The Florida Girl

𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕪𝕝𝕖 𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕘𝕖𝕣 • 𝕞𝕠𝕞 • 𝕙𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕕𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕣 • 𝕗𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕠𝕟

Tic Tac Toe, I Love You So! Valentine’s Party

I love a good LOVE DAY and will use any excuse to decorate with red and pink! Wink Wink! Queue all the X’s and O’s, flowers and tutu’s! I repurposed some of last years DIY’s and some new goodies to create this little Tic Tac Toe, I Love You So Party. Scroll and pin away! X<3 X<3

This year’s Christmas gift has been coming in handy! My honey got me a new iPad and stylus and I downloaded the Sketchbook App and have been thoroughly enjoying it. Check out the sketch I dreamed up and sent to my girl Liz of Aquarelle USA for my balloon inspiration and then scroll to see the real life picture of how it came out! She nailed it!

FROM SKETCH…

TO REALITY!!

The lips form was my favorite new addition this year!!!

Hendrix helped me arrange these simple carnations in our oversized mixing bowl from the Target Dollar Spot and she was so proud! I must say, I was too!! I hope this girl grows up to love flowers as much as I do! Just look at that huge smile!

For a sweet tablescape, simply layer paper plates, decorative seasonal bowls, napkins, cups, silverware and straws and you are good to go!!

I couldn’t get rid of these cuties just yet! Here are last year’s DIY pennant wands!

Share The Love – Valentine Gift Basket Ideas

Here are some simple ideas to spoil your little one without breaking the bank! Oh, and spoiling your babes doesn’t have to be elaborate or crazy. Pick a theme or color pallet and run with it. Here are some of my go-to items I include in my holiday themed baskets!

Cute Basket or Crate – Doubles as Presentation and Storage

Pajamas

Books

Small Sweet Treat

Accessories

Themed Holiday Tumbler or Cup

1 – Love Is Book – Amazon

2 – Pajamas – Old Navy

3 – Heart Shaped Waffle Maker – Target

4 – Pajamas – Old Navy

5 – XOXO Sunglasses – Paper Source

6 – In My Heart Book – Amazon

7 – Foldable Crate – Urban Outfitters

8 – Hot Cocoa Bomb – Target

9 – Snickers Bar – Target

10 – Pajamas – Old Navy

11- Heart Shaped Tumbler – Paper Source

12 – Heart Shaped Pop It Keychain – Amazon

13 – I Love You To The Moon and Back Book – Amazon

visit @the_floridagirl for more holiday inspo!

Also, check out the past few years of LOVE!

Love Day Gift Basket Post

A Love Affair Post

Nothing But Love Post

Let Me Love You Valentine’s Day Basket Post

You’re Going to Love This Girly Football 4th Birthday Party

SCORE! Hendrix is FOUR!

Initially when my daughter Hendrix told me she wanted a football themed 4th birthday party I was a bit scared to be honest. I do love a good challenge, but my oh my, that was a huge one in my eyes! How does one create a girly, whimsical, colorful football party?

She gave me a few absolute wants for the party and that gave me a jumpstart I needed.  Cue all the footballs, whistles, cookies, and a bounce house. 

After establishing the theme I immediately put together a color pallet and created a mood board. I began reaching out to local vendors I knew would comprise the winning team.

I sketched the game plan & design ideas for months and sent all of them out to the team and they executed the plays perfectly!  There was zero chance of letting Hendrix down!  It was a huge victory!

Party Planning + Concept + Styling: Jen Feliciano, The Florida Girl @the_floridagirl

Venue: Veterans Park, Delray Beach, FL

Photography: LV Photography @lvphotographyllc

Picnic Setup + Curation: Magnolia Sunsets @magnoliasunsets

Bounce House: Island Bounce House @islandbouncehouse

Balloon Backdrop + Installations: Aquarelle USA

Locker + Peg Board Backdrops: Jen Feliciano, The Florida Girl @the_floridagirl

Acrylic Signage + Accessories: Floral Dust @floraldust_

Marquee Letters: Alpha Lit South Florida @alphalitsofl

Floral Design: Jen Feliciano, The Florida Girl @the_floridagirl

Cake + Cakecicles: Petal & Pear Cake Design

Cookies: Confetti Confections

Vegan Artisan Ice Pops: Pop Shack 561

Paper Goods: The Party Darling @thepartydarling

Custom Color Table Cover + Football Crayons: Creative Crayons Workshop @creativecrayonsworkshop

Kids Football Jersey Shirts: Amazon by: Jen Feliciano, The Florida Girl @the_floridagirl

Custom Favor Boxes: Amazon by: Jen Feliciano, The Florida Girl @the_floridagirl 

you’re ONE in a million

How do you design a party without a theme? You use your kid’s face, that’s how!

