We had a wonderful little guy who had a LION KING party this weekend…. emphasis on the Hyaenas! He LOVES the scary hyaenas. More power to him, I say — but it did make for a bit of a task when it came to designing the party. You see — I think Disney AVOIDS the scary characters when doing their party supplies!!! So we had to improvise. I think we did a pretty great job actually. Lucinda ordered those funny little inflatable lions, that we topped off with crowns (they are KINGS after all!) as well as the great looking stuffed Hyaenas that we placed center stage on the table. I went with burlap table covers — and our mossy grass runners which we placed lots of small figurines on (they went in the goody bags as well). At each setting was a lion tail and ears which are just adorable (Lucy’s doing again!)… and the front room was capped off with my fabulous Lion painting (that I did for a safari party)…. which we placed a crown on as well. So cute. I also convinced my local Subway manager to sell me ALL of his Hyaena Subway reusable lunch bags that we used as the goody bags — to really seal the deal that this was a Hyaena party — not JUST a lion King party! The mom really couldn’t believe the lengths we went to to give her little guy exactly what he wanted for his party. She was ALMOST as happy as the birthday boy himself!

Oh my! I was so excited when this mom came in and wanted to do an owl party… I have the MOST FAB Owl vase at home that I have been dying to use at the COOP — and here was my opportunity! Mom actually bought the gifts and the plates on her own for this one (how cute are the goody bags? She got them on etsy. Adorable!). She just asked me to help with the decor elements and flowers. I think it ended up looking SPECTACULAR! The Owl vase was so perfect! I loved how the hydrangeas made him look like he had an afro! So Darling! I also did lots of smaller arrangements — billy balls, and lots of pink and green flowers to match her party goods. The table cloths outside and on the back table– how freaking fantastic are those things!! I hand dip dyed those ombre pink masterpieces for a party at my house — and thought they would be great for this party. They were! Julie also did a spectacular (as usual) Owl treat table with wood pedestals and little nests of macaroons… so gorgeous and delicious! I just LOVED this party. Love love loved — makes me wish a had a little girl! But I guess that’s why I have the COOP — so I can pink overload on other peoples parties!!!

I had a woman in the other day who was a party planner… she was going through our party book and was quite impressed with our flowers. She kept pointing out pictures in the book “Did you do this arrangement?” “Yes.”, “How bout this one?” “yep”, “Do you guys do all these flowers yourselves” “We sure do!” On top of all the actual party planning we do — we spend a great deal of time at the Flower Mart! To be quite honest — I really love it. I LOVE getting down there super early in the morning and loading up on fresh beautiful flowers for the COOP — for my house — for a party — for whatever. I just love flowers. My mom was big into them — she was ALWAY more concerned with how her parties LOOKED than what people ate (I have totally inherited that trait from her!). So anyway — this woman was asking if I would do flowers for her events. OF COURSE! We are always looking at ways to expand the biz — and a little flower arranging or party decor for your at home events is absolutely something we would consider. The pics above are from a party I did at my house — just to give you an idea of the kinds of things we can do for a more “sophisticated” crowd (read: not 5 year olds!!) And, of course and as always, we can ALWAYS add fresh beautiful flowers to your event at the COOP! Just let us know and we will customize something special for your party!

Are you ready for a testosterone fest? Well– we’ve got a TRANSFORMERS party just for you! I was really happy with how this party turned out. The goody bags with the Transformers masks lining the back table really set the stage — and the main table with the floral arrangements wrapped in Transformer masks made for a chic — but still cool enough for a 5 year old boy — look! The cake was a great centerpiece … and all the kids were more than thrilled with their take home treat — a transformer mask, blowout, Tattoos, a rubber bracelet — and an ACTUAL Transformer! Home run! Like always — we kept clear of plastic branded tablecloths — and just used the branded plates, napkins and balloons (my oh my were those Transformer balloons BIG… they were the biggest Mylar balloons I have ever seen!) Super Fun, super fab… super COOP!

Yeah COOP! The COOP turned THREE this week! Wow wow wow. In one sense it seems like just yesterday that we started this great adventure — in another it seems like we’ve never NOT had the COOP. When I think back over all the parties we have done…. we do at least 6-8 a weekend (sometimes more!!)… my oh my… that’s a LOT of parties! It’s pretty incredible. Lucinda and I are so proud of the work we have done with the COOP. Sometimes it’s tough — but mostly — it’s a pleasure. It’s an amazing creative outlet for us and our many many many ideas… and dealing with people on such happy occasions is always a pleasure. We really intend to build this brand BIG, and the amazing feedback we have gotten over the years proves to us that we need to do just that! Here’s to this next year expanding and growing this amazing space and concept to new levels! There are already a few copycats out there — but we need to remind ourselves that while people may steal some of our concept or design sensibilities — NO ONE can truly copy us! Our creativity and drive to make each and every party spectacular is what makes us special. We are proud of all the work we do and really really look forward to all that lies ahead for us and our “baby”. Viva la COOP!

Oh my goodness! Beyblade! One of our repeat BDay party mommies called and said her son wanted a Beyblade party. Knowing that we don’t do cheesy — and that we would give it a COOP spin — she left us to do our thing! We wanted to stay away form the branded goodies (we really gag at the teeny tiny cheesy plastic stuff that most party stores sell!) — so we did our own interpretation on the theme. As we normally do with the branded parties — we did have the branded plates, napkins, hats, and balloons — but we don’t do the plastic table covers. We used our blue and white material table runners, and did a combo of cool modern red and white flowers to add a little punch. We COOP-ed up the gift with blue sweatbands and headbands and fingerless white gloves – just like the actual character wears – and did some tattoos (branded) and a super cool LED spinning top for everyone. The boys were so excited with their gifts — they basically suited up in their gear and started an impromptu spinning top Beyblade battle right on the floor after cupcakes. I love when the kids are so happy with the gift!

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of collaborating with a super great mom on her daughter Madelyn’s party. Alyssa decided on “It’s a Small World” as the theme and the two of us got busy finding everything to make the party perfect. I sourced out some fantastic little suitcase favors and we printed the small world characters and put one on each case. Juliet found a fantastic lavender globe which also happened to be the birthday girls favorite color as our center piece. The goodie bags consisted of inflatable globes all kinds of different nationality hats, passport sticker books and it’s a small world puppets. To make the whole event even more special Alyssa had her husband greet each child and take their passport picture which went on their invitation which then turned it into a passport. It was a truly memorable party for one and all.