WOW! This year went by so fast. Professionally and personally it has been a whirlwind year full of events and incredible opportunities…not to mention meeting and creating business relationships with some of the most talented party gals in the biz. Thanks to everyone who has supported & inspired me this year! Next year is already full of exciting opportunities that I can’t wait to share soon. Get ready for a LONG blog post highlighting our 2011 year.
The beginning of the year was BUSY working with the Girl Scouts of Central Coast California producing one Soiree-Event Design signature event a month for 100+ girls aged 6-9. My own Girl Scout Troop of middle & high school girls earned their “Mind your own business” badge while I taught them how to run an event business and be successful. All of our events were sold out and my girls learned alot and the girls who attended had a blast! It all began in January…
As we all know, January kicks off Girl Scout Cookie Sale season. As our first kickoff event, we designed a cookie sale training for new and 2nd year troops called “Ready…Set…Cookies!” where we taught all fundamentals of cookie sales to the girls…the best part…tasting ALL the cookies! YUMMY!
Next up…February our Princess Tea was recreated for 100+ litle girls who came dressed up in all their Princess best! It was priceless to see all 100 little girls doing the waltz at the same time on the dance floor thanks to the amazing Olivia Dominguez-Miller who owns Pismo Beach Youth Theatre and teaches acting and dance to youth. She graciously taught the girls the waltz and other fun princess dance moves. My girls all dressed up and personified a princess of their choice and the little girls were all treated to Princess makeovers, games, storytime and a tea of pink lemonade, sandwiches and cupcakes.
March was a BUSY month. Started out with our signature “POP-arazzi” party that we hosted for 100+ Girl Scouts complete with red carpet, step-n-repeat banner, Guitar Hero, MJ Wii, makeovers, spray glitter tattoos and of course music and dancing!
The same day I had a “POP-arazzi” party booked for the cutest little girl who LOVES Justin Bieber.
My daughter Riley’s 3 year old birthday party rounded out the month. She was totally IN LOVE with Toy Story, so her request for a Toy Story theme came as no surprise!
In April, I debuted my signature event, “Fairyland” for 100+ Girl Scouts. Seeing all 100+ girls in wings and wands and having a blast while learning about S.T.E.M. was PRICELESS!
Also in April, I hosted two events for close friends. One was our Whimsey Flower Garden theme with a Dora twist and the other was celebrating their child’s first birthday milestone with a Toy Story theme.
May was CRAZY!!! It’s my birthday, my daughter’s birthday, my mom’s birthday, and Mother’s Day along with 2 back-to-back finale Girl Scout events! Whew! I don’t know how I pulled off May, but here it goes…
First up we debuted our “Welcome to the Jungle” event for 100+ Girl Scouts complete with an interactive Zoo To You live animal show. The girls LOVED THIS. This was our last Girl Scout event of the year and I must admit…I was EXHAUSTED but LOVED every minute of it!
To round out May, my daughter Faith was turning 8 and wanted to celebrate with a Pokemon themed event. So, off I went to design a special day for her. This event was the first time I had met the talented Sylvie from KupcakeSpot in Tustin, CA who creates gumpaste cupcake toppers. Sylvie has been great to work with and has been involved in many events since this one.
In June, I slowed down a little (thank goodness) and hosted a Michael Jackson, The Experience event for one of my Girl Scout Brownies who LOVES MJ! Check out the cool gumpaste toppers by KupcakeSpot for this event too.
July brought a cool “Safari-licious” baby shower with off-beat color palette and the debut of our newest “Sprinkles” cupcake decorating bar. Again KupcakeSpot’s gumpaste toppers made their appearance.
August was AWESOME! I attended HWTM’s Wonderlandia event in San Diego with my good friend Sharon…a much needed girl’s weekend! It was FABULOUS! Jen and I are both preggo (can you see the baby bump in the photos?) and I wanted to get the “Hostess with the Mostess” a hostess gift, so I brought her our signature Lolli-tags™ from our “Modern Baby Girl” design collection in addition to custom made aprons for her and her daughter. At Wonderlandia, I got to meet in person my cyber-friend and colleague Chris Nease from Celebrations at Home…she was just a gem! Along with Nancy from A to Z Celebrations, Jillian from Catch My Party! and Rebekah from A Blissful Nest! What a night!
