It’s starting to get hot here so we threw a swim party and downstairs, in our newly made over space, I set up a photo booth and some refreshments for them.

I also made them cupcakes because what kid doesn’t enjoy frosting cupcakes.

After the girls were done swimming they came in to frost their cupcakes and enjoy some refreshing “fish bowl” drinks.

After the girls were done frosting their cupcakes, filling up on snacks, and doing what kids do best – making a huge mess, I cleaned up with these fun Bounty prints featuring Disney•Pixar’s Finding Dory paper towels, because what’s a Finding Dory party without Finding Dory napkins and paper towels?! The 80’s kid in me, who loved Pac-Man, loves these Bounty paper towels because you can fold them so it looks like Dory is eating whatever you’re cleaning up.   (Haha!)

After I was done cleaning up I snapped a bunch of fun pictures of the girls in the “under the sea” photo booth, man these girls love the camera!

And when they were tired of posing for the camera they headed out to swim!

Tell me, are you as excited as we are about the new Disney•Pixar’s Finding Dory movie? Seriously if it’s 1/2 as funny as the first, I’ll be happy.

Disclosure: I am writing this sponsored post as part of the Bounty Quicker Picker Upper Crew and all opinions are my own.

The post Finding Dory Party Ideas appeared first on Ask Anna.

Can you believe Christmas is in just 2 days!? I’m crazy excited!!! I’m also excited for the new year but I know that after a busy Christmas season, planning a big New Year’s Eve party is the last thing most of us want to do. Fortunately I’m hear to help and I have some great tips that will help you plan, and throw, a stress-free New Year’s Eve party!

My number 1 tip for planning a stress-free party is one-stop-shopping. I was looking around online trying to find the best place to find all my decorations and food items in one place (because who wants to be out shopping after you’ve just finished all your Christmas shopping?) and that’s when I came across WorldMarket.com. They have the cutest New Years decorations AND they have all the food and drinks I need for my party! I got all the ideas I needed from their website, made my list and headed to the store. A great time-saving tip is to make a list beforehand, that way you can walk in, get what you need and walk out (after paying, of course). Wandering wastes time and it usually results in you spending more money than you intended to.

This year for our New Year’s Eve party, I decided to put together a champagne bar, complete with lots of yummy goodies to mix in. While I was at World Market I stocked up on champagne, because they have a really good selection, of really good champagne, and this girl likes good champagne.

I also stocked up on champagne glasses because shockingly, I have 30 wine glasses, but only 6 champagne glasses! I purchased the entertaining set that comes with 12 glasses and a box to store them in. I have the same set, with wine glasses, and it’s perfect for all the entertaining we love to do!

While I was looking around online, I found this beautiful, gold 2-tiered stand that I knew would be awesome for displaying all the drink add-ins, and it’s gold, which is perfect for New Year’s Eve!

Every party needs yummy snacks so I made sure to stocked up on lots of snacks that I know everyone will love. I love that World Market has everything from yummy chocolate snacks (because if you don’t have chocolate, it’s not a party), popcorn, pretzels and all sorts of fun chips!

And of course every New Year’s Eve party has to have fun party items that make noise, so you can wake up the neighborhood at midnight!

I bought these party blowers to go with the gold theme, and I know my guests will have fun with them because even grown ups love party blowers!

I’m so excited to spend New Year’s Eve with my friends, ringing in the new year, but I’m most excited that this party was so easy to plan and even though it looks like it took a lot of time, it really didn’t. Here’s my complete list of time-saving tips that will guarantee your New Year’s Eve party turns out fabulously!

Most of these fabulous clocks are also from World Market. Click HERE to see all their selection.

• One-stop shopping. Decide what you want to serve/do at your party, then look around to find the one store that carries everything you need. If there are additional grocery items you will need, pick those up when you’re doing your grocery shopping for Christmas dinner. All the fruit I served at my party were items I picked up while I was already at the grocery store.

• Make a list, and check it twice (sorry, it’s almost Christmas, I couldn’t help myself). Do as much of your “shopping” online before you even go to the store. I “shopped” the entire World Market website and new exactly what I needed, so that when I actually went to the store, it was quick and easy.

