Spring Break 2013 at Six Flags Magic Mountain !

I absolutely love spring break!  By the time the end of March rolls around, every single member of my family needs a break!  My girls, Adia 14 and Mckenna 9, were counting down the days until they could sleep in and not have to think about getting up early to go to school.  I was also happy as well!  Just thinking about driving Adia to her bus stop so early in the morning that it is still dark outside just made me cringe! My husband, Al, was happy as well but somehow managed to sneak a little work in on his phone while we were in line at Magic Mountain.  Lol!!

This was our third trip to Magic Mountain and definitely not our last.  We are totally in love with Six Flags Magic Mountain as we are the crazy energetic family that tries to ride almost every ride at the park.  We love that their rides are for all ages and now Mckenna can ride some of the bigger ones.  I think I am more afraid of some of the rides than my they are.  I even hear Al scream a few time while my girls laughed!

We are so in love with Valencia and now call it our home away from home!  If I could have a second home, it would be in Valencia for sure!  We always stay at our favorite hotel, Embassy Suites (so comfortable and they have the best breakfast) and visit our favorite mall, Westfield and we can’t forget about our favorite cupcake shop, Velvet Cupcakes!!  So yummy!  There is even a park not too far from our hotel called Valencia Heritage Park that we always visit.  We take the girls scooters with us so the girls can ride them at the park.

Here are a few pictures from our fun time in Valencia!

On our way to Valencia California from Phoenix Arizona for Spring Break 2013!

After checking into our hotel it’s shopping time at Westfield Mall!

Time for Six Flags Magic Mountain! What a fun time we had!

This is how tired the girls were afterward Magic mountain!

Our last day in Valenica California! I love spending time with my family and I feel so blessed everyday to be a wife and mom!

Hope you all had a wonderful week!  Thank you for coming along on our journey!  We can’t wait for the next one!

Easter Eggtravaganza Event at The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Scottsdale and Aviano!

Parties On Purpose had the pleasure of providing Easter themed Glitter Tattoos for an event last Saturday.  We have a blast!  The event was put on by Aviano and The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Scottsdale.  We have worked with them in the past and are always so happy when we get to be at one of their events.  Thank you Christy and Caitlin!

There were lots of activities for all the children such as Easter Egg Hunts, a Petting Zoo, Face Painting, Bounce Houses, Games, the Easter Bunny, a Stilt Walker and Glitter Tattoos by Parties On Purpose.  It is always so much fun for us to have a chance to meet all the families.  Fun Fact!  Did you know that we are usually the last vendor to leave at family events (if we are not booked for another engagement right after)!  Why you may ask?  We can’t say no!  We never want anyone who wanted a tattoo to leave without one.  A sad face is truly our kryptonite! Lol!!

Why I Love Glitter!

As most of you know, I am a party planning mama who loves parties, parties and more parties!  I have to confess something though…I am truly obsessed with Glitter.  So much so that I am always trying to find ways to incorporate it into my party themes.  Yes, the birthday party themes on Parties On Purpose are such in that it would be easy to add glitter, glitter and more glitter.  Now I have been so in love with it that I am trying to add glitter to themes that don’t even require glitter or where glitter really wouldn’t fit in.  One of the “non girly” parties that I am working on now is a Horse Themed birthday party.  I have it all planned out with fun activities, games and a cute little horse themed craft.  But what do I want to do?  Add glitter!!  Don’t horses wear glitter on occasion?  I had to restrain myself.

Now I want to tell you about what has caused me to go down this glitter path with which no one can return!  For our birthday parties, we do several craft activities, makeovers, mini-mani’s and glitter tattoos, all which require glitter.  If you could have only been with me at these parties, or have been one of the moms or one of the invited quests and had the pleasure of witnessing the sparkle, the amazement, the excitement, the perfect little smile from the birthday girl and her guests, then you would know.  We’ve even had boys and grown men (not naming names) that have been wowed by the sparkle of our glitter tattoos.  Who knew a skull head could be so sparkly!

