$100 Wedding Paper Diva Giveaway!

With the snow falling in St. Louis today, I can't think of a better day to introduce this destination wedding inspired contest from Wedding Paper Divas.

One lucky Stem reader will win a $100 Gift Certifcate to help in planning their dream event. The contest will run from December 8th through December 22nd and here's all you have to do:

• Envision your perfect destination wedding and head over to the Signature Collection of wedding invitations to select the design that best represents your ideal destination.
• Save your design in the free account you can create on Wedding Paper Divas.
• Share your destination and the card of your choice by leaving a comment here on Stem.
• While it's not mandatory to enter, feel free to create an inspiration board and email me the .jpg file if you'd like and I'll share them with Stem readers!

One random winner will be chosen on December 23rd. Good luck!

Alert The Media - Quick Sale Post

As you know, I LOVE paper lanterns and the million things you can do with them. My favorite source for them, Luna Bazaar not only has the best assortment and prices, but also has a LOT of other fabulous items for your next event as well.

Right now they are offering 25% off of your entire order but the last day is tomorrow, December 1st. (It's December??? That's insane.)

Just use discount code: 2008THANKS and enjoy all of your new goodies for your "party closet." You do have a party closet, don't you? Well then it's a good thing it's almost time for New Year's Resolutions. Trust me, it's much easier to make a party closet than to lose weight and the gym is much less crowded by March anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving {Week}

We leave bright and early, and I mean eaaaaaaaaaarly tomorrow morning for Boston for the holiday week, so I'm going to be offline for the rest of the week. I am also going to be very unattractive when we land in Boston after getting up at 3:30am. Lucky you only know me online and not in person!



I'll leave you with this for the week...

You know that "Followers" feature in the sidebar on Blogger? Well, who would have guessed that the stalkee would become the stalker? I'm thankful this week for all of you that have chosen to follow my blog and want to highlight just a few before I head off to pack the last few things in my suitcase.

Without further delay, I bring you:

Thanksgiving Table Setting ideas at Celebrations at Home
Thanksgiving Napkin Ideas at The Style Sisters
Cute and Easy Crafts for placecards for the kids' table at My Insanity
Gorgeous Real Wedding by Beth Helmstetter via Hostess With The Mostess

Sincere thanks to everyone for stopping by and look for some fun new pictures from real events and more holiday party inspiration soon!

Be Thankful

Be Thankful. That's just a good motto to live by every day of the year but often we get busy and forget to stop and do just that.

Now you have one more reason to be thankful and one less excuse to having the time to slow down and do so. How so? Paper and Cake is here just in time to help set your Thanksgiving Table. In style. In minutes. In free. (Sometimes those just don't work like you hope...oh well.)




Each Paper & Cake Downloadable Party Design includes everything from place cards to invitations, napkin rings, wine glass tags and more. The girls from tangarang and Piece of Cake Parties have just started Paper and Cake and while future downloads are on the way, the first one is here now for Thanksgiving and is yours for free. Download, print and you're set.

Best of luck to Kira and Abigail with their new venture. I'm thankful for your creativity and inspiration now and all year long!

Holiday Cocktail Party With A Twist {Part Two}

If picking the right invitation made you a little thirsty then you've come to the right place.

Pick your poison.

Candy Cane Hot Chocolate

4 cups milk
2-3 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 peppermint candy canes, crushed to powder
1 cup whipped cream
4 small peppermint candy canes

In a saucepan, heat milk until hot, but not boiling. Whisk in the chocolate and the crushed peppermint candies until melted and smooth. Pour hot cocoa into four mugs, and garnish with whipped cream. Serve each with a candy cane stirring stick. (or add peppermint liqueur for a kick!)

via allrecipes.com

Peppermint Martini

5 oz vanilla vodka
2 oz white creme de menthe
1/2 oz peppermint schnapps
mini candy canes

Awesome photo and recipe thanks to Jaime M. Avon aka Carcharzel on Flickr.

Party Trifecta

I love parties.

I love games.

I love things with fun names.
("Francisco...that's fun to say." Name that movie.)

Just in time for all of your holiday parties come this little gem of a game that is guaranteed to get your guests interacting and having a great time. Your job just got a little bit easier!

Holiday Cocktail Party With A Twist {Part One}

A peppermint twist that is.

Want to host a Holiday get-together but don't know where to start? Just pick one element and go with it. Don't let yourself get caught up in serving a million people a million different things at a sit-down meal. You need to enjoy yourself, too! A simple "come and go" cocktail or dessert party is perfect for this busy season.

Who am I kidding here though, right? I think we all know that a "simple" cocktail party would still be reason to go into full-on POD (Party Obsessive Disorder) at the Stem house. So, in the words of wise, wise woman, "Just pick one element and go with it." (Heyyyyyyyyyy, who said that?)

In this case...peppermint. It's simple. It's graphic. It's cute yet chic. It's not tied to any one religion. Perfect.

Where should we start? With the invitations, of course. Everyone knows the party really starts the moment you get the invitation, right?

Tiny Prints is without question one of THE ultimate invitation sites out there. Choosing just one is the hard part. So I won't. I'll choose four. Trust me, four was hard.

So what's your mood?

I love the simplicity of this confetti invitation by Julia Tuohy. It makes me merry just looking at it.

If you lean a little more on the traditional side, then this chocolate and lime green invitation is an instant way to add a modern twist to your red and white night.

This simple peppermint martini invitation lets your guests know they are in for a soiree with style. That's a party I want to attend.

Finally, if polka dots and reindeer are your thing then you're in luck because Tiny Prints has the perfect invitation for you, too. This is just the right amount of playful and yet completely mature.

Now go pick your invitations and come back and join me for more peppermintapalooza soon.