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Queen City Coterie

A collaborative event planning company curating the best vendors, ideas, and items together to help

06/06/2022

Whew! I realize that it has been a bit since I’ve posted, but we have been BUSY (which I am so very thankful for)! Can’t wait to share what all we’ve been up to soon, but in the meantime, I just wanted to pop on and say hi, and thank you for continuing to support us in this fun little venture! For now, here’s a photo from my daughter’s 4th birthday “in Oz” - detail posts coming soon 😉 🌈

12/04/2022

With it being Easter AND my daughter’s 4th Birthday this week, I can’t help by think back to the vintage Easter “Some bunny is 1!” party we threw for her very first birthday back in 2019!

It was my first big personal party, tornadoes were in the forecast (just like the day she was born), we ended up doing it half inside and half outside so I had to nix some of my plans, but otherwise, everyone had a blast and it turned out beautifully. I’ll share all the details in the coming days because, like all my parties, it was chalk full of them, but I had to share some of my favorites first.

25/03/2022

Elle’s Lucky 4 - Vendor Roundup for Follow Friday!

One thing I’ve learned during all of my years of event planning is that you can’t do it all, so having good vendors is crucial. This party was no different - we couldn’t have made it happen without some amazing vendors.

Be sure to give them a follow and check out their amazing work:
🍀Cake & custom cookies:
💖Balloon bouquets & personalized jumbo balloon:
🍀Yard decor:

Did you know that we will be happy to hook you up with the perfect vendors too? Vendor recs come with our upper level packages, but, you can purchase it as a standalone option as well. Either way, we’ll make sure to match you with the best vendors for your event!

24/03/2022

Elle’s Lucky 4 - Theme Thursday!

Normally, I like to share a new theme on Thursdays, but today, I’m telling you all about how this one came about.

Last year, when I was starting my business, I asked about everyone’s dream theme and Elle’s Mama told me about this one. She loved green, there is some Irish ancestry involved, Elle’s birthday is right before St. Patrick’s day, and she was turning 4 this year so perfect idea! I was so excited that we got to work together to make it happen!

We went with a preppy gingham and added in hot pink and gold polka dots and sparkle, and focused on the shamrock aspect of St. Patrick’s day (instead of leprechauns) and I love how it turned out as a beautiful shamrock soirée instead of your typical St. Paddy’s Day celebration! 💖🍀

Here at QCC, we love unique themes like this, so whether or not you already have one in mind (if not, we can help you there too), let us help you make your dream theme a reality!

24/03/2022

Elle’s Lucky 4 - Food

Party food is often an overlooked element of planning, and while it is completely fine to throw out some cake and simple snacks, here at QCC, we like to use the food as an extension of the theme, and to make the party even more fun.

Did you know that if you book one of our upper level packages, menu planning is included, but, if not, we have an a la cart option for it as well. That means, we can also take that pressure off your plate (pun intended)

When planning the menu, I always ask about your guest list (mainly adults, mainly kids, a mix, etc) and I like to include a few family/guest of honor favorites if possible.

For Elle’s party, it was mainly adults with a few kids mixed in, so I wanted a menu that catered to both. I also found out that Elle loves cheese and chips and dip, so we, of course added those to the menu.

We tied in as much color as possible with the food items, but, we also plated everything on matching gold dot platters, and put the dips in shamrock bowls to make it more cohesive. I also designed table tent labels with “Elle’s Lucky…” to further tie in the theme. The food was all a hit (especially that treat tray), so we chose well.

What is your must have menu item for parties?

22/03/2022

Tidbit Tuesday: Color Scheme

When you are planning your event, I highly recommend that you to define a color scheme. This is especially helpful if you are working with very specific prominent colors. For sweet Elle’s party, I sent her Mama all of these color schemes (see last photo), and she chose a combination of Option 2, with the green gingham of number 5. I was then able to take this color scheme, put it in her invitations and party printables, take it with me shopping to ensure everything matched, and even take it to my vendors to guide them. As you can see, we were able to almost exactly match the colors (and if not exact match, at least not clash) in every aspect of the party. Green was a favorite color of this Mama, and her daughter likes pink so perfect combination that I was so thankful we were able to pull off.

If you are unsure how to create a color palette/scheme, just Google “color scheme generator” or “color palette generator” and you’ll see lots of options to play with. There are even some that allow you to pull colors from your favorite image!

If you were to design a party around your favorite color combo, what would it be? I actually had the chance to do this for our wedding (I took my favorite color, purple, and my husband’s, green and tied it all in together with peacock feathers and mixed metallics) and at my daughter’s baptism reception (we did different shades of purple and mixed metallics - a lot of leftover wedding decor).

21/03/2022

Elle’s Lucky 4 💖🍀 - Mock-ups

I’m a super visual person, so I love making mock-ups for my events to ensure everything flows well together and it makes setup day so much easier because I’m not fumbling around trying to decide where to put things. *Fun fact: if you book one of my larger packages, I’ll do a mock-up for you too!

Anyway, I had the client send me pictures of the two rooms she wanted to use for the party, and I mocked up a couple of different options, and we chose our favorites - these in particular.

Swipe to see the mock-ups vs the reality. Although it usually varies slightly (if only real-life set up was as easy as clicking and dragging), mock-ups definitely help give you an idea of where things should go and how they look all together in the space.

Would you be interested in seeing more of my party mock-ups in the future? Let me know in the comments!

20/03/2022

3.19.22 Elle’s Lucky 4 Party 🍀💖

Still pinching ourselves after getting to design, plan, and execute our FIRST in-person event yesterday (as opposed to just our virtual planning services)! More details to come, but thanks to my sweet friend Dana Fannin for supporting my little business, and entrusting me with her little one’s birthday party, and to all the vendors who made yesterday a success! Stay tuned for more details on this sweet shamrock filled soirée! 💖🍀

🍀Design and planning: Queen City Coterie
💖Balloon Bouquets & Jumbo Balloon: Tuscaloosa Yard Party
🍀Yard signs: Eventualities Tuscaloosa
💖Water bottle labels, invitation, signs, and food labels - Maegie Sue's Boutique
🍀Cake & custom cookies- Alley Cake Co.

14/03/2022

Happy Pi Day! ⁠
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Probably no surprise that we love celebrating anything and everything around here (including random holidays) so you better believe we're going to be celebrating Pi Day this evening!⁠
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Now, before you roll your eyes thinking that I'm probably planning some over the top celebration, I promise I'm not and you don't have to either! Just grab a pizza and your favorite pie flavor (we're grabbing both from Fresh Market), and BAM! a fun dinner and celebration all in one! ⁠
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If you could have any pie tonight, what would it be?

*Pro Tip: If you want to keep up with all of these random holidays, download the “Holiday Today” app - so easy, and you can even add the holidays you want to your calendar!

11/03/2022

Happy Birthday to US! Today, Queen City Coterie is officially 1! 🎉
To celebrate, we’re giving you 10% any of our virtual party plans in the shop for the next week! Just use code 1STBDAY when you order. Thank you all for making the first year so much fun! Here’s to many more parties in our future! 💜

08/03/2022

Happy International Women’s Day! Tagging 10 of our favorite party & gift, women-owned small businesses! Go give them a follow and share YOUR favorites (even if it is your own) below! 💜

1.)
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4.) .learning
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8.)
9.)
10.)

22/02/2022

Happy “Twos”day and National Margarita Day!

All the twos, and the taco/margarita references had me thinking back to this sweet Tacos & Tutus shower we threw for one of my friends back in May 2017. It wasn’t perfect, and we battled the rain and wind that day, but I loved how the details for this party came together.

Favorite details:
💜 We started with her nursery colors (navy and lavender) and planned the party around that so some of the party decor items turned into nursery decor items!
💜I created a custom talavera inspired pattern to serve as the background for the paper products.
💜We did a self-serve taco bar and “piñata cupcakes” I made to look like little ballerinas and filled with lavender candies.
💜For drinks, we had homemade Blackberry Lime Margarita, and lavender lemonade in margarita glasses with a lavender sugar rim. (And I purposefully chose the colors of these two drinks to match the color scheme). Also, my husband is a former bartender, so I love to include signature drinks!
💜The tiny margarita glasses with tutus filled with lavender and white Mexican gum as the party favors!
💜A taco night themed basket for the winner of the diaper raffle

Such a fun, and dare I say, “tutu cute” party idea! 😉

Check out my blog post here with all the party details and a link to a similar Blackberry Lime Margarita recipe!

https://www.queencitycoterie.com/post/real-party-tacos-tutus-baby-shower

Are you doing anything special for TWOSday and National Margarita Day? Share below!

01/02/2022

Happy Lunar/Chinese New Year! One of my daughter’s friends is from China, so they have been learning about the Chinese New Year at school, so last night, we continued the celebration with takeout and a few treats from our favorite local Chinese restaurant/Asian market and a viewing of Mulan. See my stories for how my mini event planner (she’s almost 4) styled her toddler table for dinner with Mulan toys, tigers, other animals, and even a random twig from outside - chip off the old block for sure! 😉

Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, prosperous year of the tiger! 🐅

04/01/2022

🍝Happy National Spaghetti Day!🍝

I don't know about you, but we love some good pasta around our house, so any excuse to have it for dinner is good in my book! ;)

Speaking of pasta, this week's tip is all about food: Interactive Food Bars!

I've already talked about how I like to provide activities for our guests to keep them busy and one way I like to do this is with interactive food bars! It is a fun way to present the food and avoid catering (pun intended) to everyone's tastes. We've done a shrimp and grits/mashed potato bar; a carving station; a salad-tini station; a popcorn bar; a hot chocolate bar; cookie bar; dessert bar; candy bar; drink bar; burger bar; taco bar; chili bar; etc - the possibilities are endless! We haven't done this yet, but how fun would it be to do a pasta bar with different sauces, proteins, toppings etc - YUM!

Some tips for making your interactive food bars run smoothly:
🍴Think about flow and put ingredients in the order that guests would add them. i.e. put the pasta first since that would be the base!
🍴 Provide a variety of ingredients and toppings - this is what makes it fun!
🍴Think about your ingredients and how it will be served. I like to lay out my table with serving dishes and tags (so I know where everything goes) to make sure I have what I need and that everything can be served the way it should be (cold items - cold and warm items - warm).
🍴Don't forget serving utensils!

Have you ever experienced an interactive food bar? If so, what was it?

03/01/2022

Happy Birthday Tolkien!⁠
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Do I have any Lord of the Rings fans around here? I I'm not what you would consider a "fan", but between having to sit through all of The Hobbit movies with my husband's family, and listening to my husband read out of one of the "Lord of the Rings" books to our daughter every night before bed (her choice 🤣), I know enough to be dangerous 😉 and I think a Lord of the Rings party would be so much fun to plan! Any takers? 😉 🧝‍♀️ 🧙‍♂️ 💍 🌋

30/12/2021

Whew! How are we already at the end of the year?!? This year has been a doozy, so I've dropped the ball on social media (sorry), but I'm still here, planning parties and helping you all celebrate your events so don't forget about me! :) I've got some fun stuff coming up in 2022 that I can't wait to share with you all so stay tuned!

Anyway, since we're just a few days away from ringing in the New Year, I thought I would share some last-minute party inspiration and ideas - especially perfect for those of you who are ringing in the New Year at home in your jammies (like me 🙋🏻‍♀️). Check it out on the blog:

https://www.queencitycoterie.com/post/new-years-eve-ideas

Do you do anything fun for the New Year? If so, share with me below!

