As my loyal readers already know, I’m a huge fan of ABC’s The Bachelor. Last night I hosted a premiere party. It was so fun and you are going to love the pictures! To tide you over until I can get those I wanted to share a review of the new online invitation service I used.

There has been buzz throughout the blogosphere about the new online invitation service, Purple Trail. I’ve been waiting for a chance to try it out and my Bachelorette Premiere party presented the perfect opportunity.

An avid evite fan, I was hesitant to stray from the familiar. I decided to take a leap of faith on a small party where I knew I could call people if it didn’t work for some reason. Here is my feedback!

Design

The feature I loved best about Purple Trail was the ability to create a custom design. Evite’s system is kind of clunky and I’ve learned it is just best to go with their premade templates. Purple Trail allowed me to upload a picture that I created in Photoshop and customize the background color to match.

Usability

Filling in all of the party information was simple and self-explanatory. The thing I liked best was how quickly the site loads.

Features

A first time user, I decided to try out some of the “Modules” PT offers. First, I found a video preview of The Bachelorette premiere and embedded it on the invite. I also added a poll of my guests to see which condiments they liked on their hot dogs. (This ended up being very helpful when grocery shopping!) I also added the Google Map which I found worked much better than evite’s mapping solution.

Final Review

All in all, I had a positive experience with Purple Trail. In fact, I just received an email asking if I wanted to post pictures from my event or send thank you notes! I did notice slower responses than I normal but most guests ended up responding eventually. I liked that guests could keep their messages private or make them public.

Would I use it again? For the Bachelorette, definitely. But for an event with more people (especially events with guys) I’d be hesitant to stray from what everyone is comfortable with.

One of my sorority sister and best friends from college, Alison, is getting married in August and a few weeks ago I recieved her oh-so-cute Save the Date card in the mail. Being the creative and budget savvy bride that she is, Alison designed and printed them herself! This allowed her to personlize the cards exacally how she wanted them and she saved money by only spending 5 cents per card! I love this idea and think it would be a great idea for any party or save the date, not just weddings!

Alison was kind enough to put together a “How-To” for my readers and share her Publisher file so that others can use it as a template! Find the how-to, free downloads and fonts after the jump and don’t forget to check out her blog!

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I often daydream about throwing parties. (Hey, you know you do it too!) There are tons of parties I have been dying to prepare for but have put off due to lack of time, resources, inspiration, occasion, space, or any combination of the above. And then there is the constant interruption of holidays I “just have to” decorate and party plan for. I keep saying “when I get a bigger apartment” or “when I get the right group of friends who will make this theme really fun,” but it seems like the list of parties just keeps growing and all of the other factors i.e. space and time, remain constant.

Some parties I am dying to throw are topical or based on something I’m really into at the time. But there are others that I have been dying to throw forever, I have just lacked the motivation, inspiration or resources to actually execute them. If you are anything like me you have a list like this too so read mine after the jump then feel free to add your list in the comments!

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Aren’t these bunny napkins the cutest?! I found inspiration for this easy craft while searching around for Easter table ideas on the blogosphere. I had never seen these before but obviously I’m out of the loop because once I started looking, I found them everywhere! Good Housekeeping added a button and whiskers to theirs and is my personal fav, but I also like the simplicity of Martha’s crisp white bunny.

There are lots of tutorials out there so here are a few I found to be helpful and comprehensive. Come & Peek shows that you don’t need fancy napkins to create beautiful bunnies, making them with paper napkins.

• Martha Stewart
• Delish (via Good Housekeeping)
• Come and Peek

I found some cute home-made napkin bunnies on Flickr too. I loved this one with polka dotted nakpins by Heidi Kennedy of  My Paper Crane.

I can’t wait to try to make these cuties for myself! And you can be sure I’ll post the results here when I do!

{Photos Courtesy of: MarthaStewart.com, My Paper Crane, and GoodHousekeeping.com}

Enjoy this guest post by my mom who has some great ideas for Easter decor and tablescaping!

Easter is a time for reflection, reawakening and renewal – a time to remember and celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Decorating for Easter is fun because it gives us a chance to infuse in our homes the bright colors of Spring and reflect on all the symbols of Easter and what they mean. So what do lilies, colored eggs and bunnies have to do with Jesus?

There are many traditions associated with these decorations. Many people think the Easter Lily, with its majestic white blooms, represents the purity of the risen Christ. I always include a cross or several crosses in my Easter decorating because of the subtle “reason for the season” reminder.