This month I was also asked by Chris Nease of Celebrations At Home to participate in the next Vendor’s Challenge where the theme was “Citrus”. I was humbled and excited to do my thing! Thanks Chris for all your support this year! Sylvie from KupcakeSpot created gorgeous onesie toppers for this and LicketySplit Cupcakes graciously donated the yummy cupcakes! Thanks guys!
August concluded with a cute party for my close friend’s daughter who was turning one! She loves Yo Gabba Gabba, so no suprise what theme they wanted.
September was dedicated to collaborating with Lindsey of Pretty Darn Cute Design to get my website launched! September also marked the rebranding of my company from Soireé Showers & Kidz Events to Soireé-Event Design! This month also marked the fusion of my graphic design company Slammin Graphix with Soireé-Event Design–focusing our services on high-end full service boutique events and custom-designing design collections for events.
I had the pleasure of cyber-meeting Lynlee of Lynlee’s Petite Cakes at this time too and instantly fell in love with her creative talent. This chic is the queen of fondant toppers…truly. We both contributed giveaways to launch each other’s sites. Thanks Lynlee!
October was CRAZY again! Putting the last minute details on the UNCF Empower Me Tour held in Minneapolis, MN in October. This event is HUGE and as this year’s Event Producer for the Twin Cities tour stop, I had been working on it for 6 months and was now getting down to crunch time!
We created a darling “Bugaboo Baby” Shower that took place in October. Lynlee’s Petite Cakes fondant toppers were my fav!
We can’t mention October without Halloween! Both of my Girl Scout troops hosted Halloween booths at the Halloween Carnival. The Brownie Troop’s theme: Trick-or-Treat Street and the Cadette/Sr Troop’s theme: “Bitten” The Snow White Witch’s Lair.
For my Brownie troop, I designed a Monster High themed Halloween party for them. They LOVED it! I asked my girl Lynlee to design fondant toppers for this theme…woah! She knocked it out of the park!
November…I’m fast approaching my due date of Dec. 11th..My baby is almost here and it’s time to switch gears to Baby Shower for my baby Michael who is on his way! For my shower I enlisted the help of KupcakeSpot and Lynlee’s Petite Cakes and my fav…LicketySplit Cupcakes!
Also in November, I was invited by Ebony of Sparkling Events & Designs to participate in the 2nd round of the Designer’s $100 Challenge with the theme of LOVE! Too excited! I am going up against 6 other talented designers and being judged by an esteemed panel including Sandra of Sandra Downie Event Designs, Chris Nease of Celebrations at Home, Kristy of Purple Pug, Laura of Eye Candy Event Details and Courtney of Pizzazzerie! The reveal will be in January, so stay tuned! Can’t wait to see what my fellow designers did. For now, here’s a sneak peek at what I designed for the “LOVE” challenge!
So, that brings us to December! I couldn’t let the holiday season go by without one last Soiree for my Girl Scout Brownies! I designed a Whimsical Christmas Soireé for them at 9 months pregnant! CRAZY, I know, but I love my girls. This was also the time when I found the “queen of marshmallows” The Marshmllow Studio! What a talent she is! You can see her handiwork on the custom snowmen marshmallow pops she created for this party! So looking forward to doing LOTS of biz with her in 2012!
Finally taking a break from what was a whirlwind of a year! I met some really cool party chics and had a blast doing what I LOVE to do. The year couldn’t have ended better than the arrival of my baby boy!
I will be doing full blog posts on some of the events highlighted here that I haven’t been able to give you guys all the details! Already gearing up for a VERY EXCITING EVENT in JANUARY that I will announce next week…until then!
Wow woman,,,, you have been a busy bee doing lot and lots. I absolutely LOVE how real and fun your parties are. They are something that I can totally see it inspiring the average mom for their kid’s party. You’ve got talent and passion. I am very happy we got to sugar up in 2011 and look forward to more in 2012!
Kisses!
-Ale
What an absolutely incredible year you’ve had, Tonya!!! Absolutely amazing parties! Your work is so gorgeous and professional ~ congratulations! I’m so honored to have been a part of several of them… and cannot wait to see the rest of the Valentine’s theme, along with everything you have in store for 2012!!! Wishing you much continued success and happiness with that newly expanded family of yours this year! ♥
WOW! Holy Moly you were busy this year and you managed to pop out a baby during all of this! 🙂 Congratulations on such a successful year and many many MANY blessings for a healthy and prosperous 2012!!!!
Ebony