Life Lately // Our first Official House Party

Happy Friday my lovely lovely ladies! Sorry for the lack of posts this week but it has been a struggle with so much going on with my kiddos these last few weeks of school. We had our first official house party a couple weeks ago and  I know a few of you were messaging about the details so wanted to share some pics in today’s post! You girls know I love to host so I was so excited to finally break in the new house!

We haven’t had an official house warming party in our new home but we had the opportunity to host a fundraiser for our kids’ school and it just seemed like the perfect time to have everyone over while benefitting a good cause. The theme was Casino Royale and I just loved the idea of a chic James Bond theme!

For decor, we went with red and white chic florals and tons and tons of clear candles everywhere (that looked so pretty at night with our fireplace and backyard lights on too).

I had tons of random clear flower vases that I’ve “collected” (as my hubby likes to call it) over the years and they actually came in super handy for our event. We just added in some white candles and placed them all over the house.

A party is allllll about the cocktails right?! I rented a vintage style bar from my girl at Sweet Salvage Rentals and hired a bartender to come make craft cocktails for us and loved how the bar area turned out.

I didn’t want the theme to be too cheesy so I did little touches of the theme here and there. We used my bar cart at the entrance with some stacked champagne coups and a vintage Monte Carlo Casino pic and some bottles of champagne at the bottom to set the tone.

I had this sign created HERE with our James Bond signature cocktails for the night. It was a nice way to stick with the theme and also let the guests know there would be craft cocktails.

The dress attire was formal and it was so nice seeing all the guys in suits and the women all dressed up too! I wanted to wear something super formal and fancy but honestly, I waited too late and then when the gorgeous dress I ordered came in, I didn’t have enough time to have it altered. Luckily you can never go wrong with a comfy jumpsuit (that allows you to eat whatever you want 😉 and I swear Express makes the best budget-friendly ones! This one is from last year but they have several similar super cute options HERE if you’re on the hunt for one. I just added some fun statement earrings and ankle strap sandals.

We made the cheese plate and veggie platter but hired Fork, Knife and Spoon to cater and it was SO good! We will definitely be using them again (and you can see my LIFESTYLE highlights tab on Instagram to see more behind the scenes).

We did a small candy bar set up with some mini acrylics boxes, various bowls and mini scoopers and let’s just say at the end of the night this station was a hit! We just tried to stay in the red, black and gold color range and loved how it all came together. You can buy your candy in bulk (and by color) from the candy warehouse or get it on in bulk by color on Amazon HERE.

We cleared out our dining room to turn it into the casino room. Originally we were just going to do poker but at the last minute we added in a Black Jack table and I’m so glad we did. While the guys were playing poker all night the girls didn’t move from the Black Jack table.

And lastly, I rented a big hedge wall and then had the lovely ladies at Penelope Floral Designs add some florals in the same color scheme to it to create a photo backdrop for our guests. Glad I forced the hubby to take a few pictures in front of it too. 😉

And we couldn’t have been happier with how it all turned out! It was such a fun night and can’t wait to host another one!!