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Today’s feature is a Real Life Party by fellow blogger, “Inspired” Kara. Kara threw this bridal shower for her best friend, Aria, and based the theme on Aria’s love of music and all-things vintage. And did Aria get a great shower or what?! Kara’s color coordination and attention to detail made this one sweet shower! Be sure to see links at the bottom to Kara’s blog for more pictures of this adorable party!!

Using a white tablecloth and pink runner and lots of doilies Kara created a dainty tablescape. Since the shower was hosted around Valentines day she was able to take advantage of the availability of Conversation Hearts for her flower arrangement. She served up some tasty appetizers like chocolate covered raspberries, cupcakes, and bite-sized versions of Aria’s favorite sandwiches!

I am in love with this all-pink candy bar. It’s so well put together and goes along perfectly with the sweetheart theme.

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What is the one plastic card that is useful for party planning that doesn’t have the ability to hurt your credit score? Your library card! That’s right, my library card is one of my most valuable and inexpensive party planning resources. Read below to see how I discovered this precious resource and tips on how to easily find party books in your local library!

I’m a pretty avid reader and earlier in life I learned that having a passion for books could become a rather expensive hobby when you read as much as I do. I became a regular library patron in college when I learned that (for some reason) Ole Miss had an extensive John Grisham collection.

So when I moved to Dallas a priority was to find the closest public library. In a stroke of luck, I learned that the largest library in Dallas was just across the street from my office! About once a month I trek my way across City Hall’s concrete laden plaza, past the hobos and pigeons, over to the Dallas Public Library to browse for new books and enjoy a lunch out of the office.

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Today’s guest post is from one of my super creative friends Alexis. Alexis and I met through Linda, a wonderful friend and the lucky recipient of this shower who suggested we chat when Alexis trying to coordinate the long distance party planning. Though we live in different cities (Dallas & DC), Alexis and I became fast friends over our love for decorating and party planning. We have only met three times (at the shower, bachelorette party and wedding) but I feel like we’ve known each other forever and now we talk on the phone regularly! Now to Alexis on her Blushing Bride Bridal Shower! Enjoy!

First, Kendall, thanks for inviting me to post on your wonderfully inspiring blog! I’ve enjoyed all of your creative ideas and am so honored to contribute!

This party, which we’ve titled “Blushing Bride Bridal Shower,” is one that I threw for my best friend and then bride-to-be Linda back in October. I hosted the party at the mother-of-the-groom’s home in Georgetown, TX. Because I live in Washington, DC, geography posed somewhat of a challenge, but I wanted to host the party in close proximity to Linda and all of her college friends that would be attending (from UT-Austin), and wanted to do it at someone’s home rather than a restaurant in order to give a more personal touch. To make it easy on myself I had the brunch catered and chose to put my creative focus on the décor.

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Today is a special post on Pottery Barn tying together the I’m Sold! and Surprising Sources series.

Though I can hardly afford to shop at Pottery Barn it is still one of my favorite places to “shop.” Instead of shopping for plates and napkins and silverware I shop for inspiration! I love getting the PB catalogue in the mail to see what the new trends in decor and entertaining are. And I’ve had a ton of success at recreating some of their tablescapes and decor ideas with much less expensive versions I find at TJ Maxx and Walmart.

The staff is super friendly and always willing to help you match your color palette or give great tips and tricks. The two PB staffers above, Roy and Darren taught the recent Spring Entertaining Class and were friendly and full of energy!

Another great reason to “shop” at Pottery Barn is to find out about all their fun FREE events. It is a fun way to meet other entertainers in your area and spend a morning sharing ideas! Here’s a recap of the class I attended and lots of spring & easter entertaining ideas!

On Sunday I woke up early (early for me on a weekend at least) and headed to Pottery Barn to try out their Spring Entertaining class! It was lots of fun and the instructors were full of great ideas! Enjoy the following pictures and spring entertaining tips from the notes I took at the class!

Easy Easter Brunch

The class started off with tips for throwing an Easter brunch celebration. The instructors explained that brunch could be early – before church – or in the early afternoon after church. They gave these great tips and insights into what is “hot” this season for Easter entertaining:

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You’ve heard it before, but it’s true: Inspiration for entertaining and party décor can really come from anywhere! Blogs are obviously one of my favorite resources and Martha and BHG are never-fail reserves. But I’ve recently discovered some unique and never-before-seen ideas in some quite unusual places. Please join me as I kick off my Surprising Sources for {Free} Party Inspiration series.

You go through cans of spray paint like octamom goes through diapers. The staff at Lowes knows you by name (cough *my grandma* cough). But have you ever really thought of going to a spray paint manufacturer’s website? I hadn’t but one day when trying to find glass-friendly spray paint I ended up spending hours on the Krylon website!

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