This Is How We Roll- Home Roller Rink Party!

I apologize if I’ve thrown the word LOVE around too much for any previous party, but when it comes to parties… I absolutely truly and deeply LOVE me a good roller skating party! So much so I even demanded one for my birthday 2 years ago… and will again soon, trust me. :)

Of course, a Roller Rink Party doesn’t have to be roller skates, it could easily be rollerblades, but something about roller skates really hits home in the nostalgia department, which is also why I love making it retro styled. You can make it modern if that’s your preference, or do a mixture! I love mixing a retro, vintage feel with some modernism via blacklights and glow products.

So first things first - the rink. Since your local Skate World or roller rink is not currently an option during quarantine, there are many ways you could make a roller rink at home! An unfinished basement, flat driveway, or cul-de-sac would work great. In this tutorial, I used the party base as the garage, and had it spill into the driveway. I chose to concentrate the decor into one corner of the garage, versus sparsely decorating everywhere, but a few more fringe curtain sets could have completed the wall, or just use string lights (or Christmas lights) to add instant ambiance to the rest of your garage. You could even outline the section of your driveway that will serve as the “rink” with lights.

If you keep your garage door up, it will most likely become a dream to hang things from!

Finalizing your rink is very important, but coming in at a close second- the outfit. I feel like retro socks are a must, and scored these socks at Justice. I bought enough for all the attendees, told them to wear shorts or leggings, and gave each guest a pair as part of their favor, and it really made the photos super adorable!

Bombers, athletic shorts, and high socks are a classic go to, or bright spandex leggings or shorts and an oversized sweatshirt/top also work great. A quick “retro roller skating outfit” Pinterest search will give you lots of options.

If you have time and patience, customizing roller skates is a great present to gift the birthday boy or girl that could help them feel extra special at their party! I came to learn about customizing skates with ModPodge & glitter when I exhausted my search for cute kids roller skates that didn’t cost hundreds of dollars.

I bought a basic white pair from my local roller rink (I will include some online retailers below), bought some colored laces, and got to customizing in the birthday girl’s favorite colors. You basically mix ModPodge and glitter and apply with a paintbrush in coats until you achieve your desired color. I wanted to do each skate half fuchsia and half orange, and used painters tape to make clear lines.

When completed, I added some vintage broaches to complete the look, but you could even hot glue gun any embellishment. Old Christmas bows also look adorable on skates and add a lot of whimsy!

I added some glow-in-the-dark glitter embellishments to the skates and they lit up pretty well!

Speaking of glowing… if you can host your event in an enclosed garage or at night, swap out your regular bulbs for blacklight/UV bulbs and you will have yourself a proper glow affair!

I recently did a Glow-in-the-Dark Neon Dance Party, and many of those concepts can easily transfer over to a skating party.

One of my favorite purchased elements were these color changing LED balloons. I’ve only seen these white balloons sold individually at Party City for $0.99/balloon, but you could hang these color changing punch balloons from the garage or ceiling like lanterns. You could also easily achieve this look by putting a glow stick inside a latex balloon.

I also think these glow in the dark plates/cups/utensils were a great addition and were made well and sturdy enough to be reused (they don’t come with napkins).

Light up crowns were a hit, and glow in the dark body paint were both super fun and an additional activity or station that can take place during the party.

White and neon decor illuminates best if you are going the glow route! Mylar and foil.. not so much.

Now for the cake! This cake was made for a frosting-averse birthday girl, and layers were connected with a crushed oreo chocolate ganache, and served with a dollop of whip cream (vanilla ice cream would be ideal, but we didn’t have freezer access at this venue). I lucked out on a post-Christmas sale and got these roller skate ornaments from Papyrus 70% off!

As always, please pay close attention to all CDC and governing guidelines to assure your fête is safe for all! If you try this party at home, please tag/hashtag @feteandfinery! I would love to see your pictures!

Items in stock as of 4/25/20 and shipping within 1 week:

Striped Tube Socks - Gap

Toddler Rainbow Striped Tube Socks - Etsy

Soffe Retro Shorts

White Roller Skates - Womens

White Roller Skates - Girls

Black Roller Skates - Boys

Fringe Curtains

Light up Crowns

Glow in Dark Body Paint

Glow in Dark Plating/Cups/Utensils

Martha Stewart Mylar Chandelier (Silver)

Light Up Balloons (Multicolor)

Color Change Punch Balloons

Blacklight Bar

We are in this fight against Coronavirus together, even though we are apart. Until it’s safe for us to gather & celebrate together in-person, there are still ways to make life’s many special moments and milestones special and uniquely yours. For more Party-in-Place free tutorials, click the images below:

Sushi + Sundaes Spring Soirée

So Sushi & Sundaes may not intrinsically go hand in hand, but… how can you go wrong with this combo?! I did this with my nephews last summer when we very randomly encountered the perfect trifecta… we were craving sushi, it was a gorgeously warm day, and the boys’ last day of school. So, we had a Sushi + Sundaes Summer Soirée Kickoff party and it was super fun, and works just as well for a sunny spring day.

