While there are clients who gravitate to colorful and unorthodox themes for their kids’ baptisms, there are those who stick with the classics.  Blues and browns were the colors of choice of my client for this project — timeless with a dash of earthiness, but overall elegant, much like the mom and their home.   

I was excited to decorate this dessert table with handmade paper fans! It’s always fun trying out new techniques for each of my clients.  These paper fans are all hand-made by my team and were crafted from paperstock in different textures and prints.

Sebi’s Treats Bar (short for Sebastian). Cakes and mini-cakes for the godparents by Angela Colet of Swell Sweets, and cookie lollis by Joanna Romero of Cuppy Puppy Bakehouse. 

How did we personalize the Treats Bar? We asked the mom to provide us with some baby facts that she wanted to share with her guests. See how adorable they looked when laid out with precious baby photos of Sebi.  This is a very easy way to engage your guests into what makes your baby special — a display that’s guaranteed to warm and tug at anyone’s heart strings.  You can actually do this too for anniversaries or birthdays!

Paper pompom centerpieces made to look like clusters of hydrangeas.

Our ceiling treatment of “dangling earrings” — paper lanterns hung together vertically!  A practical way to address high ceilings, and lend a warm and cozy feeling to any big venue.

Welcome to our “factory”! MY HOME :)  Here’s a photo of Lou Anne making the pompoms.

Pompoms and paper lanterns being assembled on-site. Lily stringing together our lanterns, and me working on the paper fan background for the dessert table.

A photo of the paper fans: a work in progress!  I so loved the complementing prints and textures of the paper :)

Glamomama Amanda Griffin-Jacob contacted me to do an “airplane-themed” 1st birthday party for her Baby Kieran at the beginning of this year. During our earlier meetings, she proudly shared with me how aviation has long been a part of her family’s history.  Her dad founded a small English fleet in the 1970s that specialized in flying for other airlines around the world who needed additional aircrafts, while her mother was the Chief Purser of that airline.  She wanted the significance and magic of the world of aviation to be carried on as her son turned one.

I’ve always thought that home parties were the best because the space is so much more personal and warmer than any commercial venue.  And I was happy to find out that she was planning to have their celebration in their residence!

With passengers all buckled-up in smiles and ready for an afternoon filled with aviation delights, come and see what we did as KIERAN AIR took to the skies :)

Our sweets and giveaway table…the kids got personalized bag tags as their souvenirs.

For centerpieces, we revived our knowledge of paper plane folding :) Simple and nostalgic, and something that can even be done with your kids and family members as a bonding project at home!

Baby Kieran and his adorable curls! Incidentally, he also had his first haircut that afternoon which brought the mom to tears… :)

Kids got in-flight care bags as they entered the house.

How we dressed up their garden — 3ft. tall cutout letters spelling the baby’s name.

It rained heavily that afternoon, causing a great deal of stress for the mom.  Good thing we came prepared with tenting contingency!  Just remember that when you have any portion of your party outdoors, it’s always always better to be safe than sorry.  A tent doesn’t cost a lot and could probably spell the difference between a successful party and a disastrous one.  So when in doubt, JUST SET IT UP :)

Designs of the kids’ bag tags and the Kieran Air logo :)