• Buy pre-made, ready to go snacks. This is a biggie. It’s easy to put pressure on yourself to think your guests expect a full arrangement of homemade goodies, well let me tell you that your guests will be just as happy eating delicious items poured out of a bag, as they would be eating homemade items. In fact, they will probably enjoy the out-of-the-bag goodies even more knowing you didn’t spend tons of time stressing about them.
• Set up as early as possible. I always set my parties up at least the day before because there’s no time limit to how long it takes me. If you wait until the last minute you’ll feel lots of pressure to get it done quickly, and then it might not end up how you want it. Set it up the day before so you can take your time, get every detail right, and enjoy yourself more the day of the party.

• Enjoy yourself! I’ve said this over a hundred times but I keep saying it because it’s SO important! When your guests start arriving, grab a glass of champagne and treat yourself as one of the guests of your party. Tell yourself “what’s done is done and now it’s time to move on”. Don’t spend the party worrying that you missed something, or wondering what else you could have done, because your guests will be able to sense your stress and they won’t enjoy themselves as much. Attend your own party as a guest and you’ll have so much fun and want to host even more parties!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and get to enjoy a fabulous, stress-free New Year’s Eve party! I would love to see your party pictures, tag me on Instagram at @askannamoseley.

Happy New Year!!!

The post How to Throw a Stress-free, Fabulous New Years Eve Party appeared first on Ask Anna.

This Christmas I thought it would be fun to let my 6 year old host a Christmas tea party/sugar cookie decorating party, with her neighborhood friends, and let them use my “fancy” tea set. You know me, I love a good themed party, and while I was trying to think of a theme for their little tea party, I came across these super cute Bounty Winter Pop Prints paper towels, perfect for our Christmas tea party!

They were exactly the inspiration I needed and I decided to decorate with vintage-style ornaments, like my great grandma used to put on her tree.

I hung the ornaments over our breakfast nook table, where I wanted to set up the party for the girls. Aren’t they lovely. I love the shape and color of vintage ornaments.

I decorated the table with the cookie decorating fixin’s, my vintage tea set and lots of Bounty paper towels to try to contain the mess.

The girls had an absolute blast decorating the cookies, I loved seeing their imaginations at work, while they decorated.

And of course we had to have pink tea, which the girls thought was so much fun.

Despite my attempt to “contain” the mess, I decided to let the girls just enjoy themselves and worry about the mess later.

Lucky for me, the Bounty paper towels aren’t just pretty, they are also super durable so I was able to clean up all the sticky frosting, spilled tea and sprinkles with just one towel! I’d wipe up a bit of the mess, rinse the towel out in the sink, then repeat, until every last sprinkle was cleaned up.

I love being able to help my daughter create fun Christmas memories and start new traditions with her friends, just like I have with my friends. I also love thinking of fun, new themes for parties. If you’re looking for some inspiration for your holiday parties, go grab some of these limited edition Bounty Winter Pop Prints Paper Towels and Quilted Napkins (available at major grocery stores and retailers including Target and Sam’s Club).

What are some of your fun memories from when you were a kid? Do you have any traditions you do every year with your kids, I’d love to hear them!

This post was sponsored by Bounty, and I was compensated, but all opinions are my own.

The post Christmas Tea Party with Vintage Flair appeared first on Ask Anna.

Invitations by Tiny Oak Studio.

We were sitting around talking last year, the day after my Celebrity Couples party, and tossing out ideas for what this year’s theme should be, when my husband suggested doing a Hunger Games Capitol party. I thought it was genius and couldn’t wait to get started!

I knew exactly what I wanted the party to look like, I had a vision in my mind from day #1, and when it finally got to the day of the party I was so excited to see my vision come to reality. Here are a bunch of pictures from the party – the set up, people’s crazy outfits, and more!

Winner of best hair, my friend Melissa.

Winner of best beard, my friend Chris.

Our fun bartender, my neighbor’s son.

My friends Meghan and Jeremy that won best dressed couple.

