Happy Endings and Sweet Beginnings

Today I had the honor of helping to host a graduation brunch for Brent's cousin, Kelly. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and I had a great time putting this together for Kelly. Although it seems like a million years ago that I graduated from high school, I do clearly remember my graduation tea that was held at Lady Primrose in Dallas, and it was a super special day. We wanted to make sure Kelly was honored with her friends at her own graduation brunch. We had the party at a super cute place in Sugar Land called Flora & Muse. Kudos to Wendy for coming up with the adorable party theme: Happy Endings and Sweet Beginnings. Kelly is one of the smartest people I know, and she is graduating with honors and heading to UT in Plan II. I was able to put aside my fanatic Aggie self for the day, and I even wore burnt orange for the occassion! I know... I'm so selfless :-) We are so happy for Kelly and her friends! It was a great morning.

To continue the "sweet beginnings" theme, we had a brightly colored candy bar as favors and a centerpiece.

We had this adorable little corner of the restaurant with four funky chandeliers overhead. I would totally do this in my house if I wasn't married :-) Brent would not allow it. I know... why ever not???
We tied brightly colored ribbons around the silverware - the colors were teal, hot pink, black, and white. We also had a chandelier theme since the restaurant has those chandeliers. I made the menus you see below with the chandelier stamp and teal card stock.
Cute shot of the table
Pink & teal "K" for Kelly cupcakes! No, didn't make them. As guests arrived, we served "Kelly-tinis"! They were some sort of delicious concoction involving Italian soda, orange juice, grenadine, and cream. Kelly with the hostesses Kelly with her grandmother, mom, and aunt We also had several tables outside on the patio

I made this "Hook 'em Kelly" banner for the occasion. The one for my sister's shower went so well I decided to make another. It turned out cute I think! I had to make it when Brent wasn't home, though. It would have pained him to see me cutting out letters that spelled "hook 'em". But I pushed through.

We did a "sweet things" tree for her friends to write favorite memories for Kelly to keep. OK, at this point you're probably thinking: Wait a minute!!! Haven't I seen this before? Blessing tree, glitter banner, candy bar??? Haven't you done this before? Well, people, YES. My party planning skills are still somewhat limited, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it!!!! I will most likely be using the blessing tree and banner trick until people find me out and tell me to stop. Deal with it :-) I gotta say those sticks from Hobby Lobby were a pretty good investment since I've now used them 5 times. Just saying.

Oh, to be young. She's so cute and effortlessly fashionable!
Wendy gave a lovely toast with the Kelly-tinis.
Girls writing their memory / blessing cards for Kelly
We're proud of you Kelly! Congrats and good luck!