If you want to change the word, even for a moment, even just with a few people…just open a bottle of glitter!  Trust me, it will make you smile!

http://www.mochatini.org/

http://ohhappyday.com/2011/10/glitter-disco-ball-diy/

http://www.partiesonpurpose.com

http://www.purlbee.com/the-purl-bee/2010/12/22/glittering-cookie-recipe-happy-holidays-from-purl-soho.html

http://www.partiesonpurpose.com/#!glitter-tattoos/c1moz

http://www.karaspartyideas.com/2013/03/pinkalicious-2nd-birthday-party.html

http://www.partiesonpurpose.com

http://www.partiesonpurpose.com

http://glitterandnails.blogspot.com/2012/02/paillettes-integral-et-laine-china.html

Revive!

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of attending a blog conference called Revive in Phoenix AZ!  Revive was created by Lindsey, Coley and everyone over at the Junk in the Trunk Vintage Market.  I was excited to attend for two reason’s, first being that I don’t actually consider myself a blogger but am totally in love with blogs.  I love the way you can really get to know someone through their blog.  Secondly, getting to hear from women and men that are very knowledgeable about their craft.  I love learning new ways to improve what I do and I love being around creative people…so motivating!

There were so many great people at the conference that either have an established blog or that were just starting out.  It was such a pleasure meeting these wonderful ladies!  I wish all of them much success in the future!  Here’s a few pictures of all the fun I had at Revive!

I love the REVIVE sign!

Vintage breakfast table. Wish I could have breakfast set up like this every morning.

Becki from Whippy Cake

A “getting to know you” game

The speakers giving some great feedback

Thanks for sharing your tips with us!

I’m loving the ribbon background!

Yippee! Fun times at REVIVE!

I loving the rustic feel of the Icehouse!

Thank you Junk in the Trunk and to all the awesome speakers Becki from Whippycake, Karen from Elan Photographie, Ashley from The Shine Project, Adrianne and Jeremy from Dream Book Design, Kimberly from A Night Owl Blog, Liz from Blue Eyed Owl, Scott’s Marketplace, Stephanie from City Moms Blog and Heather from Heather Bailey.

We’re featured on Catch My Party!

Happy Monday everyone!  I just had to share how incredibly happy I am today!  I received an email earlier saying that Parties On Purpose had been chosen to be one of the featured parties today on Catch My Party!  Yippee! I have been a fan of their website for some time now and truly enjoy looking at all the great talent from all the the creative moms and party planners.  What a great way to start out the week and a great honor!  Thank you to Jillian of Catch My Party and all that the great and talented people that contributed to this party!  Click here for full story and vendor credits.

Fashion Cupcakes

Time for makeup!

Yummy Candy Buffet

Getting ready for the Sweet Heart Cafe

Happy Friday everyone!  I posted a few pictures last Saturday on Face Book but was not able to share them all with you until now.  Laura Maloof and I had so much fun putting this event together or North Ridge Community church.  When the Children’s Ministry Director Bev and Children’s Ministry coordinator Lisa asked for our help, we were more than happy to do so.  Laura and I met up at Hobby Lobby to get a few accessories and I have to say, there’s a lot of LOVE going on in Arizona because the Valentines area was almost sold out!  Wow!  I then ran over of Party City to get some small accessories but I was so happy with these printables I found on Paging Supermom’s blog.

Here’s a few pictures of our event prep…

Before…

After…

Valentine’s printables by pagingsupermom.com

Archway for Valentine’s pictures

Hope to have the final pictures soon!  Until next time!!

What is the “Purpose” behind Parties On Purpose?

We’ve had a few people recently mention that they like the name Parties On Purpose but wanted to know what is the “Purpose” behind Parties On Purpose.

The “purpose” has been a dream of mine for a while.   A way to focus on friendships and going out of your way to be kind and caring towards others.  The bigger question was how to do this through a fun and engaging activity for all ages.

Before starting my children’s party business I spent many years as a Girl Scout leader and as a worship director in a children’s ministry.  It was amazing to see the bonds that these children have made just by “purposely” going out of their way to make others feel special.

So our “Purpose” is a simple one.  We want every child to feel amazing on their special day and everyday for that matter.  Believe me, we are all PARTY here with fun and crazy activities, music and games!  All of our parties are nothing less than 2 hours of high energy fun for everyone!  What we have added is through every themed party we offer, we promote friendships, caring and kindness to others.  Each of our party themes includes a fun “Keepsake Gift” for the birthday child.  The awesome part is that each of her guests gets to customize the gift for her and make it extra special through a fun crafting activity!  The gift is then presented at the end of the party after all of her guests get to add their special message.  The best part of all is that the birthday child will have long lasting memories of her special day spend with family and friends!  That is the “Purpose” behind our parties!