Get ready for the most dreamy & sophisticated yet kid-friendly party consisting of a color pallet of soft creams, buttery tones and warm brown accented with a fun blue-teal pop of color. Custom handmade details like the welcome sign, hanging backdrop, “one year of Bodhi” sign, handwritten acrylic food signage, & party favors are what create the special & personalized touches.

Our son, Bodhi is ONE in a million. I snapped a picture of him lying in our bed holding his feet when he was 7 months old and KNEW that picture would be the inspiration that drove all of the details of his 1st birthday party. My goal was to have a sophisticated & kid-friendly party that everyone would swoon over.

I recently attended an event at Bluebell hq and was blown away. I immediately determined I wanted to have the party in their space. It was the perfect blank canvas for me to create the my dream 1st birthday for our son!

Food is life, am I right? Just check out this spread! It was seriously a dream come true!

Although design is my passion and career and I love having my hand in all aspects of the event, the reality of it is, I also know I can’t do it all. This allows me to collaborate with some of the most talented people and brands to help me bring my vision to life.

My biggest tip to start planning as early as possible. When I began planning nearly 5 months ahead, some thought I was crazy, but if you pace yourself and spread it out a little at a time, the small details (which create the “WOW FACTOR” at the event) seem less daunting. Getting such an early start also allows me to stay organized, reach out to brands I want to collaborate with, and be sure all of the individual items are going to flow together.

Concept, Design, Styling, & Photography: Jen Feliciano, The Florida Girl (www.florida-girl.com) @the_floridagirl (www.instagram/thefloridagirl.com)

Event Space: Bluebell hq (www.bluebellhq.com)

Balloon Garland: Aquarelle (www.instagram/aquarelle.com)

Charcuterie Spread: Apricot & Olive (www.instagram/apricotandolive.com)

Round Acrylic Sign & Drink Stirrers: Floral Dust (www.floraldust.com)

Acrylic Sign at Photo Backdrop: Modern Birch Co. (www.modernbirchco.com)

Floral Design: Jen Feliciano, The Florida Girl (www.florida-girl.com) @the_floridagirl (www.instagram/thefloridagirl.com)

Roses: Grace Rose Farm (www.gracerosefarm.com)

Paper Tableware for kids table & dessert table: Oh Happy Day Party Shop (www.shop.ohhappyday.com)

Cake: Sugar & Bloom Cakes (www.sugarandbloomcakes.squarespace.com)

Cookies: Sugar Cookies by Anne (www.etsy.com/shop/sugarcookiesbyanne)

Key Lime Pies: Key Lime to Happiness (www.keylimetohappiness.com)

Donuts: Dandee Donut Factory  (www.dandeedonuts.com) & Donut Bragger (www.donutbragger.com)

Kids Sensory Dough Kits: MamaMaliDough (www.etsy.com/shop/mamamalidough)

Knit Dolls: Cuddle and Kind (www.cuddleandkind.com)

Come dance with me, I’m 3!

Baby girl, you ARE the party!

Tutu & Jacket by IlovePlum Shoes by Vans

Our daughter, Hendrix has always been the life of the party so naturally a dance theme birthday was the perfect way to celebrate her, and she was all for it! Plus, there’s nothing like getting all dolled up, blaring music, and dancing your butt off, am I right?

I’m not sure what you might expect at a 3-year old’s dance party, but I think it had to include tons of frills, endless sweets, and a tremendous amount of bling. Hands down, the disco ball had to have been the most widely used décor item of 2020, needless to say, it was the perfect accessory to create all the magic and bling.