I especially love this theme for this time of year on a warmer day, ideally in your backyard/on a deck (but inside works too!). It’s also fairly simple, and a great way to support your favorite local sushi spot during these difficult times! If you have a child who doesn’t like sushi (yet), try PB & Jelly ‘sushi’ rolls (or bookmark it for a future school lunch, they are a fun way to make a paper bag lunch more fun). Make your setup even more festive by putting the sushi on cake tiers & stands.

Now for that sweetness… whether you prefer a cone, glass tulip bowl, or paper ice cream bowls, you can have a lot of fun with this part. I love these waffle bowls, especially after jazzing them up with chocolate & sprinkles or nuts.

Souped up sprinkle cones are super easy to make. Just melt some chocolate chips in the stove on a double broiler, or in your microwave in short 12 second increments, dip your cone about 1/2” into the chocolate, immediately dip in a bowl of sprinkles, or crushed nuts, toasted coconut, crushed oreos (etc etc), and then put to the side to set. If you don’t have cones, try this recipe for brownie bowls (and let me know how it goes, I’ve been wanting to try this!), or if you’re feeling extra industrious, try this recipe for homemade cones. Of course, standard cereal bowls are always a good go to!

Be resourceful with whatever toppings you have on hand, use the bottom of the bag/box of cookies/wafers/cereal and just crush up the already broken pieces, chop peanuts in a food processor, toast some coconut flakes. If you’re able to order some groceries, I love having Reese’s Magic Shell, Marciano cherries for the aesthetic (the only ones I’ve ever liked are the amareno ones at Trader Joe’s!), chocolate syrup, caramel, dulce de leche, whip cream, mini chocolate chips, toasted almonds, brownie bites, gummies. Set up all your toppings Sundae Bar style (if it’s warm, have them outside for an easier cleanup!). Also, consider getting an ice cream maker! With freezer space becoming more valuable during quarantine to stock up on essentials, my nieces were telling me about craving ice cream, so I gave them my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker for Easter, and they have been loving it!

As for decor, you could keep it very simple with string lights draped along your deck bannister (pictured above), or if having it indoors, incorporate paper lanterns into a backdrop, or drop them from your chandelier/kitchen light fixtures. There’s something so playful about ice cream sundaes, so feel free to mix a bunch of colors in your palette, like a pack of sprinkles. Linking balloons are a great no-helium option for balloons that kinda remind me of… sprinkles! You can drape them along the banister or hang them from a retractable awning (if you have one)… you can attach them to pretty much anything, including a light fixture and let them drape to the ground.

If you want a more sophisticated look, go for all white and mix with paper flowers and honeycombs.

Here are some online tutorials for creative DIY lanterns for your decor that can be made with common household items (tutorial links in order of pictures):

Plaster Water Bottle Lanterns, Creative Ideas Construction Paper Lantern, Water Bottle + Balloon Lantern

If you do this party, I would love to see your photos! DM them to me on instagram (@feteandfinery) and let me know if you would like me to feature them, or hashtag #feteandfinery. As always, reach out if you have any questions on how to execute your party! As always, please pay close attention to CDC & government regulations to ensure that your fête is safe for all!

Here are some supplies available online that could help with your Sushi + Sundaes Soirée!

In stock as of 4/17/20 and arriving within 1 week:

Chopstick Helpers

Waffle Cone Bowls

Parlor Style Ice Cream Bowls / Tulip Style Bowls

Sprinkles

Ice Cream Maker

Wooden Dessert Spoons

Ice cream Cups & Spoons

Colorful Paper Lanterns

Linking Balloons

We are in this fight against Coronavirus together, even though we are apart. Until it’s safe for us to gather & celebrate together in-person, there are still ways to make life’s many special moments and milestones special and uniquely yours. For more Party-in-Place free tutorials, click the images below:

Starring: Your Movie Birthday!

As an event planner, it was discouraging (but necessary) to see more and more events postponed or outright cancelled. During these unprecedented times, life is still happening around us, and there are moments and milestones that are still worth celebrating with you and your’s… maybe just differently than you original planned. I will be posting tutorials on past events I have done, and showing first how you can dream up a party you will host down the road when this is all behind us, and also modifications for how you can celebrate on a smaller scale with minimal supplies and still Party-In-Place (and style) during quarantine!

I love movies and (pre-coronavirus) go almost weekly (AMC A-list member, humble brag), so a movie party at your local theatre is a pretty non-labor intensive way to celebrate a birthday. They often have private party rooms for you to congregate with your group before or after for gifts and cake. Some movie theaters allow you to do a special screening of an older movie no longer in theaters, so definitely inquire about that!

