TOY STORY 3





Did a cute Toy Story 3 party yesterday for the loveliest family — and the birthday boy was named COOPER! Cooper celebrating at the COOP… love it! We have done a Toy Story/ emphasis on Jessie party in the past — and that one we went a little more out of the box with the gifts — Cowboy Hats, Bandannas, stuffed horsies…. but this one was a straight up Toy Story Party. So we did the branded gift bags and filled then with goodies that covered the whole crew! A Bandana (a la Woody and Jessie), Sheriff’s badge (Woody), Buzz Lightyear glider, 3 Army Men (like the guys in the movies — I just LOVE how brilliant the Pixar people are in their making those guys walk with their legs stuck together by that piece of plastic at the bottom of their feet! Genius!), a ring (a variety of characters) and a nice quality sippy cup with an image of the whole gang. Woody was placed by the door to greet the guests, and mom and dad brought a super fantastic cake from Hansen’s that really brought the theme home! It was a great party and I think COOPER had a blast at his COOP Party!

NEW CEILING SCULPTURE




Check it out!!!! Lucinda and I have created what we think is the most fabulous, out of the box, super COOP-ie ceiling sculpture in our front room above the table. No more run of the mill balls for us! We wanted something ultra cool and modern — and thought doing something with chicken wire (get it!?) would be incredible. We suspended the chicken wire which we shaped into a sort of undulating wave above the table — then we used some paper we had left over from some COOP flyers (upcycling!!) and simply rolled them and slid them into holes in the wire. Originally I was thinking of filling all the holes — but Lucinda had the brilliant idea to leave some unfilled — which gives it a nice airy feeling. Plus then you can see the chicken wire — which makes it not just a spectacular sculpture … but a very COOP like spectacular sculpture! We love it — hope you do too!

The Petite Gentleman…





We recently did the most gorgeous party for a one year old a Gentleman Party. I just love it when people think outside of the box when picking their themes. It really is such a fabulous theme for your littlest man. We decided to decorate everything in black and white to compliment the fabulous party favors Juliet ordered, black fedoras, wax moustaches and white gloves. Juliet also created the cutest party favor bags by cutting out the shape of a tie and gluing it on to the bag – so simple and chic. I loved the glasses and moustaches on sticks used on the table, also a great idea for a dinner party at home as place settings. They were also used later in the photo booth set up for the adults & kids. The beautiful photos above are all compliments of Candice Benjamin (candicebenjamin.com).

Oh Sweet Valentine…







I have been meaning to post this gorgeous party for oh 2 months! Thankfully the COOP has been so busy doing wonderful parties that I haven’t had the chance..For Valentines day this year Jules and I decided to invite our Fabulous COOP customers to join us for an afternoon of love and fun. D.J. Groovy David, www.groovydavid.com was spinning the tunes, we had heart crafts and yummy treats. The fantastic pictures above are all courtesy of one of our favorite photographers Razi Wilson www.raziphoto.com and the gorgeous model is one of our dear customers Zoe. Thank you to all the Coopers who came out and celebrated love day with us.

A MAD HATTER TEA PARTY…




We have created so many wonderful parties at the COOP that when I was asked to create a Mad Hatter Tea Party I couldn’t believe that it would be our very first. The mom was fantastic and just let me create away and trusted that we would make it FABULOUS. I knew I wanted it to be super, super colorful and fun but I also wanted to incorporate the naughty Queen of Hearts. I did this on the gift bag table with the fabulous heart table cloth and the simple idea of hot gluing jumbo playing cards to the gift bag – I think it looked really cool. The main table called for all the elements of the tea party – tea cups (I stenciled the drink me tags which was super easy), tea hats, so fun and of course lace gloves. I found the big pocket clock at a local thrift store and I used the gift cups as a structural center piece. It really resulted in a wonderful, colorful Mad Hatter tea…

Cocktails at the COOP







People often ask if they can have adult parties at the COOP… and the answer is a resounding YES! We have done quite a few cocktail parties, 30th BDays, 50th BDays, HOliday parties — you name it! Just this weekend I was so happy to host an event for the alumni of my children’s school at the COOP. I feel so very fortunate to send my kids to this wonderful small progressive school, Children’s Community School, in Van Nuys. It’s the tiniest little gem of a school, that treats my kids with such love and respect it makes me swoon. I adore the school — and though I am fortunate enough to be able to afford to send my kids to a private school — I am not someone who can really throw loads of money at them for all the amazing work they do everyday. Believe me — if I had that kind of cash — the school would have a new library or something — that’s how much I love them! So — it was so wonderful to do this event for the Alumni and teachers to celebrate CCS’s 30th Anniversary this weekend. I was so happy to show just a tiny sliver of my gratitude in the form of a beautiful event at the COOP. I wanted to do a sophisticated look — so I spent a week or so gathering green and glass and gold pedestal bowls and vases and did a load of tiny arrangements (succulents, rannuculus, cabbage, lilac, anemones — lots of different flowers in greens and purples and whites) down the center table with a burlap table runner. I am SO pleased with how it turned out — the flowers and the candles — I thought it just looked magical. The back food table was covered in burlap (one of my favorites!) – with a wonderful spread of food artfully displayed between 2 vases of cherry blossom tree branches that I put in vases with rocks at the bottom. Very earthy — and the height of the branches made quite a statement in the room! Out on the patio, there was a three piece band/ orchestra playing — which made the space feel heavenly. I love our patio at night — with the globe lights… the candles… and the glow from the inside (the dance floor actually creates quite a beautiful glow at night!). I did these AMAZING tulips outside — I am not exactly sure what type they are — they seem even more spectacular that a parrot tulip — they are so large and ruffle-ie … they looked like peonies (my FAV… but not in season right now) and I interspersed the vases with these bright green grassie plants. I love love loved those arrangements — and for some height we did a cherry blossom tree (smaller in scale) out there as well. We used the front “lobby” desk as a bar — which we have done in the past and it works beautifully. The event was a huge success — and I was so proud of Lucinda and I to have created this amazing space, and so pleased to be able to do something beautiful for the people who are helping me to guide and teach my beautiful boys every day. It was a very proud mommie/ momtrepreneur moment for me!

