Welcome to my PARTY Party!
This year, the place is decked out with ruffled crepe paper in bright colors, and festive latin music to greets you at the door. You’re going to have to take my word for it, since automatic music is such a bloggy faux pas! (I’ll show you soon the party I’m working on that is inspiring all this ruffled goodness, but for now, let’s pretend it’s just for you.)
I can’t wait to see what you’ve brought to share today! But before we get started, let’s make sure we are all on the same page! If you aren’t sure what a Party Party is check out this post first!
I’ve already introduced Brittany, our guest of honor, here! I’m so excited she is joining us! And that she will be visiting each of your parties!!!
Our party lasts all week! You are welcome to link-up as many of your parties as you would like, between now and Sun the 29th (at 11:59pm AZ time), provided they meet the following criteria:
- The Party occurred in 2011 (That way, you wouldn’t have linked it up before).
- It was a REAL party (not just a product photoshoot–as much as I love to look at those! I want to see the real parties with real guests and all of the variables that come with them!
- You (the submitter) played the major role in the planning and execution of the party (others can have helped, but this needs to be your own work and your own post).
- Your entry will need to display my party party button so I know you’re playing and others can come and play too!
<a href=”http://meandmyinsanity.com/?p=1845″><img src=”http://meandmyinsanity.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/party-party-4th-button.jpg”/></a>
By entering you are giving me permission to post pictures or small excerpts from your post on my blog, which I will always do with credit and a link.
FAQs:
Q: Is the party open to professionals party planners as well as amateurs/crazy moms?
A: Yes. Last year a few people suggested that I not allow professionals or make separate categories for them since it seems hard to compare well-funded parties with those thrown on a shoe-string budget. I seriously considered this, but our judging criteria is such that it doesn’t make a huge difference. Creativity and originality can flourish at most any budget point.
I will be choosing a party to recognize as the Budget Buster party of the year, in recognition for making the most of the budget you had. If you ‘d like to be considered for this honor, please make sure your post includes an estimate of your expenditures.
Q: How many parties can I submit?
A: As many as you’d like that meet the criteria above. If your parties are pretty exceptional, you always run the risk of splitting your own vote if you get more than one in the finals. I’d love to see all of the great parties from 2011, though!
Q: What kinds of parties can be submitted?
A: Most any party is welcome. We usually get lots of birthday parties, but also have showers, holiday parties, any celebration!
Q: What criteria are the judges looking at?
A: There is no such thing as one very best party. Every year I’m blown away by the creativity and beauty displayed. Of course it is hard to compare princesses parties with football fetes. Some of it just comes down to personal opinion. But there are a few things we are looking in choosing party finalists:
- Complete party plan. Where possible, show the activities that the guests participated in as well as the food and decorations. I’d love to get a feel for what it would have been like to have been a guest at that party.
- Use of theme. How well was the theme incorporated into the various party elements.
- Originality. I love unique and/or cleverly themed parties.
- Appropriateness and personalization. I love parties that really take the guest of honor (where applicable) and their guests into consideration in all the plans and the details.
- Overall visual appeal.
Q: What’s new this year?
A: I am excited to give each of your wonderful parties more exposure by creating Pinterest Boards by category and pinning each party. It will give more people the chance to view your parties, and provide us all with a library of party ideas that will be a great resource for everyone for a long time to come! Follow me on Pinterest here, to see all of the boards as I add them through out the week!
I think all my yammering is bringing this party down. Just link-up your party, grab some refreshments, and have fun party surfing!
ENJOY!
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Kendra, thanks so much for hosting this again! I LOVE seeing all the different parties! So fun! Tried the button code, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t get it to work. Just put a text link in for now.
Thanks, Sara!
The button is broke. I am working on it. In the meantime, a text link is fine or you can copy the image and link it. I’m so sorry for the confusion. I’ll let you know when the button is fixed.
Thanks so much for hosting again… so fun! I couldn’t get the button to work either, so I also put in a text link.
The button is working now! Thanks everyone for your patience!
I love this gathering of amazing parties … I linked up some of my favorites and now I”m off to look at all the other inspiring parties out there.
Such a thrill to see all the creative party styling out there!
Thank you for offering this again! This is such a fun tradition. I love participating and seeing EVERYTHING. I appreciate it.
Kendra, I wanted to let you know that the linky tool says there is only 12 hours and some odd minutes left to enter which would be 11:59 am, not pm. I have already entered mine, but in case you want to change it for those who might not have noticed this. Hugs and have a great weekend! -Julie
Thanks, Julie! I did notice that. I am unable to change the linky right now. If someone else still wants to join in, leave a comment with your link here before midnight. I’ll try and add them to the linky if I can, but will for sure pin them and have them considered in the judging. Sorry for the inconvenience!