One of my biggest tips when planning party is to create several zones. One way to tie décor together from each zone is by using various hues of your color palette. Danielle, owner of The Stylish Detail, created this gorgeous custom fringe backdrop for the dance floor area by using desaturated colors that tied in with the florals and the wooden divider.

Yup, that is the face I made too. I know baby girl, it’s true, we made the divider wall from scratch. It actually wasn’t that hard to make (says the one who designed it and wasn’t really the one who “made” it). I did paint it though (that counts, right? LOL) This simple DIY divider will forever be the best idea. It blocked and hid our sliding glass doors. I plan to use it time and time again to hide things I don’t want to visually see and add texture and color. I need to paint the blush panel out now for my son’s first birthday in a few weeks! I have a DIY Backdrop highlight reel on my Instagram about how we made these!

Setting the table and creating the backdrop in that zone was an event in itself! It was an incredibly windy day… like 10-20 mph gusts crazy…all day! Mama was slightly freaking out (aka a lot)! One would never know from these photos though! My hubby created a PVC miracle and mounted it to our hurricane shutter pegs! Yes, you heard that correct. I had visions of hanging disco balls and handmade pompoms from “something”. After many hours of brainstorming together he made it happen!

Modern Birch Co. nailed it with this custom acrylic name for the backdrop wall. Scroll to see the custom drink stirrers she made us also!

Table setting is all about layering and creating lots of texture, levels and movement. So many details of a tablescape get overlooked so here are some amazing angles and close-ups!

The DIY Candle block centerpiece was probably one of the most talked about and asked about item of the party! I saw this idea on Instagram and knew my hubby could make it for me for just a few bucks, and he sure did! Check out the IG Highlight Reel about the Party Deets where I cover all the details of how we made it.

There are those Modern Birch Co. drink stir sticks! Pro tip: Mix real tableware with paper goods and use a cute accessory like a mini disco ball to hold down paper cups (especially on windy days)!

My closest girlfriend Shauna of @stayinghomesawyer made these adorable music note cut-out placemats for me with her cricut! If you remember, she made me some of the same ones with lemons for our Blogger Summer Soiree.

That sign though!! Floral Dust knew exactly what I wanted when I described my vision to her! This 18″ diameter custom acrylic sign with hand painted background and gold leaf was the perfect showstopper! She also created our gorgeous cake topper.

When we do sweets, we go big or go home! Our local bakery, Two Fat Cookies, always knocks my vision out of the park! This custom cake was the sweetest part of Hendrix’s day!

At every great party, there is a V.I.B (very important babe) lounge, right? We took our little outdoor seating area and dolled it up with some cute pillows, a cozy blanket & some florals, of course! (PS., these décor & home accessories were all things we previously had – that is the best and easiest way to decorate a party and add tons of texture & color – shop your own home…bring the indoors out!)

Needless to say we are all looking around dumbfounded how we already have a sweet 3 year old (Ummmm, actually 3-1/2 year old now due to how slow I was to get this blog out)! Where did that year go!?

Easter Basket For Kids

Easter is no longer just about candy for me anymore since having kids. I love to see the joy and excitement on their faces when they see their holiday gift baskets. Last years Easter basket had huge meaning for us! Check out the blog post here, Easter Basket Gender Reveal. I knew it would be hard to top that set of baskets, but these come pretty darn close! They are filled with all the best goodies!

These are my top 4 simple tips in order to create the perfect holiday basket:

1) Buy items you would already be purchasing or need anyway.

2) Purchase shoes in the next size to get longer use.

3) Purchase one seasonal/holiday item.

4) Add a little sweet treat or novelty item for a special surprise.

When it comes time to staging them and having all of the items show (especially if you are photographing them) use old rolled up hand towels and filler to stuff and fill the baskets. I used brown construction paper to fill the bottom of the baskets and bring all of the goodies up to the top to be more visible. I rolled hand towels and used them to fill and prop the items up as well.

Here are all the items I snagged for Bodhi’s basket:

And check out all the goods for Hendrix:

For more holiday basket inspiration, head to these posts: Valentine’s Day “Love Day Gift Basket” or “Let Me Love You Valentine’s Day Basket” , St. Patty’s Day “Ultimate St. Patty’s Day Basket Guide”

Love Day Gift Basket

One of my favorite quotes is “Love always, in all ways”…and I’ve got nothin’ but love so I sprinkle it like confetti!

Are kids Valentine’s Day baskets necessary? No. Are they fun? Yes! My babes are only so young once and I love spoiling them when I can and spreading the love. That is why I enjoy creating and giving special gift baskets like these for the holidays.

Some of the basics I like to include in my holiday themed baskets are:
An original/unique “basket” of some sort
Cute name tags
Books
Pajamas
Flowers
Sweet treats (this year hot cocoa bombs were all the rage!)
Holiday Pennant Wands (see my Instagram highlight reel for DIY)
Themed Cups or Tableware
*The links to most all of my items in our baskets this year are below*

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13

Here are a few other holiday baskets I have created in the past! Happy viewing! Hop to it, Spring! Easter Basket Gender Reveal Ultimate St. Patty’s Day Basket Guide

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

How many trees are too many? Asking for a friend (just kidding, I am asking for me). I saw these cute Christmas tree cupcakes by Preppy Kitchen on Pinterest and HAD to make them! They were a hit, obvi!

Ingredients:
Homemade Red Velvet Cake (See Preppy Kit Link above) or store-bought
Dinky Dippers Mini Cones
Homemade White Icing (See Preppy Kit Link above) or store-bought
2 Pastry Bags
2 Cake Decorating Tips (1 standard round opening, 1 star tip)
Cupcake Baking Pan
Cupcake Liners
Confectioners Sugar for Dusting “Snow”
*I cut one corner and made a box kit of red velvet cupcakes! Sue me! LOL

Directions:
Make cupcakes per Preppy Kit instructions or box
Pipe or spread white icing on cupcakes
Coat mini cones with green icing using a butterknife
Set green iced cone on top of the iced cupcake
Use a pastry bag with a star tip to create the tree texture
Dust with confectioners sugar for a “snow” look
Eat your face off!

These little Christmas tree cupcakes fit right in with all of our bottle brush trees…but only for a very short time before they were scarfed down. Not only are these cuties easy to make they are super yummy!

And who doesn’t eat cupcakes with an I Love Plum tutu on? I know I would if they came in my size! LOL, Our new favorite tutu is the L.O.L Tutu dress in Pixie Pink! Look at the little cut-out shoulder detail! So cute.

Nothing to see here…just a girl dressed adorably eating a delicious cupcake.

Very cooky, not spooky, boo-nanas

Items Needed:
Baking Sheet w/ cooling rack
Parchment paper
Fresh bananas
Meltable chocolate
Popsicle sticks
Sprinkles
Decorative googly-eye candies

Directions:
-Melt chocolate according to package directions
-Cut bananas in half
-Dip a portion of the stick into the melted chocolate to act as a “glue” and insert into banana
-Dip banana into melted chocolate
-Decorate with sprinkles as cooky as possible 🙂
-Refrigerate for 2-4 hours to set
-Enjoy

DIY Ghoul-friend Bowling Set

Hey ghoul-friend, hey! This year’s holidays look a little different. We are not only getting creative with designs we have to get creative with activities that keep us entertained! 🙂 Que the ghoul-friend ghost bowling set!

This Halloween season may not be filled with trick-or-treating, costumes, or goblins, but it can still be loaded with fun! This simple DIY sure did keep Hendrix occupied for weeks.

A quick order from Michael’s craft store and some things I had around the house and strike, we have the perfect game.

Acrylic Paint
Plastic Mason Jars
Sponge Paintbrush
Sharpie or Black Acrylic Paint

Optional: Tulle Ribbon for decor, interest & texture as well as a filler for inside the jars to make them heavier in order to make it harder to knock them over.

Step 1: pick your favorite paint and let the little hands help you paint the plastic jars.

Step 2: After allowing the main color paint to dry, use black paint or sharpie to draw a ghost face.

Step 3: Allow all the paint to thoroughly dry and then return the lids back on the plastic jars. You can fill the jars with crinkle paper, candy or leave them empty. *I added a tulle ribbon and tied it around a few of the jars to create more texture and interest. We also made those with the ribbon worth more points if she could knock them over.

What’s so great about this little craft is, they are dual-purpose! These jars would make the perfect little gift for neighbors, family, and friends once you are done using them as bowling pins.