Party Planning: Housewarming Party Tips

If you've recently moved into a new home and are eager to show it off, a housewarming party can be lots of fun. It's also a good way to meet neighbors if you're new to the area. The point of a housewarming party is to welcome friends, family and neighbors to your new space, so you can host the event as soon as you're comfortable. You don't have to have every last box unpacked and all the decorating done yet.

Housewarming Party Tips

1. Send Invitations: Housewarming parties aren't usually very formal affairs, so you might want to do it open house style, sending out invitations that suggest a loose timeframe for guests to stop by and visit.
2. Make Sure Your New Home is Easy to Find: Offer directions and a description of your new home so that friends and family can find you easily. You might also want to decorate the yard or mailbox so your home can easily be picked out as guests make their way down your street. Yard pinwheels and balloons are a great way to draw attention to your new home.
3. Offer a Tour: Your house is the main event, so don't be afraid to show it off. You can take guests on an informal guided tour of your home or you can welcome them to explore on their own so that you can welcome new guests as they arrive. 
4. Take Before & After Pictures: If you've done major remodeling or redecorating, place before and after photos in each room so that your guests can see the transformation.
5. Keep Food & Decorations to a Minimum: There's no need to get too extravagant at a housewarming party. A few decorations are fine, but it really is all about showing off the home. So don't feel like you need to go overboard. For food, we suggest simple appetizers and cookies or brownies that guests can snack on easily. (Hint: If you bake them yourself, your house will smell amazing for the housewarming party!)

How do you make your guests feel welcome at a housewarming party? Share your tips with us in the comments.

Party Planning: Summer Block Party Tips

Here in Indiana, like in many other parts of the U.S., we've been setting record warm temperatures. It's got a lot of us thinking about ways we can enjoy the outdoors, and it's got a lot of us in the mood to start party planning for our spring and summer outdoor parties.

If you're thinking of hosting a summer block party in your neighborhood, it's a good idea to start planning now. We've got some tips to help you coordinate an event that's fun for everyone in the neighborhood.


Summer Block Party Tips

1. Learn the Rules: Your very first step should be to check with local authorities and set a date for the party. In lots of cities and towns, you need to obtain permission to host a block party--particularly if your plan is to close the street during the event.


2. Send Planning Invites: Planning a summer block party can be a huge undertaking. To get the most support, send out a flyer or invitation for a planning session to round up as many volunteers and coordinators as possible. This will also be a great time to ask for donations and generate interest for the block party.


3. Keep Decorations Simple & Unifying: Being outdoors, you might struggle to come up with workable ideas for decorating. We suggest lining the curbside with fun summer yard pinwheels and using colorful centerpieces on picnic tables.


4. Ask Everyone to Contribute: A block party is an expensive undertaking unless everyone pitches in. Here are some areas where you can ask your neighbors to pitch in: food, cooking, picnic dishes and utensils, decorations, flyers and invites, monetary donations, entertainment, and games.


5. Play Games: No outdoor party is complete without yard games like volleyball, cornhole, and horseshoe. But you can also schedule fun camp-style games like potato sack races and water balloon fights. Organize special games for the young children and toddlers.


6. Organize a Clean-Up Event: If your neighborhood is in need of some TLC, kickoff the event with a project. You could ask everyone to help pick up trash, make repairs, or even start a community garden. The block party is a great way to reward everyone once all the hard work is done.

Do you have fond memories of block parties in your neighborhood either as a child or an adult? What made the summer block party special for you?

Party Inspiration - Pinwhirls Customer Photos

We love the beautiful and creative ways that our customers use Pinwhirls.com products. Our pinwheels have appeared in a lot of special events since we started creating them, and we wanted to show them off while at the same time giving you inspiration for the perfect decor at your next birthday party, wedding, baby shower or holiday party.

Carnival Pinwheels
Our carnival themed papers make fun and whimsical favors and decorations. If you like these, you'll definitely want to check out our Vintage Carnival Themed photo set on Flickr.

Custom Handheld Carnival Pinwheels
Photos Courtesy of Michelle K.

Red, White & Blue Cake Toppers
This cake is festively decorated and looks absolutely delish! Red, white & blue customer Pinwhirls are great for 4th of July celebrations, armed forces homecomings, cookouts, outdoor parties and more.

Courtesty of Michelle Kraft @ partiesbymimi.blogspot.com/

Black & White Wedding Pinwhirls
Michael and Taryn's stunning black and white pinwheels were photographed beautifully by Anthony DeCarlo. We're so glad they shared them with us!

from the Wedding of Taryn & Michael Fabian July 2, 2011
Photos were taken by Anthony DeCarlo of DeCarlo Photo www.decarlophoto.com

Peony Pinwheels
Our Peony style pinwheels are another customer favorite, and we love what Michelle did with these party favors. With a hundreds of custom printed papers, we can make a peony pinwheel for any theme.

Custom Handheld Baby Shower Peony Pinwheels
Photos Courtesy of Michelle B.

Flower Girl Pinwheels
These are two of the most adorable flower girls we've seen, and we love that they're walking down the aisle with pinwheels. Our Pinwhirls creations are as pretty as flowers, but they last much longer.

Flower Girl Pinwheels Photo Courtesy of Whitney F.

Save on Your Order
You can save on your next Pinwhirls.com order when you submit your special event photos. Get all the details on our Promotions page.

6 Ways to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day as a Family

Because St. Patrick's Day is coming up next weekend, we wanted to give you some family friendly ideas for celebrating on March 17. Because let's face it: green beer and pub crawls just aren't for everyone.

1. Wear Green: This should go without saying. However, if green doesn't make regular appearances in your wardrobe, finding the right outfit might require some planning. Fun printed Tees are always a favorite. But if you don't feel like buying a shirt you can only wear once a year, there are plenty of options. Go for some fun (and cheap!) plastic shamrock sunglasses, an emerald cardigan, or go for the mismatch with some bold green socks.


2. Make Green Treats: Shamrock shakes are always a hit, but you can make most anything green with a few drops of food coloring. Try green cupcakes, frosting, cream cheese, milk, and even mashed potatoes!


3. Irish Cupcakes: Nigella's Guinness cake (can be make into cupcakes) makes a great dessert for St. Patrick's Day. Although it's made with a little bit of beer, the cake is moist, sweet, and very chocolatey. We highly recommend it.


4. Irish Decor: Drop some Lucky Charms on a green tablecloth or fill a large pot with gold foil covered chocolate coins and set the pot at the end of your own rainbow. You can make the rainbow by hanging streamers from a door frame in color order or drawing one with sidewalk chalk if you plan to party outdoors. You can also search all Pinwhirls papers tagged "green" in our Flickr gallery!


5. Make a Replica Blarney Stone: The Blarney Stone resides at Blarney Castle in Ireland, and according to old legends kissing the stone will give you the gift of eloquent speech. If you've got a large landscaping stone--perfect! If not, you can always create one out of papier-mâché, poster board or styrofoam.


6. Serve Corned Beef and Cabbage: Corned beef and cabbage is a favorite on St. Patrick's Day. Foodnetwork.com has a great recipe compilation for making this Irish dish inventive. There are even recipes for corned beef and cabbage rolls and pizza. Yum!

How do you plan to celebrate St. Patrick's Day?