Author Archives for ilovesparklers

Sparkling Fourth of July!

 

The time has come to deck out the porch in red, white and blue to celebrate our freedoms and thank the amazing men and women who make it possible! So, grab your sparklers, lay out a spread of the best 4th of July snacks and prepare for our favorite celebration of the year! Independence Day is less than two weeks away and we are more than ready to celebrate this exciting holiday!

When you think of the Fourth of July you think of American flags, backyard parties and of course sparklers! So, let’s start with the endless possibilities for decorations! For starters, if you have an American flag, display it! If your flag is already out check it, it may be time to replace it. When I decorate for a party I like to go all out, I just love the classic American red, white and blue everywhere from table cloths and plates to desserts and center pieces! One super cute and easy idea is getting some red, white and blue flowers for center pieces! I love to upcycle used jars, so I put an assortment of flowers in a jar and added a mini American flag and it was the perfect addition to our festive decorations!

Now for the best part of your fourth of July party, sparklers! Sparklers are always so much fun for the whole family! We have a variety of sparklers and 4th of July sparkler packages to add to your Independence Day fun. Our Patriotic Sparklers Party Package includes 10 packages of our 10 inch sparklers and a package of our gold star sparklers as well. The 10 inch sparklers and our star sparklers have a burn time of 45 seconds which gives you plenty of time for fun and pictures! To add to all the patriotic fun, we have included two confetti cannons, so you can be showered in a cloud of red, white and blue! Our confetti cannons are super easy to use just hold the confetti cannon with both hands, point them at the sky, twist the bottom and BOOM! You will have red, white and blue confetti shooting up to 15 feet in the air showering you in a patriotic cloud! It also includes 8 glow sticks, 4 boxes of kid snappers and 6 jumbo assorted color smoke bombs to add the party excitement. We also have our 20 inch sparklers which are perfect for sky writing with a burn time of one minute and a half to help capture the best pictures!

Let’s not forget safety this Independence Day especially while using sparklers! Sparklers are fun for everyone to enjoy but make sure all children are supervised by an adult. Sparklers should always be held at arm’s length and you should be standing 6 feet away from other people while the sparkler is lit. Once the sparkler has burned out, place it in a bucket of water or sand. Just because the sparkler has burned out does not mean that the stick is not still hot, once the sparkler stick is placed in the water or sand bucket and completely cooled it is safe to throw the sticks away.

I hope your Independence Day celebration goes off without a hitch and our patriotic party package will help add that extra spark to your party! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for all our party package updates and don’t forget to tag us in all your sparkling pictures! We love to see your smiling faces!

What is a Gender Reveal Party

 

What is a Gender Reveal Party? A gender reveal party is a party to announce a new arrival in the family! It is a fun new way to reveal the gender of your little peanut to-be and celebrates the newest soon-to-be born member of your family. Gender Reveal Parties are so much fun for parents to be and it’s a great way to include the extended family in this new stage of your life. Friends will also feel more involved, and they will appreciate being included in the excitement. So, invite all your loved ones to find out the gender of your new baby and celebrate this during this beautiful time of your life.

Decorating with pink and blue is an obvious tip for your party, but there are a lot of creative ways to do this. I have seen so many cute ways to not only decorate but to include your friends and family in the fun!  Ask your guests to come dressed in the color of their gender guess. It will be so much fun to see who comes in pink and who comes in blue! I have also seen some fun old wives’ tale games, where the mom answers old wives’ tales to help guest’s guess whether this new baby is a little mister or misses. Some families take it even further, keeping themselves in the dark about their new baby’s gender. They have the doctor’s office write down the gender and seal it in an envelope. This take some serious restraint on those parents not to peek! Then a trusted family member or friend does the gender reveal for them.

One of the most exciting ways to do the final reveal is to shoot a gender reveal confetti        cannon into the air near the end of the party. Our confetti cannons are made with compressed air,    and they shoot bright pink or blue biodegradable paper confetti up to 15 feet high. You simply hold the gender reveal confetti cannon with one hand and twist the bottom with the other. Then POP a cloud of festive pink or blue tissue paper falls down around you. Our confetti cannons can be launched indoors or out.

You can involve all your friends and family in the party by asking them to help make pink and blue cookies to celebrate. Set up a cookies station with all pink and blue frosting and sprinkles! This is a fun way to have some sweets and an activity for the kiddos as well.  Another fun party idea is to give guests a memento to take with them to remember your gender reveal party. Photo booths are a ton of fun plus it gives your guest a picture that one day they can show your little one. It is so fun to have these little keepsakes to show kids years later that you were there they day their mommy and daddy found out that you were their little prince or princess.