08/07/2021

🦈Theme Thursday: Shark Week!🦈⁠
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I'm pausing my daughter's birthday recap to pick back up with our theme Thursdays in honor of next week's "Shark Week". Check out the blog (linked below) for my shark week inspiration board and stay tuned to social media next week as we try some of these out!⁠
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Are you a shark week fan? If so, do you do anything fun! Be sure to share!

https://www.queencitycoterie.com/post/theme-thursday-shark-week

07/07/2021

Eliza’s Pastel “3” Ring Circus

When it comes to parties, I love including traditions and sentimental touches. For our daughter, we started a few little traditions - one of my favorite being these foil stamped custom napkins. I ordered them for her first birthday (with a bunny for her bunny themed bash), again for her 2nd belated witches’ “Tea for Two” and then obviously for her 3 ring circus! It is a sweet little keepsake I include in her baby book from all of her events.

Another accidental tradition we have started is serving this yummy purple punch. We served it at our Halloween-themed gender reveal (we did purple and green, our favorite colors, instead of traditional pink and blue), and then again for her baptism, and every one of her birthday parties.

Do you have any traditions you include in your parties?

14/06/2021

Eliza’s “3” Ring Circus Part II: Food Table

Some folks like to create a dessert table as a focal point, but I like to put all of the food on one table and make the cake the focal point. For Eliza’s party, we served traditional circus fare that also happens to be some of my daughter’s favorites - nachos, pretzels, corn dogs, and we added in some fruit for good measure.

Believe it or not, the backdrop was made with all tablecloths repurposed as curtains - just goes to show you can do a lot with a little creativity!

08/06/2021

Eliza’s “3” Ring Circus Party - Entry - Along with the first impression of the invitation, a decorated entry way is also important! For Eliza’s party, we had a giant inflatable elephant and an elephant that Eliza received from my best friend and MOH in my wedding at my baby shower to help greet our guests. I also made the directional sign, and had a copy of her invitation along with a page from her baby book for folks to sign.

The guest tables were donned with plenty of party animals and peanuts (for the elephants of course). They were also supposed to have tulle, balloons, and tickets but the wind was not our friend so we had to pare it down (and still had to chase down flying circus animals 😉). The kids honestly had so much fun running around (and carrying the animals), they weren’t too concerned with what was (or was not) on the tables 😉🎪🦓🦙🦒🦣🐅

27/05/2021

“Just join the circus like you wanted to, when you were a kid. Climb aboard before it moved on and you’ll thank your lucky stars you did” - Barnum Cast

When planning a party, my starting point is always the invitation because it is the first impression your guest get of your event. This is one of the main reasons I love designing my own invitations, and have always done so for my daughter’s parties and this one was no different. I designed this pastel (but emphasis on purple) vintage circus ticket-inspired invitation and although I love a good paper invitation, sometimes, logistically a digital invitation makes more sense - and this party was a perfect example of this. My daughter (yep, she helped) and I had so much fun taking my design and turning it into this interactive evite that still gave our guests a similar experience to opening an actual invitation, but with an added element of some fun music (chosen by the birthday girl herself) to get our guests in the spirit. It was a hit and really set the mood for our party!

25/05/2021

I'm sorry to bail on you guys after our big 3-ring circus party, but after the party, life became an actual circus, and I have been spending the past month juggling everything from teaching/work and a busy social calendar to dealing with replacing broken AC units in our home. Whew!

Anyway, I'm back, now that things have slowed down slightly, with birthday party recaps, as well as some fun ideas for summer celebrations! Thanks for hanging in there with me and Stay Tuned!

P.S. If you don't know me in real life, this is yours truly and my sweet little family at my daughter's 3rd birthday party!

08/04/2021

Sorry to go MIA on y’all - between work, Easter, and party prep I’ve been busy! Since we are only a couple of days away from our party, I thought I would take you behind the scenes in my stories for some last minute party prep, but, in the meantime, here’s a sneak peek of my plans and a couple of the custom elements I am working on for her party! 💜🎪 (And, yes, I painted that candle so excuse any imperfections - I told you I have to customize everything! 😉). I can’t wait to share the details and the final result, but, with the help of some of my favorite vendors, I know it will be even better than I envisioned 😉. Stay tuned!

