Tag Archives: Party Invitations

Party in pink for breast cancer awareness month

Posted on by
Reply

Breast Cancer Awareness charity dinnerWho would have thought that pink would turn out to be the most striking fall color? October is breast cancer awareness month, and everywhere you look there are ways to help the cause. You don’t have to run a marathon or walk for days, it can be as simple as picking a date and hosting a dinner party for friends, family, neighbors or co-workers.

First, contact the charity organization of your choice for information about how to donate, how the donations are used, and for any support materials they may have that you can use. Susan G. Komen for the Cure, has an entire section of their website devoted to planning pink events, called Passionately Pink for the Cure. It offers lots of fun breast cancer party ideas and downloadable support materials.

With pink as your theme, it’s easy to be creative. We’ve taken a wedding rehearsal dinner invitation and customized it to work perfectly for our pink dinner party. Everyone is invited to make a donation. (Fund-raising professionals suggest $30 per person as a starting point). From there, it’s up to you to decide how pink you want to get. Do you want to simply ask your guests to wear pink? Or to go crazy and dress in costumes? Decorations, table settings and food can be simple pink touches, or over-the-top pink. Either way, a pink party is a great way to make a difference, and have fun while doing it. Don’t forget to follow up with thank you notes for your guests (pink, of course) to let them know how much money you raised for the cause!

Invite the girls for Movie Night

Posted on by
1

Movie Night with the GirlsThe kids are back in school. Life is falling back into a routine. At last there is time for me! I know a lot of moms who lose touch with their friends over the summer and in the fall are looking for ways to reconnect with fun girls’ night out ideas. We’ve all tried the book club. But how about a movie night?

Once a month, for the past year and a half, I have been getting together with three of my best friends for a Movie Night. Maybe that doesn’t sound too exciting, but to us, it’s heaven. Every month we choose a date that works for all of us, we vote on which movie we should watch and then divvy out the meal.

We rotate houses and meal assignments, so someone brings the main dish, someone a side of bread, someone a salad, someone dessert. But the best part is, it’s come as you are. We don’t even wear makeup. It is meant to be a stress-free, kid-free, night to relax. We talk, we watch our movie, we talk some more. We absolutely LOVE our movie nights. In March, three out of the four of us had babies. But we didn’t miss movie night.

Lately we’ve started trying to incorporate more ideas into our nights, like trying a new recipe, or making a dish that we know one person in the group has never tried. Next month they’re going to make me try quinoa. Last month, we incorporated a craft that we could all make. (Note to self: we may be getting a little too ambitious.)

Of course, we always lose track of time and end up getting home pretty late. That’s why we try and plan it for a Thursday night, so that we go into it knowing ‘it’s Friday tomorrow.’ Movie night is fun, easy, and the one commitment in our busy lives that we have never regretted making.

Plan a classroom potluck

Posted on by
2

Kindergarten PotluckSeveral of us, here at Pear Tree, have spent time volunteering at our kids’ schools, whether in the classroom or as a member of our parent teacher organization. One of the most demanding but rewarding jobs is that of the room parent, in charge of organizing volunteers and coming up with classroom party ideas. Having been a room parent for several years in my boys’ classrooms, I learned that the key to having a smooth year is to get the other parents in the classroom committed to helping you early and often.

At our school, one of the best ideas for making this happen was to host a beginning-of-the-year potluck. Both parents and kids should be invited–here we’ve shown a kids birthday invitation, re-purposed for a potluck get-together. The potluck can be held at the school or at a parent’s house, inside or outside, even a nearby park, if picnic tables are available and the weather cooperates. All you need are a few tables and chairs, and everyone brings their favorite dish to share (or you can assign them).

Name tags are essential, to help parents and teachers put names to faces. The teacher is always grateful for the opportunity to meet families in a casual setting. As the room parent, this was my chance to enlist helpers for all of the various classroom needs and events planned throughout the year. I typed all the volunteer opportunities on a sign-up sheet, and had it prominently displayed at the potluck. And I always went home with every position filled. A little peer pressure goes a long way, when parents see others helping out. But more importantly, the potluck fostered a spirit of camaraderie that carried throughout the school year. If you’re looking for a fun way to kick off the year and get parents involved, send out the party invitations, bring a sign-up sheet and go, girl!

Winning Watermelon Party Theme

Posted on by
Reply

watermelon party invitationsWe’ve got the perfect theme for your summer reunion, block party or get-together. See how celebrations.com turned our cute watermelon-shaped party invitation into a  summer theme that worked on every level for a summer family picnic.

The Pear Tree unique party invitation sparked a lot of fresh and fruity ideas for decorations, food and activities. Red and green made cheerful party theme colors for tableware and centerpieces. Hard-to-miss watermelon signs marked the picnic location. The food choices included Sparkling Watermelon Lemonade, Watermelon Salsa, and a Watermelon Feta Salad!summer party ideas
And if you’re looking for activities to liven up your party, we suggest a watermelon eating contest or a seed spitting contest as ways to create fun family memories and great photo ops!

National Night Out – meet your neighbors

Posted on by
Reply

National Night OutAre you planning a National Night Out event in your neighborhood? For 2011, National Night Out is August 2. This event is a great way to get to know your neighbors and connect with those you may want to get to know a little better. Since we’re all about connecting, at Pear Tree, we love events that bring us closer to people.

It’s always a good idea to forge a connection with your neighbors, but why only once a year? There are plenty of other occasions and neighborhood party ideas to get together throughout the year. In my neighborhood, we receive party invitations to events all year round. Some we attend, some we don’t, but there is always something going on.

  • In the spring, one family always hosts an Easter egg hunt for the kids.
  •  We’ve had a “clean up the park” party to which we all bring garbage bags and gloves, and pick up litter in the local park, followed by coffee and donuts or bagels or something simple at someone’s house.
  • Enterprising neighborhood teens have taken it upon themselves to decorate the basement of the nearby church as a haunted house at Halloween and charge admission to raise money for a cause.
  • We’ve gathered in support of a neighbor with cancer, had parties where donations were collected, organized cook-a-thons where we froze dozens of meals and stored them in freezers to drop off later, or held a silent auction to raise money for a family dealing with huge medical bills.
  • We’ve gone to progressive parties (appetizers at one house, main course at another, dessert at another) sometimes to celebrate a completed remodeling project or to show off our gardens and share ideas.
  • Around the holidays, in addition to the usual parties and open houses, we put on a cookie exchange, during which we exchange recipe cards along with cookies.
  • In January or February we gather at the park for an ice skate and hot chocolate.

Getting to know your neighbors is highly rewarding. Not only does it make your neighborhood safer, but also a more enjoyable place to live. It’s as simple as sending out party invitations.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...