "creative cake flow" to candles. However, a more modern approach is to use an elaborate cake topper. Cake toppers typically have been reserved for occasions such as weddings and maybe, baby showers but not birthdays. Adding a cake topper at a birthday party has multiple purposes:
