Mother’s Day Party Ideas
Monday, April 29th, 2013Mother’s Day is just around the corner. How about showing Mom how much you care about her by hosting a Mother’s Day party. Consider the following ideas on how to host a memorable and inexpensive Mother’s Day party this year.
Begin by choosing a simple Mother’s Day party theme. Once you have chosen one the rest of the planning starts to take place.
How about hosting a Mother’s Day brunch party with the whole family? You can have the brunch at your home or at a nearby restaurant. Make sure to have a little of everything, such as scrambled, fried, poached, or hardboiled eggs. Some bacon, sausage, ham, pancakes, waffles, and french toast. And for dessert donuts, fruit, and cookies are always great. If you choose to have a brunch at a restaurant make sure to make reservations in advance, since restaurants get very busy on this day.
Hosting a tea party is a classy way to say thanks to Mom. It is an occasion for multiple types of teas such as black, green, English, acai, and lemon to name just a few, and do not forget the milk, sugar, and honey to go with the tea. You can also serve some finger sandwiches such as cucumber, salmon, turkey and brie along with scones, muffins, and cheesecake for dessert. Again you can host it at your home or at a restaurant. Often times, a Mother’s Day tea party is a nice time for mothers, daughters and granddaughters to spend time together.
If the weather is going to be a comfortable one invite the whole family over to celebrate Mother’s Day with a barbeque. You can serve some grilled asparagus, corn on the cob, pasta salad and fruit salad, even some ribs, chicken, cheeseburgers, and hotdogs are always a hit.
When it comes to giving Mom the perfect Mother’s Day gift remember that anything from the heart is always appreciated. After all it’s the thought that counts.
Things to help you throw an amazing Thanksgiving.
Monday, November 19th, 2012Thanksgiving is here and if your family is anything like mine everyone is still wondering who is going bite the bullet and have diner at their house. The thought of having everyone over who you probably haven’t seen since the last family get together, whenever that was, can be enough to make you go off the deep end. But remember it’s the holidays and we need to do whatever we can to enjoy them.
I have gathered some ideas to help you with the daunting task of throwing a Thanksgiving feast that will help it be remembered and not one to forget. Don’t worry it’s not as difficult as you may think.
First, figure out how many people will be attending your dinner so that you can set up the house appropriately. Once you have this number you can arrange your house to accommodate everyone comfortably.
Second, figure out if you’re getting desert trays in Philadelphia and if you will be cooking the food yourself or using off premise catering in Philadelphia.
Third, decorate the house. You don’t have to go overboard but a nice pumpkin and some corn stalks at the door can go a long with by setting the mood as your guest arrive. On the inside of your house try and have a fire and some dressings to the table to further moor set the mood. Pine cones scattered throughout the table arrangements with orange, maroon, and brown cloths can make the dinner table pop!
Lastly, keep the mood light. Have some good music in the background to accompany the fire. Make sure to have a sitting area for your guests to enjoy some cheese and crackers or whatever pick food you may choose. Just make sure the snacks before dinner are light and don’t ruin everyone’s appetite for the main course, THE TURKEY.
Put some of these suggestions into your Thanksgiving party planning and enjoy a nice relaxing evening with your family, you’ll be especially relaxed if you use a holiday party caterer in Philadelphia. Don’t forget, if you’re having Thanksgiving that means someone else in the family is having Christmas!
Tips On Planning A Halloween Party
Friday, October 5th, 2012Halloween is always fun. It is the one time of year that everyone can dress up in silly, crazy or scary costumes. Throwing a Halloween party is also a great way to spend time with your friends and family.
Here are a few tips to help you as you prepare for an amazing Halloween party:
Halloween Party Invitations
You can choose an invitation that goes with your theme. If you are just hosting a basic costume party, then you can use a spooky Halloween invitation.
Make sure the invitation contains the following information for your Halloween party.
-Date and time of the party.
-The theme of the party.
-The location and directions to the party.
Halloween Party Theme
You can choose from various themes for your Halloween party. Some great theme ideas are medieval, cartoon characters, or animals. You could also choose a decade and have everyone dress in clothes from that time period. In addition, you may also decide not to do a themed Halloween party, where everyone can choose their own costumes.
Halloween Party Games
You can entertain your guest by playing different Halloween themed games. For example, you can have a ghost story contest where each of the guests has an opportunity to tell a ghost story. Have small pieces of paper and pens or pencils available and let everyone cast their vote for the best story. Make sure to have a prize for the winner.
Halloween Party Recipes
You can serve your guests some spooky hors d’oeuvres, like eerie eyeballs, witches brew, or freaky witches fingers that your guest will enjoy.
Halloween Party Decorations
You can purchase Halloween decorations in most department stores or you can make your own if you do not want to spend a lot of money. Buy some black, orange, and white construction paper, google eyes, Halloween stencils, glue, thin string, and some markers. You can make bats, jack o’ lanterns, ghosts, skeletons, and tombstones to hang from the ceiling. Also nix in a few cobwebs made from stretching poly fill and add some black and orange balloons.
Halloween Party Music
It’s not Halloween without some creepy music. Hide a boom box on the front porch and have some scary music playing as the guests arrive. The music from horror movies like Friday the 13th and Halloween are always a good choice.
Decorating For a Fall Wedding
Thursday, September 6th, 2012Fall is a beautiful time for having an indoor or outdoor wedding and reception. You can make elegant and romantic decorations with items that can be found outdoors such as leaves, flowers, branches etc.
Here are some fall wedding ideas and tips to get you started.
-If you are planning for a fall wedding, try to choose the color scheme that focuses towards the colors that you see outside. The color scheme chosen should reflect the beauty of the season. You can select colors like golden yellow, burgundy, brown and leaf green with shades of orange, purple, ivory. Some of the classic color combinations that look rich and fantastic are purple and silver, gold and ivory, rich brown paired with pale blue, pink paired with dark brown or rich yellow.
-Use candle holders, table clothes and table accents that complement the color scheme you decided on. In your wedding flowers, try to put the boughs of fall leaves along with greenery. For your bouquet, consider using greenery with dried leaves and ivory blossoms.
-To create a romantic look, try to decorate the aisles, the tables and around the area of the ceremony with the raking leaves or with garlands having clusters of ornamental grapes combined with grapevine leaves or garlands of silk autumn leaves.
-You can also choose to have helium balloons blown in all fall colors floating around the area of ceremony.
-Consider using the beautiful fall blooms like sunflowers, daisies, calla lilies, hydrangeas, roses, hibiscus, dahlias, chrysanthemums, wheat stalks etc.
-You can also hollow out pumpkins and turn them into a holder for bouquets and floral arrangements.
-As a center piece take a wooden bowl or rustic basket and fill the basket with decorative gourds, fall blossoms like sunflowers, mums, silk autumn leaves and different varieties of miniature pumpkins, and then place the raking leaves or wheat springs around it.
-Take a crystal bowl and fill it with water and fruits such as crab apples, hypericum berries, lemons etc. Place the floating candles in the bowl along with fall flowers and raking leaves.
-For an elegant look, stringed lights can be hung from the trees for an outdoor wedding, and for an indoor wedding, the stringed lights can be hung on the ceiling and near the aisle.
-Decorate your wedding cake with frosted fall fruits or faux fall leaves in shades of orange, red or yellow.
-Wrap your wedding favors with a ribbon which inspires the autumn feeling.
Creative Corporate Catering Ideas
Thursday, August 9th, 2012It is great to know that you don’t have to settle for just box lunches as the only lunch menu for corporate and office catering. Box lunches are appropriate for working lunches, lunches where there is a limited time to serve people, and for long morning meetings where the attendees have no chance to get lunch on the way back to the airport or to a distant office.
You can be the office hero and offer a hot lunch either as a buffet or served as a banquet. There are so many options available to choose from. The menus can be as diverse as you want them to be. Discuss your ideas with a professional caterer who will guide you in designing the perfect catering menu certain to please your guest.
When planning your meal ideas, consider the time of year, any particular holiday that might be near the date of your event, and any menu that would complement the purpose of the meeting. You may even pick a theme and create the menu around that.
And, don’t forget about dessert. Dessert catering can be as simple as an assortment of cookies, dessert bars, cake, pies or tarts.
Some Themes To Keep In Mind Include:
Italian Menus
Parmesan Crusted Chicken or any pasta dish like lasagna or ziti, combined with a great Caesar salad, some oven roasted squash or Italian green beans and Italian bread.
Southwestern Menus
Fajitas are always a big hit. Offer a fajita bar featuring fajita beef and chicken strips, all the normal toppings, refried beans, Mexican style rice and flour tortillas with chips and fire roasted salsa or a 7 layer dip and you will have a complete meal.
Asian Inspired Menus
Another fun and different catering menu is Teriyaki beef or chicken, Asian rice and an Oriental vegetable blend of green beans, broccoli cuts, onions, mushrooms and red peppers complete with fortune cookies.
International Menus
This office catering idea involves picking different items from different countries and putting them together. For example, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Duchess potatoes, herb crusted tomato and Caribbean vegetable blend (broccoli, green beans, yellow carrots and red peppers) offered with a golden dinner roll.
Why Hire An Event Planner
Thursday, July 5th, 2012It is not uncommon for people to think that professional Event Planners are going to be expensive. But the truth is that planners know the tips, tricks and contacts that can save you time, stress, and money without sacrificing the quality of your event. They provide full planning, month-of planning and day-of coordination.
Here are some reasons to hire an Event Planner:
-Save Money–Event Planners have formed relationships with suppliers, in which they receive discounted rates from vendors that they pass on to the client.
-Save Time–Planners thrive on organizing and executing your event in less time than you ever could allowing you to focus on other responsibilities without the hassle, time and energy of planning an event
-Benefit From Their Knowledge And Experience–As Event Planners organize more and more events and parties they gain extensive knowledge and wisdom on the latest trends, newest venues, hot colors, budget-saving secrets and details that you may not be aware of.
-Take Advantage Of Their Contacts and Resources–Event Planner’s have the right contacts when it comes to lighting, décor, power, contracts and more.
-Stress-Free Planning–Almost every event encounters an unforeseen mishap and this is when you need a Planner at your side because they know who to call and how to remedy a situation quickly. Whether it’s a missing limo or a fallen wedding gown hem, your Planner can secure the resources necessary to make sure the event runs smoothly from start to finish and every little detail in between.
These are just a few reasons how an event planner can help to make your event flawless. Whether it is for a corporate event or meeting, wedding, birthday party or family reunion, make sure you celebrate. Hire an event planner and celebrate without stress.
Steps for Planning a Graduation Party
Monday, June 18th, 2012The days of pep rallies, class trips, team practices, and school shows are coming to an end for your child. It’s time for graduation an exciting time, but also one filled with some sadness about saying goodbye to the past, while looking ahead to the future. Involve your graduate in all of the graduation party decisions, and be sure to make it an event he or she has a great time making new memories to take with her into the next stage of her life.
What You Will Need to Decide
When will you hold the party? You could host the party directly after the graduation ceremony or you could plan it for a different day. If you are hosting a party for an older child, your party will probably compete with other classmates’ parties. So it is a good idea to do a little research by talking to other parents. That way you will know if you’re hosting the only party in town or one stop among many.
Where will the party be held? If you decide on an outdoor party you should be prepared with a tent or alternative backup plan in case of bad weather. If you chose a location other than your home for the party, then you should reserve the location for the event and book the caterer.
Pick Your Style and Theme
The style and theme you select will help you as you plan the other elements of your party. Some possible themes include:
-A formal dress-up party: Ask the kids and adults to come in formal attire and create formal place settings with linens, china, and elegant floral arrangements.
-A casual, flip-flop shoes party: Let everyone be themselves in their most casual attire. Use paper goods, plastic serving ware and invite everyone to hang out for as long as they wish.
-Host an open-house luncheon
-A Hawaiian Luau party theme is very popular for graduation parties. Invite your guests to come dressed in fun, tropical clothing.
Build a theme around the graduate’s future plans. For example, if your child will be attending college in New England, you could serve a New England Clam Bake to your guests. Be creative and have fun as you prepare for a memorable day.
10 Ways To Throw A Unique Wedding
Thursday, May 31st, 2012The day you tie the knot should be as unique as your individual personalities. Everyone has a different idea of the perfect wedding, so before you even begin to get into the details of the special day, you need to sit down with your partner and determine what is important to both of you. Create a list of priorities that will be used to determine how much money to spend. Although you are limiting your expenses, allow your creativity to spill into the details you are sharing on your wedding day. Keep the following points in mind as you plan your wedding day.
.Craft A Story: Think of every element of your wedding, from the invites to the wedding favors -as a chance to craft a story from beginning to happily ever after. You can also incorporate religious or ethnic touches that are special to you.
.Pick A Theme: A well planned theme can add lots of personality to your wedding day without looking cheesy. Pick a theme that is a hobby or interest, since you’re likely to already own a lot of materials you can incorporate into the decor.