Do you have any fun gender reveal party ideas? I’d love to hear them! Tag us on Facebook and Instagram! Don’t forget if you used any of our products for your gender reveal to send them in to be entered into our photo contest!

Before You Say I Do!

Before your sparkling exit, the man of your dreams gets down on his knee and asks you one very important question… Will You Marry Me? There are so many ways a man can propose, from romantic to something special only the two of you share and everything in between.

Doug and Karen’s proposal story is one for the books! Doug had been planning his proposal     to Karen for months! Doug wanted to propose on a dinner cruise on Karen’s favorite lake       she grew up on. He had the night all planned out with rose petals, candles, a romantic night where he could ask the woman of his dreams to be his wife. As the big grew near, the ring was burning a hole in his pocket and he was full anxiety and excitement! He finally made it to the night of the proposal when Karen called him at work to tell him she needed to cancel their date night and she was going home early because she didn’t feel well. Doug was in full panic mode; how could he convince her she needed to go to dinner tonight. Was this a sign? He decided instead of worrying, he’d pick up some chicken noodle soup, check on her and worry about the proposal later. Three months later Doug planned a new proposal! He wanted to keep it simple this time and not only surprise Karen but include all their family and friends! So Doug had a sign made, order sparklers and called all their family and friends. How he pulled this one off is a miracle in my book! The night of the proposal he took Karen out to dinner, and as they walked out of the restaurant everyone was holding a sign saying “Marry Me” light up with sparklers! It was MAGICAL! Karen of course said yes! Doug and Karen will be laughing about their first flopped proposal for years to come, but in the end it was the perfect proposal for his perfect bride to be. We can’t wait to see picture of Doug and Karen’s big day and what I’m sure will be a beautiful sparkling exit!

Looking for a beautiful and unique Marry Me sign like the one Doug used in his proposal?          Check out this sign from Bride and Chic! I love this sign and all the ways you can use it in         your proposal pictures! Speaking of pictures, proposal pictures are a must have after        spending so much time planning the perfect proposal!

Have a photophrager hiding in the the coner or following you like a spy to ensure you              get your entire proposal photographed is amazing! Saira Barron Photography took these beautiful pictures of Andrew proposing to the woman of his dreams, Sarina. I love how these pictures capture every emotion and will be something you will cherish for years to come! Did you use sparklers in your proposal or engagements photos? We’d love to see them! Tag us on Facebook or Instagram. Don’t forget we have a monthly photo contest as well, send us your picture to enter!

Gender Reveal Party with Confetti Cannons

Pregnancy is such a magical time during your life. There is so much joy and excitement over this new sweet baby. As many parents do, we try our very best to be a prepared as possible for this new little one’s arrival. We buy cribs, diapers and all the cute clothes we can. But the big questions is, are we shopping for a little man or a sweet princess? Like most parents (and let’s be honest our family and friends as well) we cannot wait to find out if this little peanut is a boy or a girl. I mean the ones who hold out until birth or do the “team green” have super powers of strength and determination. As for me and the majority of parents to be out there, we cannot make that torturous 9 month wait. Besides gender neutral clothing is just not as cute! So, we have gender reveal parties! You invite all the family and friends over to reveal to them in some amazing way if your little peanut is a mister or misses!

Now we have all seen confetti cannons at some point in our lives. Whether it is at major events like 4th of July celebrations, New Year’s Eve parties and or baseball games, we have seen them. So why not use colorful confetti cannons for a gender reveal? It’s genius! Our confetti cannons are full of pink or blue confetti to highlight the moment when the everyone learns whether the baby is a boy or girl. What a fun way to make that moment extra memorable!

Our confetti cannons are made with biodegradable confetti making clean up a breeze! They are safe for both indoor and outdoor use. Our confetti cannons as easy to use, just hold with both hands, twist the bottom and POP! You will be showered with confetti that has been shot 15 feet into the air. Don’t forget to have someone on camera duty for this! Not only will you be showered in confetti making for amazing pitcures, but you’ll be able to captures the faces of all your friends and family as they find out as well! These pictures are priceless and a beautiful way to captures this beautiful moment!

 

 

Worried that the cannons will give away if they are pink or blue? We have got that covered! Our cannons come marked only with a number that indicates the color of confetti inside. So, your secret won’t be given away until your cannons are popped!

Did you use a confetti cannon for your gender reveal? Or did you have another fun and creative way to reveal your little peanuts gender? We want to see! Tag us on Facebook or Instagram! Don’t forget if you did use one of our confetti cannons we do a monthly photo contest! So submit your picture for a chance to win!

Sparkling Graduation Party Ideas

It’s Graduation Time! All the senior’s in your life will be walking across the stage getting ready to graduate high school and embark on the next big chapter of their lives! Throwing a big graduation party not only to celebrate what an accomplishment graduating high school is, but also what an accomplishment for you, (mom and dad!) you guys made it! You got your teenager through high school (alive) and you should have fun celebrating this accomplishment as well! So, let’s talk about Graduation Party Ideas!

A sparkling graduation! We have everything from cake top sparklers to our traditional smokeless sparklers! You can’t go wrong choosing any of these sparkling ideas for your upcoming graduation party! Our 20 inch sparklers burn for about 2 minutes and are perfect for the kids to take pictures with, to capture these last memorable high school moments with. Your kids will cherish these memories of their high school friends forever, as friends split up to go to college all over the country. We also have cake top sparklers which add that little extras glitz to any celebration! These sparklers burn for around 50 seconds, and they shoot up smokeless flames that are safe, fun and exciting for any party.

You have the perfect cake for your graduation party, but you are still looking for that cake topper that will make it unforgettable. Look no further, I have the perfect cake topper. Our number sparklers are the perfect way to display your graduates graduating year. Then once you light the sparklers they create a beautiful gold sparkler lasting about 30 seconds. These sparklers are virtually smokeless ensuring the best pictures, as well as making your graduation party unforgettable!

Want to add a POP to your graduation party? Confetti cannons are a great way to celebrate a graduation, and they make for picture perfect moments that you won’t forget. Whether you choose black and gold confetti cannon, or multi-color confetti cannon, you will have some great memories shooting these cannons off. Our confetti cannons are super easy to use! Just hold with two hands, point the cannon towards the sky, twist the bottom and POP! You’ll have confetti flying 10 to 15 feet in the air!

If you choose from any of these fun graduation party ideas, you are certain to have an unforgettable graduation party full of fun, laughter, and memories. Our number sparklers are a great way to show pride in your graduation year, the confetti cannons are a fun party favor to use with your friends capturing memories, and the cake top sparklers are sure to make your cake unforgettable from all the other graduation cakes that will be made this year. You can’t go wrong choosing any of these party ideas, and your friends and family are sure to love them as well. Don’t forget to tag us on Facebook and Instagram! We would love to see all your sparkling graduation pictures!

Create a Magical Birthday Celebration

Want something different than your ordinary birthday candles? Cake top sparklers or bottle top sparklers are exactly what you have been looking for. These sparklers will make you feel extra special on your birthday! Cake top sparklers add that little bit of magic and excitement to every party. Just imagine a cake that lights up with spectacular smokeless sparkles!  What an unforgettable birthday celebration that would be. Our cake top sparklers come in two different sizes for you to choose from. Our 4 inch cake top sparklers come in silver wrapping and create a gold sparkle that shoots about 10 inches high. These beautiful sparklers last about 30 seconds giving you plenty of time to sing Happy Birthday!  Our 6 inch cake tops sparklers last about 60 seconds and shoot 12 to 16 inches in the air! Talk about a birthday cake for the books! These 6 inch cake top sparklers are wrapped in gold wrapping and create a gold sparkle. With the extended burn time for 60 seconds you not only have plenty of time to sing Happy Birthday but also get beautiful pictures to remember this special day!

Kids look forward to their birthday every year! Add some excitement for the kiddos this year with our 20 inch sparklers. Watching kids laugh and play are what make memories so precious. Give your little one some magic and wonder this year at his or her birthday with some surprise birthday sparklers. Our 20 inch sparklers are safe and have a burn time of 2 magical minutes of fun and excitement.

 

Number sparklers are another fun addition to any birthday celebration. Whether your little man is turning 7 or your baby girl is turning sweet 16, these sparkler numbers will be the highlight of their birthday celebration. Lets be honest, the birthday cake is the best part of the party and what every kid remembers. The singing, the candles, making a wish, so make this year extra special with a cake and candles they will never forget. You can also pair our sparkling numbers sparklers with regurlar candles allowing your child to still blow out candles as they make their wish! These wonderful birthday candle number sparklers are available in numbers from 0-9. So whether it is your first birthday or you ninety ninth make your birthday celebrations one to remember!

