knitcole

Anniversary Week Day Three: Photo Booth!

Having a photo booth at our party was really important to me. I thought it would be so much fun and the pictures would be adorable. (Turns out I was more than right about the pictures being amazing!)

I googled a lot of different photo booths and I realized that I wanted to do something that felt like our party and not just like any old photo booth. I was in the process of making this lap quilt that I knew would be the perfect back drop so I finished it specifically for the photo booth, (here it is sitting on our couch,) and then I made some bunting to finish off the backdrop.

I also googled a lot about photo booths props because I wanted to make it fun but then I decided that having a lot of props was a bit problematic for me. I didn't really have the time to put together or find all of the props so I settled on mustaches. I crocheted four of them just for our photo booth. The orange one was the most difficult to make but was definitely my favorite.

Here you can see all four of them modeled by the Pauls and Gobbles. I named them of course after some of my favorite mustaches. You've got the "Selleck" after Magnum P.I. of course, "el jefe" after his counterpart in The Three Amigos, the "McKay" is named after my personal favorite gray mustache that belongs to my father in law Frank and finally my favorite "Sam" after the iconic Yosemite Sam.

We set up the photo booth under a tree at the park with a picnic basket and the mustaches then we set up Mr. Coleman's DSLR with the remote and left it set up during the party. I can't tell you how much fun editing the pictures from the photo booth was. They turned out perfectly! Almost everyone got in on the fun and the pictures were hilarious! Thanks to everyone for getting in on the action. Here are a few of the photos. I ended up with over 300 photo booth pictures on my camera!

We had such an amazing time at the party and the photo booth pictures are a great reminder of how wonderful the party was! Thank you to everyone for taking photos.

Nicole

 

 

Anniversary Week Day Two: Picnic Decorations

When I started party planning I really wanted to keep the decorations to a minimum. I realized that I could really go overboard quickly if I didn't reign myself in but I also wanted to have a couple of great handmade pieces. I started looking online and used my Pinterest to create a picnic board and when it all came down to it here are the elements I decided I wanted to have at the party.

• Red and White Picnic Tablecloths
• Mason Jars
• Bunting
• Potluck Tents
• Balloons
• Photo Booth Decorations

We will talk about the photo booth later, it definitely deserves it's own post!

I found great one time use tablecloths on Oriental Trading Co. for the picnic tables. They had that wonderful red and white check pattern with the little flowers that you see at some restaurants. We taped them down because it was a bit windy when we got to the park and that was a little difficult but thanks to April and Lindsey for making it work!

For the buffet area I bought a roll of red and white check tablecloth. Also one time use which made for super easy clean up. Thanks to Jolene and Brenda for setting up the potluck area like the pros that they are. I think I still have more than half a roll of that tablecloth left plus three individual ones! 

This giant stack of mason jars was about half of the jars I bought for the party. The idea was that everyone would have their own mason jar to drink out of at the party. It was also one way to cut down on trash. About halfway through my search for jars I somewhat regretted this idea because finding the jars became difficult and washing all of the jars was also a giant pain...not as big of a pain as filling them with lemonade but in the end I was happy I did it.

We used the big jars for flowers on the tables and everyone was given a 16 oz jar for their drinks, and there were 8 oz jars for the kiddos. I realized that there would be no way for everyone to tell their drinks apart without name tags so I made some up. Jolene devised a great way to hang all the nametags using clothespins and I didn't get any photos of it :( but I stole this one from my friend Kristin where you can see it in the upper left hand corner. 

I was so excited to make bunting for the party. I really really like bunting! It's so much fun and looks so cute. I settled on three fabrics; a red and white check, yellow and a blue. I got my pinking shears out, cut out the triangles and got to sewing. I made three strands; one for the photo booth and two for decorations.

I think potluck tents were my friend April's idea and they turned out to be perfect for the day. Everyone wrote down what they were eating and it made it easy to tell what you were eating and to know what dishes were your favorites.It was such a simple idea that made things so nice and easy.

With some light blue, pale yellow and red balloons there were the perfect amount of decorations to help spruce up the picnic area without being too much to set up or clean up!

Nicole

 

Anniversary Week Day Two: Finding a Party Location

One of the reasons I decided on having a picnic potluck was because I wanted to save a few dollars by having our party outdoors. Once I started looking at parks in our area I realized that we have some really great outdoor parks in and around Long Beach.

El Dorado Park is a huge park with several free and reservable picnic sites. To keep my stress lower I wanted to reserve a space so when the day came I didn't have to struggle with getting to the park extra early to reserve a free space. Mr. Coleman and I spent a couple of hours driving around the park and ended up reserving Willow Grove.

Willow Grove was the perfect site for us for many reasons:

• A parking lot was right next to the site which allowed for convenient parking for everyone.
• There was a stage with electricity.
• With 9 picnic tables there would be a lot of seating but there was still a lot of grass for the more traditional picnickers.
• There were a lot of trees that would keep it shaded and cool.
• With a playground and duck pond next to the site it was perfect for all of our friends with kids. 

We reserved it for the fee which was a little bit more than we expected but with a refundable deposit it was actually pretty affordable and the City of Long Beach was great to work with and I got my refund back via direct deposit within two weeks of having the party.

Nicole