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Anchored In Christ ~ A First Communion Celebration

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Two weekends ago Holden made his first holy communion. Two years of CCD brought him to this point and he was looking forward to this sacrament….tired of “just” getting a blessing at communion and ready to receive the body & blood of Christ.

We worked on his banner together over Spring Break…he did the layout and I did the hot gluing.

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I spent months looking for the right dress pants, shoes and tie. One day while killing time I popped into Janie & Jack and found some brown trousers on the clearance rack for under $20. And while we were enjoying a holiday stroll through The Grove back in December, again, I ran into J & J and found some darling brown wing tip boots for half price. Once we settled on the anchor icon, I knew I needed to locate a tie with said symbol and found one in navy blue from Hobo Ties on Etsy.

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No photos were allowed during the ceremony, but here he is with Father Albert after mass…

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{Jay just happened to already have a dress shirt with anchors on it! I found Elliott’s sailor inspired dress at nautica.com for under $20. My skirt is Lauren Conrad from Kohl’s, top from Old Navy, pearl & gold statement necklace is from Target and fedora from Kmart!}

Holden had team pictures and a baseball game later that afternoon so we had a quick lunch at In N Out and shifted gears. For his special dinner, later that evening, he chose Lucille’s for ribs.

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We hosted a brunch the following morning to celebrate our sweet communicant.

I found some simple little anchor notecards at Target for the invitations and that quickly became the theme of his celebration brunch ~ a nautical nod to this very big faith milestone.

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I had a couple pieces of wood laying around in the garage and decided to make a sign with the Hebrews verse that prompted me to go with the anchor icon for this special occasion…

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I put a light coat of white on it to give it a beachy, white-washed look, hand wrote the design in pencil and then pained over it with metallic gold and navy blue paints.

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I don’t have a good picture of them, but the party favors were a faux succulent pictured on the mantel to the right of the sign and a little bag of peppermint Lifesavers. The succulents were a huge hit. Everyone couldn’t believe they were artificial and was glad they required absolutely NO water!

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I saw the Lifesaver idea on Pinterest for a nautical baby shower and had the little paper treat bags, but wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them. The mints were perfect and I added a little label with the verse Jeremiah 31:24 ~ “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint”.

We have a huge vintage Cinzano poster in our dining area that I covered with wrapping paper to give this space a more cohesive and festive look…

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I also hung 2 of these navy paper lanterns over our huge dining table.

The paper plates, napkins, straws & cups are all from either Target or Home Goods. I picked these up months ago knowing I’d most likely go with navy blue & some shade of green.

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Fortunately being close to summer, it was easy to find anchor goodies!

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{large anchor from Marshalls and “Let’s Set Sail” sign from Home Goods}

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For the brunch, I tried to keep things simple. We had a couple baked egg casseroles {one with sausage, cheese & sourdough bread and one with artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, feta cheese and hash browns as the base} They were both a hit, however, I think most of the guests enjoyed the Mediterranean one a little more.

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I also made Monkey Bread and should have made two as this stuff is ALWAYS popular and the first to go…

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Fruit salad and mimosas are always a must for brunch…

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Lolo & Lola ordered a 10″ marble Nothing Bundt Cake and there wasn’t a crumb left!

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Holden was blessed with so many wonderful keepsake gifts of his faith, gift cards and a telescope from Gramma Kathy to look into the heavens!

It was another wonderful milestone on his faith journey and I am sad that it’s over. The next big one is confirmation in high school!

In the meantime, we’ll continue religious education and faith formation.

Glory to God in the highest.

Easy Breezy Brunch

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My Mom/Gramma celebrated her 70th birthday over Labor Day weekend.

We knew all along, obviously, that we wanted to do something extra special to celebrate and toyed with the idea of a surprise party, a gathering at a fun Mexican restaurant overlooking Lake Hodges, a formal dinner party or appetizers at sunset. We decided {just 2 weeks before the party} that it would be a beachy brunch.

I sprung into action and set out to find all things turquoise, blue and green! I picked up these simple seashell notecards at Michael’s for just 75¢ a pack, quickly drafted up the inside, printed them and popped them in the mail.

The same day I found the invites, I also picked up four colored glass bottles at Ross on clearance for $2.49 each…

You can see a couple of them in the pic above ~ the other two were perched on the mantel and in the entry way. I also found a cute, beachy sign that said “Sands Of Time” that I leaned up again the bottle that greeted the guests at the front door {unfortunately no pic, but that was also just $2.49}. The turquoise branches were recycled from Elliott’s party in May.

The tablecloth was just a huge piece of burlap that I bought at Home Depot thanks to the idea from my good friend and fellow party planner, Lisa! It was less than $4 and fit the table perfectly. I liked the fact that it was rustic and wrinkled and gave the impression of sand on the beach.

I tried to keep the menu easy and delicious, of course. I chose to do a couple of the breakfast casseroles that can be prepared the night before and taken from the fridge to the oven the next morning for stress-free entertaining. I did one with sourdough, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and feta adapted from here. Then I did one with the hash browns, sausage, onions, red peppers and cheddar. {see how it comes together in the link above} They were both a huge hit. I named the menu items after San Diego beaches ~ Coronado Breakfast Casserole, Wind N Sea Breakfast Casserole, Fiesta Island Fruit Salad and Mission Beach Monkey Bread.

We sipped on champagne drinks ~ mimosas {OJ} and hibiscus {cranberry juice}

For desserts I made the cake batter blondies, picked up some mini cupcakes and a mini new york cheesecake…

I used some coordinating ribbon {75¢/roll} and made some little picks for the desserts.

It was great to see so many friends from throughout the years…

{Playing “Happy Birthday” on the maracas!}

Singing, making a wish and blowing out the candles…

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I really did enjoy throwing this together at the {last minute}. I did what I could here at home like make the paint chip buntings, plan the menu, make the blondies and shop for a few decorations. I made my grocery list, shopped in San Diego and knocked that out the afternoon before the party via Trader Joe’s and Albertson’s. What I love about brunch is that it is extremely affordable ~ all the groceries for about 40 people were approximately $75. I decorated and prepped the casseroles the night before so all I had to do before the party {started at 11am} was put together the fruit salad {bought pre-chopped melon and added grapes} in the glass jar, make the monkey bread and plate the desserts.

Invites, paper plates, napkins, utensils, cups and decor were about $30…everything else I already had or utilized from my mom’s already beachy house!

It was the easiest, breeziest {to-go} party and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

Mom/Gramma, we hope you enjoyed visiting with all your precious friends and neighbors. Here’s to a wonderful, fresh new year ahead for you! We love you very much and are fortunate to have you in our lives.

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I could never stay long enough on the shore, the tang of the untainted, fresh and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought. ~ Hellen Keller

The sea, once it casts it’s spell, holds one in it’s net of wonder forever. ~ Jacques Cousteau

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson