A new year and already we are celebrating special occasions and birthdays! I wanted to quickly share with you today something I posted on Instagram last year that I STILL get messages about. Let me share some simple and sparkly birthday decor with you!

My dear friend and neighbor, Ally, was having a birthday. We all went out to dinner, as a group of girlfriends, to celebrate. But instead of having whatever the restaurant was serving for dessert and just singing Happy Birthday there, I invited everyone back to my home, since it wasn’t too far at all from the restaurant, and had something special here. We sang Happy Birthday and opened gifts and had her favorite cupcakes in a more intimate setting and then relaxed at my home and talked for hours. It was PERFECT! I highly recommend doing it!

All I did to make it sparkly and special AND elegant was add a few glittery touches and some white roses. I love this glitter WISH banner I had found at a local boutique. I found it HERE on Etsy for you, for now, but I will hopefully be carrying it very soon in my online shoppe and will update you when they arrive.  Make sure you subscribe to my emails at the top of the page to get all of my latest updates, arrivals of new inventory, and weekly blog posts.

Currently, in my online shoppe, I also carry a glitter banners as well that you could use and would be so pretty.  Here is the Glitter Letter Banner….

I used two matching cake stands of different heights this time.  The ones I have were found at Taipan Trading Co. in Utah but here are some similar options that would look great!

Normally, I like to use my usual chandelier prisms cake stand, which is soooo gorgeous and you can certainly use one!

I found the CUTEST glitter bow cupcake toppers and knew I had to have them on these cupcakes for Ally!  Aren’t they just so pretty and girly?!  She just died when she saw them! It was so fun!  They were made by Olive Our Love Handmade on Etsy BUT they are taking a break.  So you can find lots of other pretty options below:

Add a lovely vase and some fresh white roses, or any floral of your choice, and you are set!  It’s simple but it’s elegant and special and I’m SURE it will be unforgettable!

Thanks so much for joining me today!  I would love it if you subscribed at the top of the page in order to receive my weekly emails of all my latest posts.  You can also follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to see what I’m up to in creating a home and lifestyle of inspiration!  Hope to see you soon!

May all of your parties be sparkly and successful!  Muah!

xoxo,

The post Sparkly Birthday Decor appeared first on Summer Adams.

It has been said that I’m a fun mom.  Maybe not all the time (of course, when it’s chore time), but it’s been said and I’ve recorded it in case either of my kids ever forget it. Ha!  I love to do fun things with them and I NEVER miss an opportunity to throw some sort of party with them or for them.  I look for any excuse to have a party and I want them to have lots of magical memories from their childhood.  So, in moving back to Texas this spring, we are now living closer to some of our besties that we’ve missed so much and we really wanted to do something special with them since they live on the other end of the Metroplex and don’t get to see them as often as we’d like.  I thought it would be fun to throw some sort of winter party, especially since we dream of getting snow here in Dallas but do not.  And then the idea came!  It would be a Winter Wonderland Kids Party with the help of my oh-so-gracious friends at Pottery Barn Kids.

My amazing and talented friend, Kate Jolliffe of TheEverydayHostess.com, and I recently had lunch here in Dallas and talked about working on a fun project together so, naturally, I turned to her for help.  Kate is definitely the “hostess with the mostest” and knows better than anyone how to throw a fabulous party. She lives in Uptown Dallas and knows that area better than I do.  With Kate’s suggestion, we decided to head over to the beautiful Reverchon Park to set up a party there.  With hills and bridges and rock steps and lovely fall trees, it was the perfect location.  I went over and met with the SWEETEST friends at our Pottery Barn Kids Store here in Dallas on Knox Street to get everything we needed to create this “Winter Wonderland” in our heads.

There were must-haves on my list to successfully create this Winter Wonderland Kids Party.  First, we hung the beautiful FaLaLa Glitter Garland in the trees.  I added some snowflakes from local craft and home stores and some of the PBK Large Felted Wool Snowflake Ornaments on different branches as well.  It was a lovely backdrop.

Every party needs a “party table” to gather at for sweets and for crafts.  I chose the Grey Kids Table but with White Kids Chairs. I only grabbed Brooklyn’s vanity chair from her room because I thought it would be fun with the fur on top (see more on Brooklyn’s Tween Bedroom Makeover HERE).  PBK has one here that is just gorgeous.

I always love for my kids to create things and they love it because they are so artistic.

Beckham and his friend, Roman, started off our snowflake-making craft.  We decided we could make a garland of them later or hang them from trees or around the home.

Of course, as 8 year-old boys, their attention span only lasted so long before the silliness got the best of them and they took snowflake-making to another level, ha!

There’s more of that but I’ll spare you all the pictures!

But I will show you a close-up of this White Felt Tree from PBK this year.  It even has a glitter star on top!

And just when you think PBK has thought of everything, then they come out with this gorgeous Christmas Fur Runner for the kids tables. Yes please!!  I need them for my adult Christmas table as well, thank you!  Don’t they just make everything so fun?

During the snowflake-making with the boys, I look over to see the girls playing and talking in our little cozy spot to the left.  Brooklyn thought it would be fun to read to Gemma and Carmella while they snuggled with some stuffed animals, like this sweet plush bear.  This is as close as it gets to having little sisters so I’m grateful for these sweet friends of ours.

I think Gemma LOVED this book! How cute does she look on this new Faux Fur Lounge Chair?!

Carmella is sitting on one of my absolute favorite chairs, the Shimmer Velvet Dusty Blush Anywhere Chair.  Oh how I wish it came in my size! (hint hint Pottery Barn haha)

These Green Flocked Trees in the background helped give us that element of a Winter Wonderland that we lack in this Dallas park…pine trees.  They light up too and are battery-operated so that was perfect when the sun was going down. It was beautiful!

They ran around and played in this beautiful park.  There was tag, hide and go seek, exploring…and then this happened.  A cute brother-sister moment that I, of course, yelled “sit back down!” as they wanted to get up, so that I could take a picture and capture the moment.  Any moms out there do this? Please {oh please} tell me I’m not the only one, ha!  But when they’re getting along so well and having a “moment”, a mother has to capture it on camera.  And speaking of precious, don’t you love those Glitter Houses next to Beckham? I decided I had to have them for my Winter Wonderland at home (stay tuned for that post coming next week).  And the new PBK High-Low Faux Fur Throw is sooooo dreamy and soft!  We are all obsessed!  I want one in every room of my house this winter.

Kate and I also threw some of these gorgeous and soooooo soft Faux Fur Pillows in ivory and grey (and another Plush Polar Bear) to make this spot comfortable and relaxing.  They are perfect to throw on a bed and I’d even throw them on a sofa.

As soon as Brooklyn and Beckham left this cozy little area, Gemma and Carmella saw this adorable pair of Plush Reindeer and ran over to make friends. Is that the cutest thing or what?

Gemma had no more patience for her new “friends” that weren’t talking back to her. Toddlers!  However, Carmella stayed and we caught her asking them all sorts of questions.  Just adorable!  I love that girl and her sweet little personality. She’s so imaginative.

What’s a “Winter Wonderland” Party without music?  The minute these kids heard Christmas music coming through the speakers, they were up and dancing. They are a hoot when they all get together!

And of course…..our “too cool for school” 8 year-old boys had to separate themselves to the other side of the party like a bunch of tween-age boys in middle school and show off their robot dance moves! LOL! Oh, Roman and Beckham!  They have been such a funny and sweet pair of friends since they were small toddlers! I love those 2 so much!

“What was that?  Did someone say hot cocoa?”  Yes, Gemma.  We did!

Can you guess who was first in line?  Yep.  Little Miss Gemma.  And because she’s the littlest one, they waited on her, hand and foot.

PBK has the CUTEST little white Tea Cart and I knew I had to have it at our party for hot cocoa.

Kate had planned on bringing hot cocoa and I knew she’d bring some fun candies and marshmallows.  Those funny kiddos acted like they’d never had hot cocoa before (they had), with all their excitement.  The simple things, right?  The topping may or may not have been eaten before we even had the hot cocoa ready.

And as if they didn’t need more sugar, they’re kids and it’s a party.  So bring on the sugar!  Can you tell Beckham is excited? LOL!  That kid eats ALL day long and just grows, and grows, and grows.

Kate made the most delicious cupcakes with this marshmallow frosting!

You’ll have to go and ask her for the recipe because wow…it was so so good!

She even put the cutest cupcake toppers on them.  The kids went nuts over them.  I’m telling you….Kate knows what everyone likes…..kids or adults.  She’s the best!

Those faces say it all, don’t they?

Can we talk about these gorgeous calligraphy signs?

What fun pieces to have at our party!  Kate used them HERE in a blog post where she made her own Winter Wonderland at home and I absolutely adored them!

What a FUN DAY!!!  I’m so grateful that Kate helped me throw this Winter Wonderland Party for the kids and their friends.

And, of course, a HUGE THANK YOU {from me AND these cute kiddos – Carmella, Brooklyn, Gemma, Roman and Beckham} to my friends at Pottery Barn Kids for working with me on this fun party!  I’ve always loved them but my friends at the Dallas Knox Street store couldn’t have been more helpful, as they always are, in helping me put this together.  We had a LOT of fun and made some great memories with these dear friends of ours.

We also want to give a special thanks to Photography by Katsi here in Dallas for capturing these moments for us and also to JBScript for the lovely Calligraphy Signage.

This Christmas, and every Christmas to come, we will always have these memories and pictures of our Winter Wonderland Party in the park and will look back and remember how magical it was!  Isn’t that a wonderful gift?  To create magical memories?  I think so.  I have so many from my childhood and it has meant so much to me that I want that for my children.

I hope I’ve inspired you to do something FUN and even MAGICAL during this holiday season.  Make it a season to remember!

To help you create your own Winter Wonderland Party for Kids, I’m sharing all of my Pottery Barn Kids items here below for your shopping convenience.

Wishing you the Merriest Christmas & the most Magical Holidays,

*This post contains affiliate links but all opinions are my own.  I only work with and support brands and products that my family and I love and use.

The post Winter Wonderland Party with Pottery Barn Kids appeared first on Summer Adams.

Next week, many of you have children going back to school, if they haven’t already.  There are a few very important things we do to prepare for this event.  Clothes shopping is so fun this year because we moved back to Texas and there are NO MORE UNIFORMS!  Woohoo!!  Besides the back-to-school shopping, there are a few other things that I’ve had on my “list” that I’ve had to tackle and plan for.

First, if you have a daughter around the age of 10 like mine, you know how big of a deal a cute lunch bag (they were called lunch boxes back in my day) is to her.  I don’t know why, but out of all years that it’s most important, we have had the HARDEST time trying to find something she loves.  I feel like all I’m seeing are “Elsa”, unicorn, or character lunch bags.  That doesn’t work for her, or for me!  Our usual big stores have left us totally disappointed this year.  After a couple weeks of looking and complaining and finding nothing, a couple of friends were on Facebook sharing their same dilemma.  One had a solution for us and I’m soooo glad she did!  She asked if we had heard of Pursebox.  Nope, we had not.  We visited PurseboxShop on Instagram and on their website and WOW!  How adorable!!

This was the one!  We’d found a lunch box that looked like a purse.  Pursebox!  Brooklyn and I were both squealing with excitement!  Although pink is her favorite color, Brooklyn also loves aqua so she picked that one.  I love the pink, aqua and blue colors that it comes in.  Isn’t it just the cutest?! You can take your lunch back to school in style or take it to a friend’s house for a play date. Thank you, PurseboxShop!!  You’ve solved all our “tween” problems….for now, ha!

This year I kept it “simple”.  Simple to me, at least.  No balloons, no streamers or banners…just the food, a nice place setting and lovely floral arrangements.  We had one of our favorite drinks, Strawberry-Kiwi no-calorie drink, rolls, a large fruit platter (forgot to take a pic…eek!) and a fabulous chicken pasta salad (see below).  A friend reminded me that I had not pulled out my Kate Spade Flamingo Placemats all summer! {GASP!}  And every girl knows, Kate Spade is not meant to be kept in a drawer so I pulled these babies out and decided they were just the way to start planning my tablescape.

I knew immediately that I wanted a lovely pineapple/floral centerpiece. There were no large pineapples at the grocery store, so I grabbed 4 mini pineapples for around $1 on sale and used them for my “end of summer/back-to-school floral arrangement”.  I cut off the top, carved out the middle with a knife and spoon (takes just 2 minutes each pineapple, so it’s quick) and added a short, small glass cup.  Then I grabbed some pink roses that matched the pink flamingo placemats, white hydrangeas, and some green filler for the middle.  Easy peasy and very inexpensive.  I placed each one at the head of each place setting.

Being the end of summer, it is still HOT here in Texas and I wanted something light but filling. My friend shared this fabulous Chicken Teriyaki Pasta Spinach Salad years ago and I’ve loved it ever since.  You serve it cold but it is soooo tasty and hearty and everyone loves it.  Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 lb raw baby spinach
1 lb. farfalle (bowtie) noodles
2-3 chicken breasts (or 2 cups rotisserie chicken)
2 cups honey-roasted peanuts
1 cup dried cranberries
1 small can water chestnuts, sliced and chopped
1 large can mandarin oranges (14 oz)
1/2  chopped sweet onion
3 TBSP finely chopped fresh parsley

Dressing:
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup vinegar (either rice, white or apple cider vinegar works)
3 TBSP brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Instructions:
Prepare dressing by combining all of the ingredients well.
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain water and add noodles to a large bowl. Toss the cooked noodles in about half of the teriyaki sauce and refrigerate until cooled.
Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and grill until cooked through. Shred chicken or cut into small pieces.
Combine the spinach, cooked chicken, peanuts, dried cranberries, sliced water chestnuts, mandarin oranges, parsley, and chopped onion in a large salad bowl. Add the pasta to the bowl and toss to combine. Add additional dressing, if desired.

For dessert, I wanted to keep it light still.  I grabbed a sour cream angel food cake from my local grocer bakery.  At home, I make homemade whipped cream and diced strawberries and folded them in.  Then I smothered the cake with it AND even added another dollop of leftover strawberry whipped cream after slicing and serving each piece.  The perfect summer treat!  We enjoyed all the strawberries we picked the other day.

And you know what?  They absolutely LOVED it!  Just taking a minute to display something in a special way can make all the difference in the world.

What are you doing for the 1st day of school or what traditions do you and your family have?  Leave me a message and let me know.  I’m curious as to what others do and love to be inspired by your ideas!  Good luck, mamas!  And good luck to your kiddos, too!

xoxo, Summer

The post Back To School In Style appeared first on Summer Adams.

Is anyone out there as big of a fan of Buddy the Elf as I am???  “Elf” is easily one of our family’s most favorite films, especially at Christmas time.  As soon as Thanksgiving has ended, we get in Christmas pi’s and turn on the movie.  This year, I went the extra mile with fun Elf-themed party food and….yes, ELF PAJAMAS!! Oh yes I did!  Thanks, Target!  The hubs isn’t pictured (he’d kill me hahaha) but we DID buy them for him and after a LOT of begging and pleading from his sweet kids, he put them on (in all his glory…I’m still laughing) and came downstairs and joined our Elf Party!  It was fantastic!  Find some great ideas on Pinterest for your own Elf party!  There’s still time!

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