Open-House Fiesta

Hey, friends! I'm back with a fun post about the open-house fiesta we hosted last weekend! I guess I should start at the beginning though. Let's do just that:

When Ben and I closed on our new home, we knew we wanted to have an open-house type of party allowing people to come, see the house, eat, have fun, but leave whenever they wanted. Sometimes when you call something a "party," it makes people feel like there's a time constraint and they have to be there for four or five hours. Off the bat, we really didn't have any theme or food ideas; I figured that I would just come up with something as it got closer. Lucky for me, Grace & Madd Paperie came to the rescue.

Maddie (owner of G&M) designed and executed the invitations that Ben and I used for our wedding just a year and a half ago, so when she posted on social media that she was piloting a new product called the Fete Box, I knew I needed to submit my party information/attempt to be a member of her pilot group. When I found out that we had been chosen, I was elated! Not only were we going to get to try out this new product [that we knew would be exceptional], Maddie was so willing to help us pick a theme and iron out the details prior to the construction of the box.

WHAT WAS IN THE BOX:

The box included a number of fabulous things. Not only did Maddie make us 15 beautiful invitations, but there were banners, signs, paper goods, snacks, centerpiece displays, food tents, and MORE! Here are some snapshots of what we received [the margarita was not included].

   

   

   

WHAT WE HAD TO BUY:
All that we ended up NEEDING to purchase for the party was food and beverages. When we had a late influx of RSVP's [leading to more guests than we had originally planned], we did pick up a few extra plates and cups. We also picked up a pinata for a fun twist. The taco bar was a very cost-efficient option for a housewarming. I ended up being so pleased that Maddie had suggested it as our theme!
   

HOW THE ITEMS CAME TOGETHER:
We ended up setting the food and drinks up in a buffet style. People were able to grab their plates/cups and help themselves to the food that was set up around the counters. The decorations and colors that Maddie chose ended up looking bright and fun in the kitchen/dining room space of our home. The banners that she provided also allowed for some fun pops of color up higher in the room. We got a number of compliments on everything, allowing for us to plug Grace & Madd Paperie and their products.

   

   

GIFTS:
To our surprise, we received a number of really thoughtful gifts from our guests. From kitchen items to food to a welcome home gnome, we felt very blessed and loved.

   

   

   

To most people who know me's surprise, I'm sure, I did a terrible job taking photographs at the open-house. I literally have no pictures with anyone, no pictures of the party in action... nothing! I guess we were too busy hosting and enjoying our guests to take any. I do have this end of the night photo from after everyone left: a centerpiece from our Fete Box, a beautiful pillow that was made and given to us as a gift by a guest, and our dead pinata. It was a wonderful party, with a great turn out, and we could NOT have done it without Maddie and the Fete Box!

GRACE AND MADD PAPERIE:
To sum things up, Ben and I could not have been more pleased with the service we were provided by Grace and Madd Paperie. Not only did she tailor the box to be exactly what we wanted, she checked in on us throughout the process and was overall just a joy to work with. We would recommend her to anyone looking for paper-crafting services, and we will definitely continue using her for our needs!

   

Check out the Grace & Madd Paperie website here! [You can see our wedding invites in her portfolio!]

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[Day 11] New York, NY

Thankfully, we planned 2 days to go into the city and the weather was much better the second day! I went in to the city with both of my parents and we mozied around midtown for a while before my dad wanted to go off on his own. He went walking and my mom and I decided to see "On The Town." My friend Becca's uncle has a Broadway review website and is kind of a big deal in NY, and he reccommended it. We were not disappointed! The story line follows 3 Navy soldiers while they have 24-hour leave in NYC. The musical was written in the 1940's, so it had a much heavier focus on dance and group dance numbers. We loved it! Everyone in it was so talented!! It was much different than Hedwig, but I would tell people to go see both!

[Day 12] Yonkers, NY
Day 12 was the last day of my trip. My parents planned to drive home, but my mom set it up for me to fly home early since I would have already been gone for 12 days just a week after moving into our new house. I spent my last few hours with my mom and aunt just having some time together. We went to lunch at a little Italian place by aunt's condo and then went to these really cool gardens right there in Yonkers. It was such a beautiful place! I can just imagine what kind of great engagement or wedding pictures you could take there!

   

   

   

After we left the garden, we went to pick up Nesi and the four of us went out for ice cream. When we finished ice cream, we dropped her off at the condo and then my mom and aunt drove me to the airport. Long story short, my flight was supposed to take off at 3:45EST and didn't end up taking off until 8:45EST. At the end of the day though, I got home safely to my husband AND they gave me a $200 flight voucher.

The trip was long, but I am really excited about the fact that I got to go to so many great, historic, entertaining places. It was probably the last vacation I'll ever take with my parents [or at least, on their dime], so I'm glad we went out with a bang! :) Thanks for following along!

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[Day 10] New York, NY
Tuesday was the first day that we were venturing into the city. My dad hasn't ever been to NYC, so we were going to try to take him to some of the things that he'd be interested in. The morning started out gloomy, and there was a little bit of rain for a while, but it ended up being a good day!

   

After being in the city for a while, I had plans meet up with an old friend of mine who moved to the city. It has been a few years since I've actually seen Tammy, so it was really great to get together and catch up on what we've been up to. These pictures are obviously not from our lunch, but I thought it might be awkward to ask her to take one, so we'll just stick with these from 2008 and 2010 for your viewing pleasure.

   

After lunch I met back up with my parents and aunt. My aunt took my dad to a museum that he wanted to go to and my mom and I walked over to the wax museum. We've been a couple of times, but I had heard they'd re-done things to make it more interactive, so I wanted to check it out. We were not disappointed! Here's a dozen or so of the pictures we took:

   

   

   

   

   

   

After the wax museum, we decided to do something else because my aunt and dad had headed back to Yonkers. After trying to decide where to go, we settled on going to a Broadway show! I had heard that Hedwig was supposed to be good [although, on a smaller scale than the typical Broadway show], and Hedwig is portrayed by Darren Criss right now, so I was in! We went to the TKTS booth and got AWESOME SEATS for the show. Darren Criss was literally FEET away from me [the picture below has NO ZOOM].

   

   

Overall, the show definitely had a different creative vibe than your normal Broadway show. There were only six people in the "cast," with the premise being that you were at this band's concert and Hedwig [the lead singer] tells you about her life between songs. I loved it, but it was a little out of the box, so I can guess it wouldn't be for everyone like it was for me. But who wouldn't love Darren in those shorts? Just saying.