FINN’S FOOTBALL FIESTA!






Oh my goodness — I simply cannot believe that I have a NINE year old! It seems crazy to me. I swear I can remember being nine myself — and it doesn’t feel like it was THAT long ago. My little guy is nine now…. and of course we had to celebrate in style. His BDay was actually super bowl Sunday — so we went with a football theme. It was so so fun. Lots of work, of course — more than usual as when it is my own kid I have to pull out ALL the stops! But it was well worth it as Finn really had a great time — my little baby… nine years old! Crazy. I wanted to do something fabulous for the main table — so I got some tall artificial grass mats and used them as a giant football field… complete with these adorable football player cut outs that I found on etsy (actually I found the treat bags and banner there — and then I asked her if she would just do some players on their own — that I then glued at sticks and stuck in the grass!) I love how that table turned out! The treat table was also pretty fab — this was the first time I used those BIG balloons — and now I am addicted to them. They are so chic and fun. Love love love them. Very COOP-ie…. slightly more fabulous than your average balloon! I made the ribbon garland to hang above the treat table which I love — and plan on using again and again (I am even considering it as a seaweed or jelllyfish costume for me come Halloween!) The fantastic Julie from Blue Cupcake did the amazing cake tower and I surrounded it with green and white (mostly) candies for the kiddies. Outside — I did more giant balloons — interspersed with some football shaped balloons on the snack table. I stuck “Finn’s Football Fiesta” stickers on all of the glass snack and candy containers and the lemonade cups — even the goodie bags… which really made for a nice cohesive look for the party. I really loved how the whole party turned out. It was cool for a nine year old (helmet shaped jello jigglers, neon football helmet signs, footballs for all – and candy, candy candy!)– but chic for his mommy (footballs in bell jar cloches, fresh flowers and burlap) . A perfect combination — just like us!

PRINCESS TEA PARTY




Tea for 20? Of course. Tea for 20 Princess? the COOP, of course! We did a lovely tea party for one of our favorite little ladies recently (this was her THIRD party at the COOP… love that!). She only invited her girl friends…. so it was pretty, pink princess to the MAX! Lucinda made the little towers of tea cups for decor (so adorable) and we used our mossy grass table “runner”… with real roses and some artificial flowers strewn about — including those sparkie purple paper flowers I made (that I was quite proud of!) We jazzed up the white ball chandelier with some pretty butterflies in different shapes and shades of pink and purple. All of the gorgeous princess guests received a tutu, white gloves, a tiara and a very fabulous super colorful mercury glass tea cup and saucer. The girls were thrilled — and looked simply divine sipping on “tea” in their tutus and tiaras!

COLORFUL CARS



Sweet Sawyer just had his one year old BDay this past weekend — and he wanted to celebrate it at the COOP of course!! He came straight from his photo shoot at the beach for the GAP (I’m not kidding!) into his colorful cars party celebration! He is simply gorgeous, and his family is just lovely. We wanted to do something really cute and colorful for him — and a wee bit “younger” than our usual cars themed party. We came up with the party above — and everyone was thrilled. We used these cute Rubbabu vehicles as gifts for everyone, which I love. They are super bright — kind of squishy — and have a cool fuzzy texture. When my boys were little they had a big one — and they ADORED it. I think it made a great gift for this party, along with the tire sippy cups and those cute checkered flag bandannas. The party was a big bright fantastic celebration — hope you enjoy the pics!

Playforever & ever & ever…



Playforever toys are not called Playforever for nothing they literally go and go and go! We have had the super cool enzo motorbike in the COOP playspace for over a year now and it still looks and plays like new.We love simple, chic design at the COOP and Playforever toys are a modern parents dream toy. They are so stylish they even make a very cool present for adults. I have one displayed on my hallway console. Playforever is a London-based toy manufacturer headed by designer Julian Meagher. Julian studied industrial design in Johannesburg, South Africa but came to London in 1996 when he wanted to pursue a career in product design. While preserving the classic nature of a toy car or toy plane, they take toy design to the next level.
You can get YOURS at the COOP!