Gold Glitter & Parties

Do you love gold as much as I do? There are few instances where I see gold and don't like it. It's such a fun addition to parties and can really girl it up!

My best friends bridal shower was pink and gold themed and it was amazing to say the least. You can check it out here.

If you don't believe me that gold is a great addition to a party check out these examples.



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Are you sold, will you be using gold at your next girly party? If I still love gold this much in a few years and if Baby P is a girl I want to do her big-girl room in gold and pink.

Tell me, what is your go to girly party addition?


Vases With Flare!

With my wedding done and my best friends orchard wedding around the corner, my brain is still very much in wedding mode.

How adorable are these vases!

VIA The Girls of Lincoln Park

VIA Georgia Pellegrini

I love the spray painted jars above. As you know I have a serious love for mason jars and think this is a fabulous twist to one of my staples.

Something you'd consider trying?

Up, Up & Away!

Well, it's finally here, the week of the wedding! I cannot believe it's here and to be honest, it hasn't hit me yet. Michael thinks it will hit him at our rehearsal on Wednesday, we'll see.

In keeping with the party, event, happy theme of my week I thought I'd do a post on balloons today. I've recently become very infatuated with balloons and think you should too.

The balloons along with the streamers are just fabulous if you ask me! VIA Geronimo Balloons

VIA Pinterest

 How lovely would this be at a New Years Eve party? I am totally doing this!

VIA Bayside Balloons

VIA 8foot6

VIA M and J Sherry

How great would this be for a bridal shower?

Lastly, my personal favourite because the party was for moi... The balloons from my bachelorette party.

So, what do you think? Will you be adding balloons to your next event?

Holiday Party Dip Ideas

Hosting a holiday party and bored of serving the same old onion dip? Why not try out one of these delicious dips that I found on Confessions of a Gluten Free Mom. Your guests will love them and you'll be a star.

Click here to find the recipes for all the dips.

Which dip will you be trying? The tomatoe and avocado looks amazing!



Festive Cocktails

One of my favourite thing about hosting events is finding fun and delicous drink recipes for clients and myself.  I've stumbled across these festive drinks that I think would be perfect at any Holiday 2011 party.

I have a serious love for Candy Canes and think this cocktail would be a great delicious addition to your next cocktail party. For the receipe please click here.

How about this Cranberry Ginger Fizz. The cranberries and mint add a Christmas flare and the recipe sounds delicious too. For the recipe please click here.

What do you think, something you'll be tackling at your holiday party this year?

Wine & Cheese Party Anyone?

I don't know about you but I'm a sucker for a wine and cheese party. I mean who doesn't love wine and cheese - together they're perfection!

I plan on hosting too many wine & cheese parties when we have our house. They're fun, great for mingling and catching up with people and you get to try cheese you may not have otherwise.

VIA Veranda Interios

I also have a serious love for chalk boards and think the presentation in these two pictures is fabulous. It's creative, easy and your guests will love it.

VIA Rock Ur Party

Next time you're hosting a wine and chesse party consider calling Lipstik Events so you can enjoy your night as much as your guests!

Enjoy the Party,

Nicole :)

Fancy Cookies & Milk

Anyone else besides me not a big dessert person, cooking or eating? I don't have the patience required to be a great baker. The having to measure everything exactly and precisely isn't for me. That said, I can make cookies and think this dessert option is totally something I could tackle.

VIA Style Me Pretty

I adore the glasses and think this would work at any event you're hosting. What do you think, something you can do?

Enjoy the Party,

Nicole

Theme = Colour

Instead of coming up with a traditional theme for your party this weekend, why not make a certain colour or two the theme. Check out these pictures below, aren't they amazing?! I found them on Style at Home!

Hope you're as inspired as I am!

Enjoy the Party,
Nicole

Cool Off!

Isn't this weather AMAZING! Aside from the AC being broken in my car I am loving this weather. I don't know about the rest of you, but the when the weather is this glorious all I want to do is hang out outside. That said, here are some yummy outdoor ideas for this week and weekend.

Idea 1: To add some flare to your bbq this weekend why not dress up your bottles?! It's simple, quick and will make your water bottles stand out for sure.

Idea 2: Instead of having four people sit around the table holding down the table cloth why not try this neat and cute trick?

Both of these ideas came from Country Living.

Happy hump day :)

Nicole

Recipe Friday....Roasted Chicken with Lemon & Artichokes

Happy Friday! Is anyone else thrilled it's the weekend, cause I am.  I stumbled across today's recipe on Rachel Ray's website in the figure flattering section. I don't know about the rest of you, but I could sure use some figure flattering recipe ideas these days.

Ingredients

• 4 artichokes
• 2 heads garlic, top 1/4-inch of stem end sliced off
• 4 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided
• 3 cups white wine, divided
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
• 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 4 to 5 pound roasting chicken
• 1 small onion, quartered
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 3 lemons, 1 halved, 2 sliced

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425ºF.

