I was so happy with how this party turned out! We have done Elmo parties in the past — but I am really proud of how this one came together. We had a giant Elmo “air walker” balloon greeting guests as they were welcomed to Elmo’s playground on Sesame Street. I left the table bare — i think it is such a gorgeous table on it’s own — and added the red Dahilias and billy ball arrangement in those bright yellow vases — it such a great look! The centerpiece was a giant Elmo Pinata waving standing under a Sesame Street sign that I made! I was so so happy with how it turned out. It a banister pole from home depot!!! I simply (or not so simply as it turned out!) added a top piece to — sprayed it Sesame Street green and put in a vase filled with moss. Oh — and you can’t see it in the picture — but I glued a white COOP ball bit ball on top — to make it look like a light! It’s really the whole reason for this post — I just LOVE it!!! Something else “new” for this Elmo party were the tall vases filled with bright colorful letters and numbers (they are actually pieces from wooden puzzles from the dollar store!) I thought they looked great — and were a nice nod to the educational element of Elmo and all his buddies. Everyone got some cute branded Sesame Street coloring books, Elmo rings, a red boa and a super adorable Stuffed Elmo doll. It was so great. And mom was sooooooo happy. She just kept saying it looked better than she even imagined it would be! Music to our ears!!

Did a super cute party this weekend for a little guy who loves any and all types of sports balls! Footballs, Soccer balls, basketballs, baseballs — he loves them all equally! So we didn’t want to limit the party to just ONE sport — and we went all out with all kinds of balls! It looked so adorable. Similar to the Dodgers party we did recently – we did grass on the tables and the vases filled with balls… and a giant soccer ball pinata centerpiece. Mom told me she was getting shirts made for all the kids — and I came up with the idea to hang them on a “clothesline” along the retail shelves for major impact. It was such a hit!! Mom was so cute — her sister usually does all her parties and she was sooooo worried to helm this one on her own. She trusted us to do our thing — but was a wee bit nervous about it! She kept saying she just wanted to be sure the party wasn’t cheesy! I assured her that we NEVER do cheesy at the COOP! We keep it simple, bold and fun — but never (i hope!) get sucked into the cheesy realm! I am happy to report that she was thrilled — and her sister (who flew in the night before the party!) must’ve said at least a 100 times how she picked the absolute PERFECT party spot and everything looked spectacular. Oh — and most importanly — the birthday boy was over the moon!

So often after putting together a party at the COOP I feel that the pictures I have taken just don’t do the beauty of the actual event justice – (probably why I don’t earn a living as a photographer!) Which is why I was so thrilled to receive an e.mail from the uber talented photographer Jennifer Wilson that she had posted pictures on her blog of a party she photographed at the COOP. SO GORGEOUS! It was fairy wonderland at the COOP that rainy day with vibrant colors and fairy wings everywhere you looked. The beautiful Lily who was turning six was in fairy heaven. If you need more pics go to www.jenniferwilsonphoto.com/blog.

Wow! All I can say is wow! The incomparable Julie from Blue Cupcakes did a party for her daughter at the COOP this past weekend and, as you can imagine… it was SPECTACULAR!!! I mean — truly BEYOND! Beyond anything I could have imagined in my little pea brain. It was just gorgeous. Simple, beautiful — and YUMMY to the extreme! I have posted some pics here…. but ALSO — this party is featured on Amy Atlas’ blog. Which is also super coop-er amazing. Amy is an amazing party dessert bar guru… has been on Martha Stewart and done all sorts of fab parties mostly in NYC, I believe. I love looking at her stuff for inspiration — she is amazing. And she CLEARLY has great taste — as she is featuring Julie’s party on her blog! Go check it out for some really fabulous pics (not taken by ME — so they are really great!)
http://blog.amyatlas.com/2011/07/vibrant-floral-guest-dessert-feature/
It was amazing — and looks amazing — and I am constantly in awe at Julie’s creativity and more importantly — her joie de vivre!!! We love her!

We had a big little Dodger fan who wanted to celebrate his birthday at the COOP recently. We have done baseball, basketball and soccer ball parties in the past — but this was the first TEAM specific party. I found these awesome dodgers jersey shaped napkins that looked so great on the table. Dad was super impressed with those! We used our turf style grass as the table runner on the main table, a massive baseball pinata and clear vases filled with soft baseballs for the decor. The back table had our “grass” tablecloths, with inflatable bats and balloons for all. The kids all got (and were on the tables to drive the theme home) blue or white baseball caps, a dodger notepad, a bat and a squishy baseball. It was such a fun party — everyone loved it — and we think we hit it right out of the park!!!