.Pick A Repeating Element. If a theme is a bit much for your taste, focus on one element you can repeat throughout the printed materials, decor and attire for big impact.
.Go Handmade: Creating your own decor by hand ensures that the look of your wedding is one in a million.
.Shop Vintage: Shopping for vintage or thrift items for your wedding and reception can save you time and headache over everything being handmade. A vintage wedding dress customized with modern accessories could be the thing that makes your wedding stand out and memorable.
.Register For Gift Cards: Create a wedding registry online and register for the stores you most like to shop instead of just one or two generic ones that offer wedding registries.
.Mix And Match: Stick closely to your theme, but provide variations to create a unique look and feel. For example, select non-matching bridesmaids’ dresses and vintage vases of different sizes of the same type as centerpieces.
.Re-Imagine The Guest Book: Set up an electronic device to record or photograph guests as they enter, or have your guests sign a board that you can incorporate into your home decor later.
.Select Festive Food. If you marry at a non-traditional time or place and you can pull off a unique reception for cheap. Consider coffee bars and pastries for a mid-morning wedding or a Memorial Day wedding on the lake for a laid-back barbecue dinner.
.Unique Goodbye: Forget the bubbles, offer wrapped candy for tossing, release balloons or have your guests create a human arch for you to run through. For a nighttime wedding, fireworks or glow sticks create a fun and colorful goodbye.
Tips For Planning A First Communion Party
Sunday, April 29th, 2012The First Communion is a milestone in any child’s life that you will want to plan a special party for. After all, it only happens once. For this important day you will need personalized invitations, banners, flowers, decorations, balloons, and other items.
Here are some steps you can take to ensure your child’s First Communion is a success:
Location and Theme
First, decide where you would like the First Communion party to be held. Some options include the local church, an elegant hotel, restaurant, hall, or even your own backyard. By choosing the location first, it makes the various elements of the party planning process much easier. Next, decide a rough schedule of events for the First Communion party. For example, begin by drafting an itinerary including guest speeches, refreshments, snack times, picture times, and other ceremonial agenda items. Also, select a theme for your party. You can highlight the religious aspect of the celebration or you can emphasize the child’s personality and characteristics. You can also use banners and balloons with colors that your child enjoys to decorate.
Invitations and Gifts
Consider putting together some type of small gift bag or item to memorialize the event. This can be a picture of your child, religious tokens, or food items. Also, utilize various flower arrangements at the First Communion party to add a joyful element to this important celebration. Designing your own invitations will add a personal touch and generate more interest in the child’s First Communion party. You can purchase some hard card stock, or go online to find and create a design.
Catering
You may also want to consider putting a special menu together for the First Communion party. Any meal or dish you would serve at an Easter gathering would be appropriate for a First Communion party. For the main course, consider a hearty leg of lamb, baked ham, turkey platter, and chicken served with a choice of salad and a bread roll. For dessert, the cake or other treats should have a design in the form of a cross to complete the theme of your First Communion party.
Summer Wedding at Richmond Hall
Tuesday, April 10th, 2012The sound of wedding bells are in the distance, and those warm wedding season nights will soon be upon us. Experiencing festive celebrations under 40-foot cathedral ceilings and crystal chandeliers will surely illuminate the smiles of many newlywed couples. We can’t think of a better way to celebrate than at our favorite and very own location, Richmond Hall. You can be there every step of the way during planning, or simply have our experienced wedding planners take your worries away.
We will assist you with a full list of services to choose from. The choices are endless, with feasts prepared in our gourmet kitchen, cocktail hour hors d’oeuvres, dessert, bridal suite, etc., this is your day to shine so don’t worry about anything else!
With weddings being a historic event in your life, choosing a venue will be a significant reminder of this memorable day. Richmond Hall will be able to create the ultimate experience you and your guests will never forget. With many of the same features as other grand ballrooms such as floor plan and capacity, Richmond Hall is ideal for weddings and cocktail parties. With the overlooking balcony on the crystal room and crystal chandeliers, it is sure to offer a highly elegant setting for you and your guests. The atmosphere of your reception should reflect your personality and style.
Aside from the eloquent banquet facility that can accommodate up to 500 guests, it adds perfect charm to making your big day a huge success. Whether you were going for a modern or traditional wedding, Richmond Hall simply compliments both themes.