26/03/2021

Featured Vendor Friday: Mylah Balloon

Whew! It has been a week! Between work, party planning, and another round of severe weather yesterday, I missed out on posting Wednesday and Thursday, but, never fear - I'm back with another featured vendor Friday and today, I'm featuring another "friendor" (friend and vendor ;)): Mylah Ballon!

Mylah Balloon's owner, Margaret Ila, and I go way back to my Alabama football days (I volunteered as a recruiting hostess for 10 years and she was helping coordinate the hostesses in my later years). Years later, when she started her company, I remember her reaching out to me to offer up her services, but it wasn't until Eliza's 1st Birthday in April 2019 that we were able to join forces ;)

Since then, she's been rolling with my crazy ideas (like creating a giant Minnie mouse head, a balloon Easter basket handle, and "bubbling" cauldron just to name a few ;)) and creating the cutest pieces for our events. She'll even throw in purple if it works with the theme, since she knows it is my color ;).

Visit her page on Instagram .balloon to see some of her amazing work (you'll even see our 80s party, our Pancakes & Pjs party, and Eliza's 1st Birthday party there! ;)) and, if you are local to Tuscaloosa, contact her to help make your next party extra cute!

23/03/2021

Happy National Puppy Day and Tidbit Tuesday! 🐾 I have a doggone good tip for you today (that fits right along with the holiday): keeping your guests active!

If you are a dog owner, you know that if you don't keep those puppies busy and active, they can get into trouble, but did you know, the same applies to your human party guests too?

Think back to the best event you ever attended - it can be a wedding, a bridal shower, birthday party - just one that sticks out fondly in your memories. I would almost bet that the reason you liked the event is because you had a great experience while there. Sure, you might have loved the decor or some element, but in most cases, we remember the experiences. Think about that when planning your events!

Examples of some interactive elements activities for your guests:
🐾 Contests & games - Guess the jelly beans, number of diapers in a diaper cake, baby's birth date/weight, best decorated cookie, best ugly sweater, raffles, present bingo, etc.
🐾 Photo Booth - You don't have to have a fancy professional set up for a photo booth. Throw up a cute backdrop, some props and let folks snap selfies (and, you can always include a hashtag for social media so you can see all the snaps)
🐾Arts and Crafts - Decorating cookies, coloring a picture, painting, jewelry making, etc. My only suggestion is if you are not making it a big part of the party (i.e. everyone doing it all at the same time) make it easy enough kids can do it independently
🐾Interactive food/activity bars - At our wedding we had a popcorn bar with seasonings and toppings and it was a huge hit (we are actually doing something similar with Eliza's 3rd birthday), but we've also done interactive favor bars for kids parties (we had a build your own Easter basket for my daughter's 1st birthday and a "trick or treat" bar for her 2nd)
🐾Physical activities - Bounce houses, races, Baby Bootcamp (where you complete different parenting activities), co****le, ring toss - anything to get folks moving!

Need help coming up with activities for your next event? We can totally help with that! It comes as part our upper level packages, but there's also an a la carte option for just activities too!

Do you have a favorite activity event? If so, share below! It can be something you beeline to at every event or something you've only seen done once or twice before!

22/03/2021

Happy Monday and Happy Spring! 🌸⁠
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I don't know about you, but the arrival of spring always feels like a cause for celebration after the long, cold winter months!⁠
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I have lots of fun celebration inspiration coming your way, including some "behind the scenes" as I prep for my daughter's 3rd birthday party so stay tuned!⁠
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Do you have any big celebrations for this spring? ⁠
⁠

19/03/2021

Happy National Sleep Day! 💤🛌

In honor of this fun holiday, I'm sharing my top 5 tips for hosting a sleepover on the blog (link in profile), and featuring my first vendor, Slumber Camp, who will help make your sleepover a success (and super cute!).

