Party Planning in Ten Easy Steps (Michelle's Birthday Surprise!)

Party Planning in ten easy steps, Hipster Housewife style. You guys ready for it?! Great! It's super easy I promise. And I'm only being slightly sarcastic when I say that. We'll break it down into a few, easy to follow steps.

 

Ok, step one - have an amazing, compassionate, talented, beautiful, friend whose 32 years on this spinning thing you want to celebrate with much hurrah and what not. For the sake of this instruction manual we'll call her Michelle.

This is Michelle (told you she's beautiful)

Step two - have another amazing friend (I'm blessed with these super awesome, talented women!) with whom which you'll plan the party and do things like make the sweetest invitations and most adorable favors. You'll also be making lists. Many, many, lists. You're writing hand is going to hurt.

Lovely Lindsey

Step three - call up (or group Facebook message, you know, whatevs) the incredible tribe of women you're blessed to call you're friends, and ask them all to bring something yummy. You know these women, so you know they'll pull out all the stops and bring some delish goods. Food, check.

The Tribe

Step four - make it pretty. It's all in the details people. Lots of flowers, loose color scheme (you gotta have one, but seriously, if it looks good, it doesn't have to match), and you're good to go. Put up pictures and hang garlands. Use what you have. You'd be surprised at what you already have in your house that can be repurposed as party gear.

Step 5 - enlist you're birthday girl's equally amazing sister to get her there in such a manner that it's a complete surprise. (A blindfold was involved.) Then yell SURPRISE really loud and make sure your camera is ready!

SURPRISE!!

Steps 6-10 - eat cake, drink champagne (cry a little while you're toasting, it's gonna happen and it's ok), open presents, laugh, take selfies (hashtag #itsmichellesday), listen to good music, talk, hug, and just enjoy the heck out of each others company. Cuz that's what friends do.

And there you have it folks, party planning in ten easy steps, and one happy birthday girl! That's what it's all about anyway; you're decor could be non existent and your food not so great, but if there is love in the room, you're going to have an awesome party. I promise.

 

P.S. Photo credit goes to the lovely Lindsey of Lindsey Mae Photography (beautiful and talented). A couple of them are mine, but you can tell which ones - they just don't look as good!

 

 

 

It's giveaway time people!!

So, I was super excited when I hit 200 followers on Facebook and said it just might be giveaway time, you know, to thank everyone for being awesome and liking me and everything.

Well I just checked said Facebook and I have 298 likes. That's like two away from 300. That IS 2 away from 300. I'm writing in bold because I am SO EXCITED (bold and caps, watch out people, this girl is pumped)!!

Anyway, I've been pondering what I should be giving away, should it be something small, something large and awesome, a coffee date maybe? Who wouldn't want to hang out with me and talk about hipster housewife related exciting stuff?! No seriously though, I've been racking my brain over what it is I create that really captures the essence of who I am, my brand, whatever you want to call it (it's very weird to think of yourself as a brand, but that's all the advice people give you when you're trying to start something like this: you have to brand yourself and do it really awesomely so everyone likes you and wants to be your friend and therefore buy your stuff or care at all about what you have to say). Sorry, I deviate.

I thought maybe a *totally awesome* set of funny valentines or one of my new prints, but that didn't seem to quite fit with what I was going for (though like I said, the cards are pretty great, they're selling like hot cakes. You can get them here).

And then it hit me. Scripture canvas. Bam. That was the sound of it hitting me, in case you were wondering.

This next one is a brand new design, and hasn't been made available in the shop yet. Extra special just for you.

I thought doing a giveaway would be way more special if I gave away something that was, well, special. These are my best selling items and I am so in love with the idea of them up on the walls of people's homes all over the country, offering encouragement and a constant reminder of the word. A valentines day card, while nice and all, doesn't really have the same kind of impact (not counting what may be written inside of the card, I've received some pretty amaze cards).

So, are you wondering what you have to do to get your paws on one of these bad boys yet? It's going to require I series of increasingly difficult tasks performed blindfolded and involving a corn maze in my back yard. You will all be set loose at midnight to compete for the prize, which will be awarded to the first person to finish the maze and correctly complete each task.

No, actually though, I just want you to like, comment with which design you would like best, and share. Repeat it with me people, like, comment, and share. You can comment here or on Facebook, share this on your blog, or on Facebook. But I don't think you can 'like' a blog post within a blog post, so that has to be on Facebook. Wow, I just said Facebook a lot of times. The winner will be picked at random and announced on Facebook one week from tomorrow. So that would be the 2nd of February.

Good luck, and thank you so so so much for liking what I'm doing here at The Hipster Housewife! You guys have no idea what an encouragement you have been to me through your kind words and support. Real talk friends, real talk.

I don't know why I just said real talk that sounded kind of silly. Love you guys!!

Christmas Eve! AKA the Awesome Miracle

Tonight, as we gear up for all the madness that is Christmas Eve - the family visiting, the excessive consumption, the childish glee that overcomes us all - PRESENTS!! People are going to give me stuff!!! - I want us to remember what Christmas is. 

It's an Awesome Miracle. 

The birth of Christ.

I want us to read our children the Christmas story before we tuck them in tonight. Focus their little hearts on Him, not Santa (ok, I know Santa is exciting, and I can't frickin' wait for our little ones to rip those presents open tomorrow in a state of unabashed ecstasy, but stay with me here). 

I want us to spend tomorrow feeling so blessed for our families, not for the things they give (or didn't give) us. I want us to take not a moment of it for granted, but not attempt to photograph all of them. I'm especially guilty of this, but instagram can wait. And when we get frustrated, as we surely will, I want us to remember that Awesome Miracle, thank God, and have another glass of wine.

Merry Christmas my friends!

Christine xx