Starting to get more calls for this one…. a TANGLED party! We chose to stick with lavender and pink as our main color palate, which matched the themed party plates and napkins. I managed to find this amazing princess carriage to use as a centerpiece (look for it lots in the future — I think it will work for LOTS of Princess parties!). We flanked the carriage with some beautiful fresh flowers in our tangled hues hues and lined the back table with the favors for the party goers. All the ladies received long blond wigs, a lavender tiara and gorgeous pink princess gloves to complete their transformation into Rapunzel-like goddesses! It was a really fun party. The birthday girl was very happy with it — and her friends were thrilled with their goodies!

We hosted a FANTASTIC 4 ALARM FIREMAN party at the COOP this past weekend. It falls into our new category of “the whole COOP and Caboodle” party! Meaning that we were in charge of just about everything on this one! Adult food, cupcakes, fruit, flowers… just about every extra you would need for a fantastic celebration! We also had a train out in the front courtyard, and a REAL firetruck taking the kids for rides around the neighborhood! The fireman also brought some water play — which was GREAT considering it was the hottest afternoon we have had this year! Despite the heat — the party was a huge success. Julie from Blue Cupcake — who NEVER disappoints — did an amazing cake and cupcake display for the table centerpiece, which was flanked by some gorgeous flowers — red, yellow and white — I did just for the occasion. We did FOUR of our big Birthday balloons — 2 red inside — 2 brilliant white outside… which I think really adds so much to the look of the party. There is something so modern and chic about fewer – but waaaaaaay larger balloons, in my humble opinion. I think they looked gorgeous. All the kiddos go their very own fireman hat (these were a hit for the ride on the truck!) and a bag with a stuffed Dalmatian dog, a fireman badge and a super cute fire hydrant sippy cup. Mom also brought these really gorgeous firetruck cookies that were put in the goodie bags AND offered up during the party. It was a blazing day… super hot and super fun for all!

Guess which party this birthday boy used as his inspiration! Yep — he was a guest at sweet Gracie’s Dolphin, Donut, Disco party last year! His mom and I suspect that he really wanted a Dinosaur party — but also REEEAAAAAALY wanted the donuts looped on straws in milk from Grace’s party. So we gave it to him! The party was light on the disco element — I just added disco balls in the very cool raised succulent centerpiece I made for the event. (I love how it looks like the dino’s are grazing at a trough!) And of course there is always our big disco ball in the playspace! I added some more blue and green elements than we usually use (the tablecloths on the back table) and I think it turned out nicely. Two BIG birthday balloons — which are quite popular party additions here at the COOP — and the rows of goodie bags with the masks wrapped around them really drove the Dino theme home in the front room. I also hung 3 D Dinos from the ceiling around our fab COOP sculpture, and added a GREAT party addition with stuff your own dinosaurs (a la Build a bear – but more affordable! http://www.mobileteddybearparties.com) The kids loved them! Another big hit was — of course and as expected — the dino cups of milk with vintage striped straws and a Krispy Kreme Donut looped on it! BIG hit! NO surprise there. I think this party looked beautiful — a modern cool dino party suitable for all ages!

This party was so darling looking — I just had to post. It wasn’t really OUR theme — the mom brought the goodies…. but we DID do the flowers and balloons and let her use our fab red and white striped runners (which were PERFECT!). I just LOVED the combo of the red and white and TURQUOISE. Great color scheme. Bold, Bright… and gender neutral. Just how we like it here at the COOP! I also loved the Stars on the bags (and the striped paper inside)– reminded of those silly Star Bellied Sneetches. Just a great looking graphic party that I thought was worth sharing! Hope you enjoy!

I really believe that the COOP is a truly magical location for an adult party and this weekend we put together something really special for a beautiful lady celebrating her 35th birthday. Amy had recently had a Barbie themed birthday for her daughter at the COOP and loved it so much she decided to have her party with us too. Amy chose the color scheme of orange, hot pink and gold and we went from there. I really wanted it to be romantic and sultry with elements of sweetness. Julie from blue cupcakes supplied the dessert table which was gorgeous as usual. We used as many candles as possible along with Moroccan lanterns which gave the whole room a really warm inviting glow. I found it difficult to capture just how gorgeous and sumptuous it all was but I think you will get the idea.