Fill a large bowl with cold water and squeeze the juice from the halved lemons into the water. Cut each of the artichokes into quarters, scrape out the inner choke and remove the tough outer leaves from each piece. Reserve the artichokes in the lemon water to keep them from turning too brown while you work.

When all of the artichokes are clean, arrange them in a roasting pan along with the sliced lemons and both heads of garlic. Drizzle everything with about 2 tablespoons EVOO, 2 cups white wine and season with salt and pepper.

In a small bowl, combine the fennel seeds, poultry seasoning, onion powder, some salt and pepper. Stuff the chicken with the onion pieces and tie up its legs. Rub the spice mixture on the outside of the bird and place the chicken into the roasting pan on top of the veggies. Drizzle the chicken with the remaining 2 tablespoons EVOO, transfer the pan to the oven and roast until the bird is cooked through, about 1 hour.

Remove the roasted chicken, veggies and garlic heads from the pan, and reserve warm on a platter. Place the roasting pan over medium heat and sprinkle the flour over the pan juices. Cook for about 1 minute. Add the remaining cup of wine to the pan, cook until reduced, about 30 seconds, and then whisk the stock in, stirring well to break up any lumps. Squeeze the cloves from the reserved heads of roasted garlic into the gravy and break them up with a wooden spoon or whisk. Simmer the gravy until thickened, about 2 minutes, and season with some salt and pepper.

Serve the chicken with the roasted artichokes and garlic and pan gravy alongside.

So what do you think, easy enough, right? I hope you enjoy it!

Enjoy the Party & Have a Great Weekend,

Nicole :)

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Tabletop Ideas

Hosting a dinner party or brunch this weekend and want to jazz up your table, well look no further. Here are some great tables I found on the Style at Home website.

Can you see yourself doing any of these?

Enjoy the Party,

Nicole :)

Another 50th Birthday...

First off, I'm sorry for my lack of posting this week, I've had a busy week to say the least. We're knee deep in buying a house, I had a big Lipstik event on Saturday, one this coming Saturday and wedding planning, needless to say, I'm pooped! Ok, enough about me, onto the fun stuff...

I thought I'd give you all a quick recap about the 50th birthday on Saturday for my close friends mother. This was one of the few events where I not only took care of the serving and prep but also the food. Organizing and cooking the food is always a dawnting and overwhelming task for me but I think I did a-ok!

Something I always like to add to parties are flowers and candles. I bought cut flowers and created 3 arrangements that I placed on tables around the house. I also set up mason jars with tea light candles and scattered them around the house for a romantic vibe.

All in all it was a fabulous party and an honour to work with this family!

Enjoy the Party,

Nicole :)

The steps to throwing a great party!

Sorry for the delay in posting this, I had a very busy weekend and an even busier Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend even though the weather was crappy. Michael's birthday is on Easter Sunday so we decide to celebrate it this past Saturday with all our friends. I had a big party for him at my place and it was a lot of fun, if I don't say so myself!

Hosting this party made me think about organization and some of the steps to throwing a great party, which leads me to my next few points. Some of things I like to do to stay organized and stress-free when throwing a party are the following:

1. Make lists: I am a big list person, it helps me stay focused and organized. Friday night I sat down, got myself organized and planned out, point by point, what I had to do on Saturday. From grocery lists to what times things were going in the oven, I had everything written down.
2. Do some work ahead of time: Friday night I set up the bar and cleaned the house so on Saturday I could dedicate myself to shopping, cooking and having time for a manicure :) After grocery shopping I prepared all the food as much as I could that way when I went to put everything together all the tough work and mess was done.
3. Ask your girlfriends for help: Thanks to some fabulous ladies in my life, I was able to rely on them. Caitie made some delicious chocolate chip cookies; Kiira picked up the sushi tray; Stephanie picked up the cupcakes; Julie made a delicious dip and Laura brought strawberries and chocolate sauce!
4. Leave some time for yourself: Try and find 40 minutes to treat yourself. Whether it's a manicure or a blowdry it's always good to sneak out and de-stress before the big event. I myself, snuck out for 40 minutes to get a manicure!

I hope some of these tips help when you're hosting your next event!

I have to start somewhere!

There's no place like the present, right? Over the last while I've been thinking about starting this blog to capture a few aspects of my life, mostly my passion for Lipstik Events. While most of you are probably wondering what the heck Lipstik Events is, here's the readers digest version...An at home event service which helps the average person host a party, small or large. My goal is to make the home owner, the true host of the party, feel like a guest in their own home.

For those of you who know me, you know that my lips are always red, hence the name Lipstik Events. Lipstick or lip gloss, whichever you prefer, is always adding the finishing touch!

Now that we've covered what Lipstik Events aims to do let's get down to what this blog is, I hope, going to be about.  I want to share neat party planning tips and ideas, post the odd recipe (as I learn them myself), chat about my upcoming nuptials, decorating my new house and well, life!
Enjoy the party!