If you aren't familiar with Slumber Camp, they are a company here in Tuscaloosa owned by a friend of mine, that will set up (and take down) an adorably styled sleepover set up for your guests! They have the CUTEST themes, and although they handle almost everything for you, I'll be happy to handle any additional details and will even work with them to set up everything for your event. Check out their precious work at https://slumbercamp.wixsite.com/slumbercamp

PS If you aren't local to Tuscaloosa, check around as these little companies are popping up everywhere! Let me know if you need help finding one that services your area and I'll do my best to help you find one!

Although I'm not sure you'll be setting up a sleepover in honor of today, I hope you get rest regardless! ;)

18/03/2021

Theme Thursday - Rainbows 🌈

Even though St. Patrick's Day is over, I've still got rainbows on my mind - especially after last night's rough weather here in Alabama, so I thought rainbows were the perfect theme for our first "Theme Thursday"

A rainbow themed party is perfect for spring, and of course, St. Patrick's Day, but is appropriate for any time of the year. Plus, it lends itself to so many other themes - Wizard of Oz, showers, painting/art, "You Are My Sunshine", unicorn, fiesta...seriously, so many ideas!

Visit the link below to see some of my favorite “Rainbow Party” inspiration photos as well as a link to more ideas for all aspects of your party - activities, food, supplies, etc. PS. With that link, I’m basically giving you a sample of my party planning services, so check it out and, of course, let us know if we can plan a custom rainbow-themed party for you!

https://www.queencitycoterie.com/post/theme-thursday-rainbows

17/03/2021

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 🍀

Visit the blog (Link in profile > Blog) to see my last minute tips and tricks to make your celebration fun and easy!

However you celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful day! 🍀

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Elle’s Lucky 4 - Theme Thursday! Normally, I like to share a new theme on Thursdays, but today, I’m telling you all about how this one came about. Last year, when I was starting my business, I asked about everyone’s dream theme and Elle’s Mama told me about this one. She loved green, there is some Irish ancestry involved, Elle’s birthday is right before St. Patrick’s day, and she was turning 4 this year so perfect idea! I was so excited that we got to work together to make it happen! We went with a preppy gingham and added in hot pink and gold polka dots and sparkle, and focused on the shamrock aspect of St. Patrick’s day (instead of leprechauns) and I love how it turned out as a beautiful shamrock soirée instead of your typical St. Paddy’s Day celebration! 💖🍀 Here at QCC, we love unique themes like this, so whether or not you already have one in mind (if not, we can help you there too), let us help you make your dream theme a reality!

Packing up for this weekend’s party! (Part I) 🍀💖

Whew! How are we already at the end of the year?!? This year has been a doozy, so I've dropped the ball on social media (sorry), but I'm still here, planning parties and helping you all celebrate your events so don't forget about me! :) I've got some fun stuff coming up in 2022 that I can't wait to share with you all so stay tuned! Anyway, since we're just a few days away from ringing in the New Year, I thought I would share some last-minute party inspiration and ideas - especially perfect for those of you who are ringing in the New Year at home in your jammies (like me 🙋🏻‍♀️). Check it out on the blog: https://www.queencitycoterie.com/post/new-years-eve-ideas Do you do anything fun for the New Year? If so, share with me below!

“Just join the circus like you wanted to, when you were a kid. Climb aboard before it moved on and you’ll thank your lucky stars you did” - Barnum Cast When planning a party, my starting point is always the invitation because it is the first impression your guest get of your event. This is one of the main reasons I love designing my own invitations, and have always done so for my daughter’s parties and this one was no different. I designed this pastel (but emphasis on purple) vintage circus ticket-inspired invitation and although I love a good paper invitation, sometimes, logistically a digital invitation makes more sense - and this party was a perfect example of this. My daughter (yep, she helped) and I had so much fun taking my design and turning it into this interactive evite that still gave our guests a similar experience to opening an actual invitation, but with an added element of some fun music (chosen by the birthday girl herself) to get our guests in the spirit. It was a hit and really set the mood for our party! #queencitycoterie #elizas3ringcircus

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