KDHamptons contributing editors Maureen Anders and Adria Ruff are party planning gurus. Their company, Anders Ruff, is the ”go to” shop for unique and stylish printable invitations, decor and party accessories. Every holiday provides inspiration to throw another fabulous party for this design duo who share, “We LOVE Valentine’s Day and put together a “Sweet Shop” themed party that’s perfect for kiddies or adults or both! Here’s our cheat sheet for you to plan your own party.”

TABLE DECOR: With our fresh new printable collection being “sweet” themed, we immediately knew that we had to set up a mock parlor for the styled photo shoot. I had been wanting to use a parlor awning for a long time. Morgan (Made by Morgan) is our seamstress for many of of our shoots, and sewed up the perfect combo of pink stripes for the awning over the dessert table. To give the table a parlor / boutique feel, we displayed all of our desserts on upside down hat boxes on top of red cake stands (remember these from our Christmas Cookie Exchange shoot?). To make it even more appealing to the eyes, we lined the trim of each of the hat boxes with light pink rik rak to give the illusion of cupcake wrappers.

The focal point was the fabulous and whimsical over-sized cupcake cake (courtesy of Got What It Cakes), which is an exact replica of our graphics The cupcake cake was placed on a tiered stack of the red hat boxes with the rik rak trim (which gave the illusion of a massive cake). Parlor glassware (various sizes), and ice cream/waffle cones were used to hold sweets and kept with the sweet shoppe parlor feel. We used floral Styrofoam inside the hat boxes as an anchor to stick the treats into. The vessels were then filled with floral foam balls that are decorative and gave the feel of a pool of sprinkles. Chocolate bars were wrapped in pink tissue (instead of being kept in their dark brown wrapper) and then adorned with our printable chocolate bar wrapper. Our flat party labels adorned the fronts of the hat boxes with custom text to denote the sweet. The front of the table rocked a “Sweet Love” banner in a scallop shape from the printable collection.

The children’s table was a vintage bistro table with heart backed parlor chairs that we refurbished (spray painted). The parlor table was embellished with many printable graphics which included: printable coloring page placemats, cootie-catchers, soda pops with label and paper straw, cupcake sundaes with label and wooden spoon, and bowls of various chocolate (M&M’S, Hershey’s KISSES and mini candy bars). The parlor table had a centerpiece of cupcakes and favors. Mini cupcakes (Cupcrazed Cakery) were displayed along with the printable heart favor box in the center.

The children wrote out their valentines using the printables from the collection and colored their placemats. They had a blast playing with the cootie catcher (a hit from last year’s “I Heart Valentine’s Day” collection). An ice cream container favor box (Polka Dot Market) was dressed up with a tissue pom (Nashville Wraps), printable label and rik rak scallopy trim. Again, we kept the major elements consistent throughout the entire party.

DESSERTS: We wanted the desserts to still look like parlor treats while being seasonally appropriate. What better way than to mock them up using other confections?! Got What it Cakes made ice cream cake balls displayed in both ice cream cones and waffle bowls. Cupcrazed Cakery created layered giant cupcake milkshakes in parlor glasses with fondant hearts and sprinkles. Chocolate heart shaped custom lollipops (Firefly Confections) with printable labels were stuck into red hat boxes along with cupcake pops in the shape of cupcakes from (Pop-a-razzi). All of our treats were embellished with printable logos, labels and tags to dress them up and keep with the theme.

The cupcake cookies were custom designed to match our printable graphics perfectly (Firefly Confections). They were too pretty to just set on a plate so we displayed then sticking out of ice cream parlor glassware with a cotton candy or M&M base to keep them upright for the perfect viewing.

We created the illusion of double scoop mock ice cream cones by using cotton candy in waffle cones. Fondant hearts finished off the top of the “ice cream” and ribbon with printable party logo on front of cone. Regular candy bars were wrapped in pink tissue paper (Nashville Wraps), and then with our printable wrapper. Rewrapping the chocolate bars in pink tissue helped keep the colors consistent instead of using the dark brown chocolate bar wrapper that comes standard. The chocolate bars were lined up on table on either side of the cake (tip: we used meringue cookies behind each chocolate bar to prop them up for better angles)

On the bistro table, we layered M&M’S in a glass sundae bowl and topped it off with Hershey’s KISSES (labeled with circular labels at the bottom) and Hershey’s mini chocolate bars (with printable candy bar wrappers). Drink wraps were used to embellish vintage soda bottles (My Little Love) filled with red soda pop. Red/white striped paper straws (My Little Love) were stuck into the red soda bottles and cupcake milkshakes with a printable flag embellishment and rik rak decor to hold the spoon beside the glass.

The children had a blast and were interested in every little detail of the party. Our printable collection shown is available in our shop here. The collection includes Valentine’s specific graphics as well as more general designs so that they could be used year round.

Credits and Sources:
– Production & Event Styling: Anders Ruff
– Printable Graphic Decor Collection: Anders Ruff
– Photography: Becca Bond Photography
– Handmade Dress, Pants & Tie: Made by Morgan
– Bracelet: Maggie Kate
– Ice Cream Containers: Polka Dot Market
– Glass Beverage Bottles: Shop Sweet Lulu
– Red & White Paper Straws: My Little Love
– Label Material for Printables: OnlineLabels.com
– Tissue Paper and Trims: Nashville Wraps
– Cake, Ice Cream Cone Cake Pops, Cruffles: Got What It Cakes
– Cupcake Sundaes & Mini Cupcakes: Cupcrazed Cakery
– Cupcake Cake Pops: Pop-a-razzi
– Sugar Cookies & Chocolate Heart Lollis: Firefly Confections
– Lollipops: Candy Warehouse