About Christy

Christy's day job is the Marketing and Merchandising Manager at Pear Tree, but in her free time she loves putting together events like birthday parties for her two boys, helping friends with their weddings, parties, showers, etc., dabbling in photography, and spending time with her family. She is quick to tell you that her preoccupation with Pinterest is not an addiction. It's market research. To get to know Christy a little better, visit her blog, A Peek Into 31 Otter Court.

Construction Party Ideas: The Ultimate Boy Party

Posted on May 9, 2013 8:00 am by Christy

When I first started thinking about my oldest son’s first ‘friend’ birthday party, I knew the best place to have it was at my husband’s shop. He owns an excavation company, so with lots of big equipment and lots of little boys, I didn’t think I could go wrong.

Since construction equipment plays such a big part of our life, both of my boys know the names of every piece of equipment they see and will correct you if you ever call a front-end loader by the wrong name. I had already thrown two construction themed birthday parties for my oldest son. Both his first and second birthday parties were construction themes, and the only reason 3rd and 4th weren’t was my choice, not his. But inviting his friends put a new spin on it, and forced me to expand my construction party ideas to big-kid activities. (I did get to use many of the same supplies and props, which worked out great!)

I had already used Pear Tree’s construction party invitations before, so for this party, I repurposed our Future On The Line Graduation Invitation, and for the photos, I went down to my husband’s shop and photographed some of the equipment. I figured the boys receiving the invitation would enjoy that more than just photos of my son.

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Kids Birthday Party Ideas: Searching for Superheroes!

Posted on April 24, 2013 12:00 pm by Christy

This year’s joint birthday party theme for my boys was a pretty easy decision. As much as I hoped we’d never get into superheroes…we are into it. Big time. Witness the cuteness that is below, my two favorite superheroes of all time.

photo credit: Jen Meneghin Photography

How could you say no to these two? I couldn’t. As kids birthday party ideas go, the superhero party theme is easy to pull off, but I wanted to put my own creative spin on it and not have it be too commercial, with cartoon characters everywhere. But throwing a little modern touch here, a vintage touch there, I was happy with how it all came together!

As always, my inspiration came from the invitation. Pear Tree’s Searching for Superheroes kids birthday invitations were perfect in many ways. I loved the cityscape and was able to bring that into a few decor details. Although the card is You Pick Color and can be changed in so many ways, I stuck with the original color scheme.

Next came the decor. I wanted some statement pieces that really set the tone and theme of the party. First up, the cake. I suppose that’s not really a true ‘decor’ item, but in this case, I would say it is. I’m so lucky that one of my coworkers is an amazing cake decorator. Is this cake not awesome? Yes, it tasted as good as it looked!

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Season Opener: Baseball Party Ideas

Posted on April 2, 2013 12:25 pm by Christy

When it came time to plan my son Miles’ 2nd birthday, it didn’t take long to come up with a theme. At the tender age of 2, the boy is OBSESSED with anything related to sports. To narrow down the infinite list of possible sports themes, I chose the one that we’re most familiar with: baseball. My husband played baseball growing up, throughout college and still plays today, so I had plenty of baseball party ideas to get me started. Plus, with baseball season just starting, it was perfect timing!

For the invite, I chose Pear Tree’s Baseball All Star Kids Birthday Invitations. I loved that they were simple, featured a picture of Miles and were a unique shape that would stand out in the mail. The coordinating address labels carried the theme through to the envelope and were just as adorable. Additional Tip: On the invitation ask guests to wear their favorite baseball jersey to the party for added fun. My guests knew my love for ‘theme-ing’ and did it without being told. It was awesome!

For the decor, I used red and aqua to create the overall look I was going for. For the table, I purchased a red tablecloth at the local Dollar Store and used a table runner I already had to dress it up. For the centerpiece, I took a simple clear vase and filled it with baseballs, both of which I had lying around the house. I opted for new baseballs for the centerpiece but you could definitely utilize used baseballs to give the party a more vintage feel.

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All Star Graduation Party Ideas

Posted on March 1, 2013 8:00 am by Christy

Graduation season is here, and with that comes graduation parties! We at Pear Tree love to see all the great graduation party ideas that our customers come up with. You guys are all so creative!

This is an important celebration not only for your grad, but for you as a parent. It’s been a journey for both of you, and that’s absolutely worth celebrating! But throwing a party can be daunting, especially one that will make both kids and adults happy. The best place to start is with your grad. What are his interests? How can you use her personality to come up with a party theme? Here are a few easy ways to incorporate your grad’s story into your graduation party ideas. We’ve chosen a sports theme, but the same design elements can work for any theme.

For many graduates, sports are a very important part of their journey through high school, so it’s a natural idea for a graduation party. We have the perfect All Star Graduation Invitations to honor the athletes in your life. They even allow for a few stats highlighting their (or their team’s) athletic achievements.

Every graduation party revolves around the food—what great party doesn’t? Considering there might be a lot of hungry athletes in attendance, in addition to other friends and family, you’ll want something easy. Walking tacos are both easy and a favorite with teens. A kitchen or bar area in a basement works well for your serving area, because the sink can double as a beverage center and sets a little more casual tone for the party.

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Bicycle Theme Baby Shower Ideas

Posted on January 28, 2013 8:00 am by Christy

Erin is one of my close friends from college. She and Dave make the most perfect couple I think I’ve ever seen, so I was beyond excited to find out they were expecting. They’re going to make such great parents. They love to bike, so when we released our Double Bicycle and Baby Make Three Baby Shower Invitations I knew immediately it was the absolutely perfect theme for Erin’s baby shower ideas.

At Erin’s request, we hosted the shower at her house. A few of the hosts took her to the gym while the rest of us stayed back to decorate and set up. We used the colors from the invitation as our guide for the décor, knowing we wanted something festive for the door and lots of color inside. We saw a tutorial on how to make tissue paper tassel garland at TomKatStudio.com and loved the idea. We made a short one for the door and a longer one to hang inside on the archway.

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Pear Salad a blog by Pear Tree Greetings

fresh ideas, tossed & shared.

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