This French Theme Birthday party was originally hosted by Chris from Celebrations at Home.
——
Ok, I’m officially in love with this party! It’s so unique. I love all the french touches that she obviously brought from the inside of her home to the outside. It’s all just so lovely!
Enjoy…..
This past weekend I hosted a birthday party for my husband. We went with a French Happy Hour theme as sort of a nod to the time we spent in France, BC(before children). For the decor, I used what I already had, and was so pleased with the result. Hope you like it! (click on pics to view larger)
Guests were greeted with French wine and champagne! I set up this area with a pvc pipe frame system to hold old frames, a ‘C’ for Chuck, and curtain panels to frame it all out. I brought out an old chest to act as a bar, and iced the champagne in a garden urn.
A little taste of France: Goat cheese toasts w/caramelized onions, Brie tarts with strawberry preserves, mini quiches, and “french” fries served in paper cones with a fleur de lis embelishment. An old suit case was used to serve the toasts out of, and pictures from our trip created a ‘banner’ above.
The dessert table served up fruit tartlets, palmiers, croquembouche, and these divine macarons from Petites Bouchees. I chose the chocolate-espresso buttercream, and the hazelnut-caramel. Delicious! If you are in need of macarons, check out Petite Bouchees.
I used drawers to display the macarons, an urn for height and to hold the palmiers, and a frame fitted with ‘post card’ scrapbook paper to hold the fruit tarts. Other decorative elements were a globe, some French books I picked up in Paris, and a candeliere hanging above.
Take home favors consisted of various monogrammed items: note pads, coaster sets, and note cards. The bags were wrapped with coordinating paper used throughout the party, and a monogram tag was attached with fleur de lis wax seal. Another vintage suit case was used to help display the favors.
You can see lots more photos in our Facebook album.
Zune and iPod: Most people compare the Zune to the Touch, but after seeing how slim and surprisingly small and light it is, I consider it to be a rather unique hybrid that combines qualities of both the Touch and the Nano. It’s very colorful and lovely OLED screen is slightly smaller than the touch screen, but the player itself feels quite a bit smaller and lighter. It weighs about 2/3 as much, and is noticeably smaller in width and height, while being just a hair thicker.
The Zune concentrates on being a Portable Media Player. Not a web browser. Not a game machine. Maybe in the future it’ll do even better in those areas, but for now it’s a fantastic way to organize and listen to your music and videos, and is without peer in that regard. The iPod’s strengths are its web browsing and apps. If those sound more compelling, perhaps it is your best choice.
Between me and my husband we’ve owned more MP3 players over the years than I can count, including Sansas, iRivers, iPods (classic & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few years I’ve settled down to one line of players. Why? Because I was happy to discover how well-designed and fun to use the underappreciated (and widely mocked) Zunes are.
The new Zune browser is surprisingly good, but not as good as the iPod’s. It works well, but isn’t as fast as Safari, and has a clunkier interface. If you occasionally plan on using the web browser that’s not an issue, but if you’re planning to browse the web alot from your PMP then the iPod’s larger screen and better browser may be important.
Hands down, Apple’s app store wins by a mile. It’s a huge selection of all sorts of apps vs a rather sad selection of a handful for Zune. Microsoft has plans, especially in the realm of games, but I’m not sure I’d want to bet on the future if this aspect is important to you. The iPod is a much better choice in that case.
Hands down, Apple’s app store wins by a mile. It’s a huge selection of all sorts of apps vs a rather sad selection of a handful for Zune. Microsoft has plans, especially in the realm of games, but I’m not sure I’d want to bet on the future if this aspect is important to you. The iPod is a much better choice in that case.
The Zune concentrates on being a Portable Media Player. Not a web browser. Not a game machine. Maybe in the future it’ll do even better in those areas, but for now it’s a fantastic way to organize and listen to your music and videos, and is without peer in that regard. The iPod’s strengths are its web browsing and apps. If those sound more compelling, perhaps it is your best choice.
This is getting a bit more subjective, but I much prefer the Zune Marketplace. The interface is colorful, has more flair, and some cool features like ‘Mixview’ that let you quickly see related albums, songs, or other users related to what you’re listening to. Clicking on one of those will center on that item, and another set of “neighbors” will come into view, allowing you to navigate around exploring by similar artists, songs, or users. Speaking of users, the Zune “Social” is also great fun, letting you find others with shared tastes and becoming friends with them. You then can listen to a playlist created based on an amalgamation of what all your friends are listening to, which is also enjoyable. Those concerned with privacy will be relieved to know you can prevent the public from seeing your personal listening habits if you so choose.