So to begin, your movie party needs to start with cute popcorn buckets, and I absolutely love these dollar tree reusable popcorn buckets that come in a 2-pack. Bonus- these fit perfectly in most movie theatre drink holders. These larger popcorn tubs add variety, are good for sharing, would make a unique cake stand substitute, or would serve a popcorn bar well.

Next- funfetti birthday cake popcorn! This is super easy to make. Make your own popcorn or buy a very lightly salted microwaveable variety. Melt white chocolate (ghirardelli is my favorite baking chocolate), mix in a couple spoons of dry funfetti cake mix to your liking, coat your popcorn, top with your sprinkle of choice and mix it around! Tip- use a softer sprinkle or else your popcorn will be very crunchy. I bagged these in treat bags and put them in the Dollar Tree popcorn containers as take home favors.

Make that funfetti popcorn work overtime on your Birthday cake: frost a cake white, and then clump fresh funfetti popcorn along the side while it is still a little warm. and congregate some at the top. This cake had a surprise sprinkle center which is always fun to cut into.

Try popping your own popcorn from kernels! This is the foolproof small batch stovetop popcorn recipe I use. It tastes great and doesn’t have all the who-knows-what that’s in the microwaveable bags. It’s of course easier to use microwaveable popcorn, so don’t feel guilty about using those if you already have them on hand!

Social Distancing Modifications: Even though movie theaters aren’t an option at this time, staying in for a movie has always been a great time! With a few extra steps and some preparation, what may have become a routine time filler can be made into an extra special celebration. Amazon video and iTunes are early releasing in-theater movies to On-demand, but an all time favorite movie would also be a great option.

Quaranteeny Movie Party for your littles: First, create an in-home theatre! Basements are nice and dark, or it can be right in your living room. Pile up some quilts & throw pillows and make a cozy ground viewing area. Stack pillows on one end under the quilt to create plush “recliner seating” to lean against. Use chairs and make it like auditorium seating. Grab some red, purple or black blankets, tablecloths, or towels and make a theatre curtain backdrop using your chimney as a base, or make “theatre curtains” around your TV.

Make a “Now Showing/Starring: [Name’s] Birthday!” marquee sign with a lightbox or markers… special shoutout/thank you to my 11-year-old niece for making me these signs with her lightup boxes AND styling AND shooting this pic for me! I’m so proud! :)

Create a popcorn bar and fill treat bags with various popcorn flavors, seasonings, and toppings… make your popcorn exactly how you want it, which you may not be able to do in an actual movie theatre. Make salty sweet combos, add birthday sprinkles, add extra butter and gummy worms, go crazy.

Create popcorn holders out of tupperware by alternating red and white construction paper rectangles or download/print a popcorn container wrap off the internet.

Drinks: Make Coke Slushies in your blender out of ice tray pre-frozen coke cubes.

Serve Nachos with cheese sauce or order pizza from a local pizzeria that would really appreciate your business right now! Make a concession stand with those dollar boxed candies or make them as favors.

If you have the facilities to host a party in your yard with an outdoor projection screen, use various ride-on car’s or cardboard boxes + black take-out containers (for wheels) and make it a drive in movie party!

Quarantini Movie Party for Adults: Download the Netflix Party extension and watch a movie at the same time as your friends, as well as comment in a chat thread visible alongside your feature film! Make spiked jack + cherry coke slushi (Coke of your choice ice cubes + whiskey + extra ice + a maraschino cherry to garnish).

Here are some links for items you can order online to enhance your party:

In Stock as of 4/3/20 and shipping within 1 week:

Popcorn Buckets - Individual: This is a 20 pack, but it’s handy to have extras for group movies or having company (Dollar Tree is currently not shipping).

Large Popcorn Bucket: Vintage feel, rounded

Light-up Letter Box

Movie Night Chalkboard Sign

Movie Ticket/Invite: Instant download, print at home

Shipping 1+ week(s):

Movie Projector for iPhone: I have never used one of these, but I’m very curious! You could use this to project off any blank wall or for your outdoor movie nights on a white sheet/canvas!

Kernel Popcorn Butter Spray: Get your stopwatch, 0 calories for 1/3 second spray! You may be able to get this at your local grocery store via instacart. Coating with butter is sometimes messy and hard to evenly distribute so this may be a great alternative!

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Here are some creative photos I’ve found on Pinterest and elsewhere that showcase how other’s have done an at-home movie party (comment below for credits):

As always, please pay close attention to CDC & government regulations to ensure that your fête is safe for all!

We are in this fight against Coronavirus together, even though we are apart. Until it’s safe for us to gather & celebrate together in-person, there are still ways to make life’s many special moments and milestones special and uniquely yours. For more Party-in-Place free tutorials, click the images below: