My TWINS 2nd Birthday Part Two...

Today I received a lovely email from another WAHM that has 3 year old twins.  Her story was so very similar to mine.  It feels lovely to hear from people that know what I went through. Thank you to everyone for your kind words.

This post is dedicated to how I begin my 'Event Planning' process.

The first thing I choose is the Invitation.  To me, the Invite sets the entire scene for the Party.  It tells the guest's what to expect the day of the party.  You can either choose a fill it in Invitation, or have a Custom one made.  Both are popular and I have used both depending on the Event.

Last year I found an excellent Graphic Designer, Jennifer Birkhead Design, and I love using Jen for my Events.  Jen creates exactly what I am after and I never have to amend the design.  They are perfect!

There are so many places you can find Invitations.  Fill-it-in Invites can be purchased from Jennifer Birkhead Design and Shoppe with Lily.  They are made out of cardstock and are very cute!

Custom Invites can be ordered online via Etsy, MadeIt or ask any stylist to recommend a Graphic Designer.  If you are planning to use Printables for a sweets table then using a Graphic Designer is a good idea.  It gives the party a consistant look and feel and will be easier for you to style.

This is the 'mood board' I found and emailed to Jen..

I just fell in love with the 'happy' colours.

I asked Jen to create an Invite that had a vintage feel, had a quote on it that I loved, and used these colours.

As a child, I had always loved the movie 'Chitty, chitty bang, bang'.  The kids in the movie are twins and they dream big...their imagination runs wild and free and I love that they fall in love with their step mum, Truly Scrumptious.  So, the overall theme of the twins birthday will be 'SWEET".

And here is the Invitation that Jen Designed for the Twins 2nd Birthday...

What do you think?

The next blog post will be on choosing vendors.

If you have any questions on choosing Invitations, feel free to email me at lilychicevents@gmail.com.

Lil xx

My TWINS 2nd Birthday Part One..

BACKGROUND:  For those of you that have been following my page for the last 12 months, you will know all about my Identical Twin Daughters, Aurelia Violet and Indiana Torah Oliver.  For those of you that are new to my page, this is a short story about them.

For me, Christmas has always been about family - getting together with the people you love.  But after what my husband and I have been through, I know not everyone can celebrate.  For some, Christmas is the hardest part of the year.

Christmas 2009, instead of decorating our home and gift shopping, we were huddled over two incubators in the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne.

"Do you think they'll make it?"  I asked my husband James almost daily.  We were positive they would but who knew?  Nobody did.

It all started in November 2009, when at 25 weeks pregnant, my waters broke.  James rushed me to hospital, where baby Aurelia arrived, followed 9 minutes later by Indiana.  At 15 weeks premature, we were give a frightening statistic that only 50% of babies survive when born at this gestation, and most would have severe disabilities.

We clung to hope.  

With Aurelia weighing 910g and Indiana just 695g, little more than a can of soup, there was every chance my babies wouldn't make it the four weeks to Christmas.  We made the 100km round trip daily to see each tiny step they made towards survival.  James and I learnt to take every precious moment as it came, cherishing every cuddle, every feed, every nappy change.  

Christmas Day was the first time I was allowed to dress my girls in a romper that was still too big.  They had their photo with Santa, but only Aurelia was well enough to come out of the incubator. 

Four months later, both my girls were allowed to come home.  Indy was on 24 hour oxygen at home, and both girls have undergone heart surgery, but they are alive, have no permanent disabilities and are so strong willed that I am constantly looking at them in awe.

Their first birthday was last November, and they were only 8 months old {corrected}.  They could not yet sit in their high chair.  So we decided to go to the zoo for the Heart Kids Christmas Party instead.  We had a great day but I missed not seeing them smash a cake or play with wrapping paper.

So, this year...they are 2 in November.  Or 20 months old {corrected}.. they can run around and sing and play...and they are going to LOVE their Party.

I have decided to post BLOG updates to give you a sneak peak on what I am doing for the twins party and how I manage my time line.  This will give you a background view of how many {approx.} weeks prep time it could take you to plan your own Event.

I hope you enjoy seeing the twin's party come together.  I cannot wait to show you all the sweet details in upcoming blogs.

Lil xx

Aurelia one week old

Mikayla feeding Indy Christmas Day 2009

Indy Christmas 2009

Aurelia Christmas 2009

Aurelia, first time in her romper

Indy

First twin cuddle

Mixi wrote special messages for her sisters every visit

100 days old

The first time in Autumn Leaves this year!

Lily Loves....my Sydney fans too!!

I LOVE to Giveaway prizes...and I know that all of my 'Event' prizes have one limitation....that they are always Melbourne based.


So...I thought I would give my Sydeysider fans an opportunity to win a 'MAGICAL' prize!


I am giving away A FAMILY TICKET TO THE HARRY POTTER EXHIBITION at the Powerhouse Museum on the 3rd of December 2011!!


Do you have children that would LOVE to see hundred's of original artefacts from the Harry Potter Movies including the Gryffindor Common Room, Hagrid's Hut, the Great Hall and many more!!

So...how do you WIN this AMAZING Experience??


All you have to do is comment what was your favorite story book as a child and what you liked about the book.


The Winner will be chosen by me and my decision is final.


Please only ENTER if you are able to go to the EVENT yourself in Sydney.  The family ticket is for 2 Adults and 2 Children and will be emailed to you.


The tickets cannot be SOLD as they are in my name.


And please...spread the word.  The more the merrier!!


Entries close on the 10th of October 2011 at 8pm.  Winner will be notified in a blog post on Tuesday 11th of October 2011.


Have fun!!


Lil xx

Week 4 - 8...Photography Challenge

WOW! How busy life can be when you move house!  I did not expect to be chasing my tail for a whole month, but that is what happened!!


The good news is...I'm back! Finally able to start planning and going forward in the Events and Shoppe side of the business.  And also, start enjoying the Summer months with my family!


So...Week 4 of the Photography Challenge was DINNER.  I am going to skip this one this week and plan on giving you 'the best' recipe very soon...and this will include this picture.


Week 5 was FROM A HIGH ANGLE.  This one and the next one was easy for me to do.  My husband, James and the twins were outside in our 'new' backyard on Fathers Day playing with the ball.  Such a simple thing but they were loving it.  So, I grabbed my camera and headed outdoors to watch my girls have fun with Daddy.


And here is my pic..

My youngest, Indiana, who only started walking last month, decided climbing on the table was much more fun...so off she went! She is the most determined child I have ever met!


Week 6 was FROM A LOW ANGLE, and I took this picture the same day.

The girls LOVE to be thrown up into the air by Daddy and they giggle so much when he does it! I managed to capture James and Indy playing this game and I love the evening sky in the background.  These pictures are unedited.


Week 7 was WHAT YOU WORE TODAY...and I will do this pic with the dinner one.


Week 8 is this week's challenge and it is BLACK & WHITE.  This one was easy for me as last week, my lovely friend Leoni from Just Call me Martha and I, had our Black and White TIME themed Wedding Shoot featured on the Amy Atlas Blog.  We had such a fun day setting this up and the pictures were amazing.  Here is a pic of Leoni's Black and White Cookies and then edited into a Black and White pic..

So there you have the catch up ...well almost...of the Photography Challenge.


Next blog post will be on my NEW GIVEAWAY!! Stay tuned for all the details on that one!


Lil xx