Mckenna’s Fashion Dance Party!

I am so excited to share these birthday party pics with you.  I had such a fun time planning my daughter Mckenna’s 9th birthday party.  She wanted a Dance Party and then in the middle of planning switched to a Fashion Party.  So we finally decided to have the best of both worlds and combine the two!  Our Fashion Dance Party included all the fun activities from our Dance Party Theme (makeup, music and a fun dance party) plus tutu’s, jewelry and a red carpet runway show to add the Fashion touches to her party.  We also added some fun hair streaks and Dance Central 3 so the girls could “step up to the streets!”

I absolutely loved the party printables from Frog Prince Paperie and they complemented this party so well.  I put together a collage that consisted of some of her photo’s edited with a Pop Art photo app.  I put the collage in the front entrance of our house so that it set the tone of the party, especially with the dance fever picture.  The first activity was the backstage VIP area where the girls had a change to get all decked out with makeup and hair color.  We also had the girls dancing in the Dance Central 3 area while the hair and makeup sessions where going on.  Once everyone finished getting made up, we then had the girls to get their tutu’s and  jewelry from Mckenna’s Fashion Boutique so we could get ready for the red carpet.  The girls where so excited!  Some of them danced down the red carpet and some of them did their best modeling poses.  We even had one cute little girl do the worm…a red carpet first!  After our red carpet show the girls enjoyed even more dancing and then it was time for those yummy “Fashion” cupcakes!  The party ended with the girls taking home some treats from the candy buffet.  What a great time we had!  Mckenna’s already planning her next birthday!

Pop Art Gallery

The birthday girl

Candy Buffet with Chevron linen

 Candy Buffet with pink tutu

Fashion Cupcakes

More yummy cupcakes

Can’t wait to get to all that candy but first it’s makeup time!

Time for makeup!

Cute silver stars!

More fun makeup!

More party favors! Rings, necklaces and glow sticks!

Pink and white zebra print hair accessories for favors

Big hot pink balloons and favor boxes

Time to “Step Up To The Streets” with Dance Central 3

Time for the Runway!

The girls had so much fun!

Until next time!

Vendor Credits and Resources:

Party styling, planning, activities:  Parties On Purpose

Photography:  Elaine Kessler Photography

Party printable collection:  Frog Prince Paperie

Cupcakes: JAB’s Sweet Treats

Pink Tutu Table Skirt:  Angelique Weaver

Big balloons:  Petite Party Studio

Chevron Fabric:  Hobby Lobby

Make a big impact with big Birthday Party Balloons!

I am sure that most of you have seen those amazing, beautiful and gorgeous balloons all over the pages of countless party blogs and websites.  I have to say, here at Parties On Purpose, we are in love with them.  What I love about them for children’s parties is that you can make such a huge impact with such a simple decorative item.  The balloons are great for birthday parties, wedding, showers and much more!  They are even great for photographers!  If you are planning to put together a party or event, consider adding a few big balloons to add that WOW factor!  I purchased my balloons for a recent birthday party from the Petite Party Studio.  So easy, so simple!!  Love it!!…

Here are the links to these fabulous balloons!

http://brunchatsaks.blogspot.com/2012/01/twosday.html

http://callaloosoup.tumblr.com/

http://www.karaspartyideas.com/

http://mybigballoon.blogspot.com/2012/05/be-true-to-your-school.html

http://kojo-designs.com/2012/09/sprinkled-with-love-birthday-party/

http://www.hwtm.com/index.cfm?page=albums/view_album&albumid=7958&photoid=97530

http://pinterest.com/

http://partiesonpurpose.com 

AZ Bridal Show

This past weekend Parties On Purpose was invited by the one and only Julie Reed of Juju’s Tutu’s to exhibit at the Arizona Bridal Show in Phoenix.  Julie is super talented and makes the most amazing flower girl dresses I have ever seen.  Please check out her sight here.   It was such a fun 2 day event and with over 500 vendors, there were a lot of ideas and information shared for all of the brides.

We had a great time meeting all of the wonderful Brides and putting some awesome wedding inspired glitter tattoos on them as well as some fun ones for all the children.  Check out a few of our photos from the AZ Bridal Show!

Remember to check out the AZ Bridal Show’s next event if you are a Bride and check out Juju’s Tutu’s!  Thank you to everyone that came out to this great event!