Machelle, Author at A Joyful Riot

August 14, 2017

Party Starters! How to Throw a Pizza Party

Everyone loves pizza! In this short video, we show how to put together a cute pizza themed party featuring a giant pizza cookie, felt pizza bunting, and mini pizza piñatas for party favors!

Welcome to our second installment of Party Starters! For this party, all the food, decor, and favors were modeled after everyone’s favorite food: pizza! The whole video (it’s only 4 minutes long!) can be found here. It shows how to make each DIY and showcases the whole party set up. We’ll be linking to each individual project below and sharing some back stories so keep reading!

This was the first party we shot and because of that, there is a real lack of photos to share! We promised behind-the-scenes shots into every party but the reality was that the first day got off to a bit of a slow start! We weren’t totally sure how the whole set up was going to go or what the production team had in mind so it took a little while to get ready. By the time this party was done we felt the need to rush into the next one so we could finish them both in the same day.

Malissa’s husband Greg was supposed to be nabbing the shots as we filmed and helping to get the finals but he didn’t do a very good job. haha! Just teasing Greg–we appreciate all the help you gave us and we know there were many reasons why you couldn’t be up there photographing all day :D

But being the first party, there was definitely a learning curve for this one, so we were all glad we got the easiest party out of the way! And I was extra glad that we chose to do the easier parties this day because I was completely exhausted! We talked a little bit about why it was all so tiring in our Donut Party post the other day but there was a whole other story/disaster/nightmare that happened the night before this first day of shooting.

August 10, 2017

Party Starters! How to Throw a Donut Party!

Sweet donut clutches for your gal pals, an oversized donut cake, and a donut-shop-inspired paper awning make up the basics of this pastry-themed fete!

Are you ready for our Party Starter videos!? Today we’re sharing the first of four (thats right FOUR) parties we designed and shot with food.com! With three accompanying DIYs each, the next month is full of great projects that we think you will love! We shared more about the genesis of the videos, and sneak peeks of all the parties, here.

First off, let me tell you that both of us are still a bit nervous to share these videos with you (you know how they say the camera adds 10 pounds and all that?) but we are so grateful for the opportunity and in many ways we do love how they turned out so we are going to share them with you all regardless! The first one is our pastel donut shop party! The link to all the projects, videos, step-by-steps, and photos can be found right here but keep reading for some fun tidbits and inside looks!

I have talked about how much I am obsessed with donuts before and they still remain my favorite snack of all time. This was also the video we filmed last so you better believe the second it was over that I immediately grabbed like three donuts and scarfed them down.

For those of you who are wondering, the donuts are from Provo Bakery and yes they were delicious! They did a great job matching our icing requests and the lettered donuts are definitely a fan favorite! As teased last week, each party included an easy recipe, DIY favor and DIY decoration and I think the favor for this party (the donut clutches!) is the cutest one of all!

Below we’ve linked to all the videos, plus the whole party shoot! PLUS every project has it’s own step-by-step instructions with photos in case videos ain’t your thing. We’ve thought of everything you need to throw the cutest little donut party ever (and make everyone want to be your best friend)!

July 31, 2017

Introducing: Party Starters! Videos to Help You Throw the Best Themed Nights Ever!

We are so excited to introduce to you a series of videos we hosted in collaboration with Food.com! A few months ago, we had the opportunity to feature four amazing DIY parties and show how to create tons of party crafts, decorations, favors, and recipes!

Malissa and I spent a couple months putting together these parties and really poured our heart and soul into each! Along with our creative directors at Food.com, we came up with four fun themes and 12 DIY elements for you to follow along with! Each party has its own video, and each DIY element has been broken down into its own short segment for you to watch as well.

This was our first foray into video ever! We barely even share videos on our Instagram, let alone on the blog. But its a segment that we have been hoping to get into. With the crazy end of 2016 we had (read: I had a second baby who was also very sick, and, you know, America *eyeroll*) we really didn’t think early 2017 is when we’d get a chance to try out a new media. But, we were so thrilled for the opportunity when Food.com reached out, we were immediately on board!

It was a lot of hard work! But a lot of fun too! And a GREAT learning experience. We busted our bums and now we are so excited to see the fruits of our labors and share it all with you!

These videos are titled “Party Starters!” and they are meant to encourage just that, starting a great party! Though we worked hard on these, we ended up creating several very easy to do parties. All the themes are universally loved and the kind of thing you’d say, “Hey! Lets do this TONIGHT!” So, with that in mind, we wanted these parties to be easy enough for any family or friend group to throw together real quick. We decked ours out A Joyful Riot style :) but any of these can be done in a pinch and on a dime. They can also be expanded way beyond what we’ve done here! These are just to inspire you to start a fun themed night with your loved ones!