Matt and I, pink eyelashes, purple hair, and all!

It was a great party and I had so much fun seeing how my friends went all out for the theme. To be honest I didn’t even recognize some of them when they showed up! I don’t know if I’ll ever top a Panem themed birthday party but I’m sure I’ll try!

One last thing, I’m dying to know, which is your favorite costume? Who would you have voted best hair, makeup and outfit?

See all my other theme parties HERE.

The post Hunger Games Capitol Party (a Panem themed birthday) appeared first on Ask Anna.

I’ve been seeing so many cute Better Homes and Gardens items hit the Walmart shelves so I used the engagement party as the perfect excuse to get stocked up on fun, budget-friendly outdoor entertaining supplies. Plus we’re in the process of building our outdoor kitchen so all these items will stock it, once it’s finished.

As you’ve probably figured out by now, I’m a planner. So the morning of the engagement I spent 2 hours prepping and getting everything set up for the party so I wouldn’t be stressed when the big hour arrived. I absolutely love this hammered texture lidded bowl set because it allowed me to put some of the food out without having to worry about bugs getting in it.

I also love love love the new line of melamine plates and bowls that came out this spring. I was so excited about the colors and how perfect they were for the engagement party and all the other fun outdoor entertaining I’ll be doing this summer!

Tip #1 One of the things it’s important to do, when serving a large amount of people (there were 25 at the party), is to spread the food around the room, or the deck in this case. If all the food is in one place then it makes that area really crowded because people tend to gather around food. I’ve learned over the years to spread it out so people have multiple places to gather and talk.

I had food on the side tables of the sitting area, on the coffee table and on the bistro table. I also had drinks in two different locations so everyone would have plenty of room to get to them.

Seriously how cute is this water dispenser and galvanized stand!? You know I love teal so when I saw the dispenser I had to buy it!

Tip #2 Another entertaining tip of mine is to add lots of flowers. Flowers make everyone happy and they are an inexpensive way to cheer up a boring space. I bought 5 bouquets of flowers from Trader Joe’s, for less than $20, and it completely transformed my deck. Even the BBQ was decorated.

I even used the petals that fell of while I was arranging them, as a petal walkway for my friend to follow when she arrived at our house. She had no idea what was going on until she opened the front door and saw this.

Tip #3 Always put a sign on the door to tell your guests to come on in. If there isn’t a sign on the door then they will knock and you’ll spend the first part of the evening running to answer the door every few minutes. Place a cute sign on the door that welcomes your guests and invites them to come on in!

Here are a few more pictures from our party; it was such a great night and the weather was perfect. My friend said yes, of course, and it was a beautiful evening. The sunset was stunningly beautiful, everyone had a great time and our friends felt very special. A win-win-win for me, which made me one happy hostess!

Do you have any outdoor entertaining tips? I’d love to hear them because I always love learning new tips to make entertaining easier! Also I’m giving away a $100 Walmart gift card so you can get stocked up for all your entertaining this summer!

Good luck!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here’s a full product list, most of the entertaining items are only available in the store so don’t wait, if you love something, go get it today! To see more details about my BHG deck decorations from Walmart, click over to read this post.

• Hammered texture lidded bowl set
• Round Melamine Dinner Plate, Red Watercolor Print
• Round Melamine Dinner Plate, Teal (it shows it in red but it comes in both colors)
• Small Round Melamine Bowl, Red Watercolor Print
• Small Round Melamine Bowl, Teal (it shows it in red but it comes in both colors)
• Glass Beverage Dispenser
• Galvanized drink stand
• Black and white chair cushions
• Couch cushion
• Bar stool cushions
• Coffee table
• Green planter
• Teal planter
• Folding side table

Follow Better Homes and Gardens at Walmart to see what’s coming out soon!

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Disclaimers – I am part of the BHG Live Better Blogger Network; this post is sponsored by BHG at Walmart. All opinions are my own.

I have included affiliate links to the products I used for this makeover, if you buy through the link I get a small commission but you don’t pay a cent more than you normally would. Thank you for supporting Ask Anna!

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