The four themes we featured are: A Movie Night Party, A Donut Party, A Pizza Party, and A Sprinkles Party! All four parties featured a DIY decor element, a DIY party favor, and an easy recipe! We will be doing an individual post on each of these parties and DIYs, linking to the videos, written instructions, and templates! We also want to share some behind-the-scenes tidbits, insights, additional info and of course photos!

We’ve got oversized desserts, unicorn popcorn, donut clutches, homemade sprinkles, printable labels, glittery star marquee lights, sprinkle covered everything, lightweight awnings, flair pins, mini piñatas and tons of decoration and food ideas! Plus more!

We were very lucky to be a part of this experience and we hope you’ll stick around to see all the fun! I’m certain there is something here for absolutely everyone. And at the very least, go ahead and watch Malissa and I learning how to be in front of a camera haha! We’re hoping to take what we’ve learned and apply that to more videos in the future, which hopefully you’ll stick around for too!

We will be sharing all about our donut themed party, including a fun paper awning, a giant donut cake, and the cutest little clutches, this Friday, August 4th! So check in here for photos, links, videos, and behind the scenes fun!

xo.

July 11, 2017

The Easiest {And Cheapest!} Little DIY Play Teepee

Kid’s play teepees. They are so cute and somehow so necessary even though they’re not at all necessary, am I right? I’ve seen a ton of cute ones all over; mainly in amazing children’s room photos on Instagram or Pinterest. And you can certainly buy them at Target or Land of Nod (and they’re amazing and adorable for sure!) but they’re like $75-$200. Yikes! I don’t even want to spend that kind of money on a waterproof tent my kid could actually sleep in outside.

So I’ve had it on my mind to DIY one for a while. I’ve been revamping our play room for the last couple of months for a couple of reasons. One is that it’s the large room that connects to our living room via an open double doorway. So its very visible and the walls were brown. I can live with some brown walls being hidden away in my home, but when they’re all in your face like this room was, I just couldn’t handle it anymore. So I busted out the white paint and some aqua blue paint for the bookshelves and now the room is much more cute, welcoming, and playful.

But the main reason I felt the need to liven up the space, and add some new playthings, was because my kids and I were basically home for 6 straight months this last winter. After my newborn got so sick he was hospitalized, we decided we couldn’t be too careful and basically shut him off from the world. There were weeks where I only left my house for 30 minutes, just to drive and pick up some dinner and come right back. I can’t say it was as wonderful as it probably sounds….being stuck inside all the time, getting no sleep, still battling sicknesses, and seeing few people other than your two littles can be hard on an extrovert like me who already gets depressed during winter. But, thats a whole other discussion! What it boils down to, for this DIY post, is that we needed to get some new life into our home for my 3 year old. She was a champ this winter and keeping her cooped up wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. But after 6 months, anyone would be sick of their digs.

July 1, 2017

A Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Breakfast

Well, my baby is three! It’s true what everyone says–it goes so fast! But you know what else, something I don’t hear everyone say? It just gets better and better. I mean, babies! Babies are just the sweetest. And quite possibly nothing in the world surpasses those first few days at home when you are overwhelmed with a love you’ve never known. But babies are also super hard and especially Stella, as my first baby, was super hard. Becoming a mom was a big change, with lots of adjustments (you can read about the things that most surprised me here)!

I felt like as soon as she was about 1.5 years old, things got so much easier and since then she just gets funner, sillier, and more interactive. Her new phrases everyday absolutely kill us. She knows songs, she will entertain Otto if he is sad and I can’t get to him right away, she can run little errands around the house, she helps clean up, she is always up for fun! Playing, learning, and growing with her is simply the best.

Of course, the toddler years come with their fair share of struggles, and that part has not been over-exaggerated to me :/ haha, just last night we had…some serious frustration (read: she got a whole jar of Aquaphor on literally everything in her room when she was supposed to be in bed). But she makes up for it in cuddles, dances, and more sweetness than not. And one of my very favorite things about this little girl is how much she loves rainbows, unicorns, princesses, dress up, high heels, accessories, parties, balloons, games, and all things girly!

I can definitively say having a little girly girlfriend is everything I thought and hoped it would be and more! She comes out of my room daily with super high heels on (and walks exceptionally well in them haha!) and she get so excited over every new dress we get. She changes 20 times a day, is always up for nail painting, and loves all jewelry. This spring I bought her the cutest little dress from H&M with a unicorn print (you can see it here), and she squeeled so much and then wouldn’t take it off for 5 days (I did get it off and washed twice and she sill had her baths haha).

You know I am always so excited to throw unique and new parties and I had another idea for her third birthday that I was pretty excited about. Plus, I knew this would be the last year that I would really get to choose the theme. Next year, and every one after that, I’m guessing she will be pretty opinionated about it! But when I saw how much she loves unicorns right now, and this balloon, I was like “ok, why not just do something easy that she will love?” Even if it’s been done before, rainbow unicorns simply never gets old, right?