Did you use our any of our beautiful sparklers at you birthday celebrations? We would love to see your pictures! Tag us on Facebook or Instagram! I hope these ideas will help you create a magical birthday for you or your loved ones.

Unique Wedding Ideas

Some girls dream about their wedding day from the time they are a little girl. As they get older those fairytale wedding dreams change from Cinderella and her horse drawn carriage to trying to the current trends and trying to find something new and exciting. I have 3 exiting new wedding trends that are must tries! Make your wedding one they talk about for weeks to come.

Guests books are a great way to create memory book to be able to look back on. To remember who came to your wedding and each guest’s warm wishes for you and your new husband on your big day. But traditional guests’ books aren’t something you’d normally display in your home. Make a sentimental memory piece, one you can look at every day and be reminded of all the love your friends and families have for the two of you. I came across this great idea for a guest log! I love the pay one words with this one! Rustic, chic weddings are all the rage these days, and this guest log fits that theme to a tee! This beautiful guest log  is customizable with your name and will make their perfect addition to your new home as a married couple.

An old must have wedding idea is making its way back! Disposable cameras! Place a disposable camera at each guest table or give each guest a disposable camera to use throughout the night. Now, I know what you’re thinking, I have my cellphone and that technology is amazing, but the beauty of film camera is you truly never know exactly what you get until its developed. No filters, no 100 poses, just you and your guests having the time of your life. Plus they are so fun to use and will help to create the very best memories! Love and Luxe Handmade makes adorable disposable camera wraps. Such a fun way to make the cameras an addition to your wedding décor!

The last big event of your wedding will be your big exit! There are so many beautiful ways to exit your wedding and saying goodbye to all your loved ones. One of my new favorites are confetti cannons! Our confetti cannons are biodegradable and we have some that are even water soluable, making clean up a breeze! Our confetti cannons as easy to use, hold with both hands, twist the bottom and POP! You will be showered with confetti that has been shot 15 feet into the air. Give all your guests a confetti cannon for a grand exit you’ll never forget!

I hope these ideas have helped you while planning your dream wedding! Planning to use our confetti cannons for your grand exit? I would love to see them! Tag us on Facebook and Instagram. Don’t forget we also have a monthly photo contest, so send us your confetti cannon grand exit pictures for a chance to win!

3 Tips for an Unforgettable Summer Wedding

Planning a summer wedding? Everyone loves summer time! Everything is green, the warm sun giving you that perfect tan, it’s the perfect time of year for all your cookouts and beach parties. For those of us that count down the days until summer is here, summer weddings are for you! Not only to you get all the fun summer time activities you enjoy, but you also get to marry the man of your dreams! Talk about the best of everything. So today I am here to give you 3 tips for an unforgettable summer wedding!

First off you have to plan for the evitable summer heat! Whether you wedding is going to be a beautiful outdoor country side wedding or a dreamy beach wedding you want to make sure your guests are comfortable. One neat idea I have seen recently is program fans, GENIUS! Your ceremony program can be printed on a fan and handed to guest as they are seated. This is both functional to help keep cool as well as informative about your wedding. For your reception you can set up “hydration stations” with water or fruit infused water, yummy! This is a must for those beachy themes, not only does it provide a cooling drink but also a colorful display.

Want a summer wedding, but you’re afraid of that sweltering heat? My next tip is plan for an evening wedding! Depending where you plan to have your wedding ceremony and reception, planning an evening wedding can make a huge difference temperature wise. Plus you can have a beautiful sunset ceremony. Talk about gorgeous pictures! You can also set up an event tent to not only provide shade, but event tents can come with fans to help circulate air providing a more comfortable environment for your guests to dance the night away.

Now let’s talk about my last tip for the best summer wedding, your send off! There are so many great send-off trends going around right now, but my favorite is the sparkling exit! Each guest gets a sparkler and lines up to watch you drive away as husband and wife. Sparkler send offs are so much fun for you and your guests! Your guests get to be an interactive part of your wedding and they also get to help you capture the most gorgeous pictures! Our 36 inch sparklers are the perfect send-off sparklers, and since they are virtually smokeless they are a photographers dream to photograph.

I hope these tips have given you some inspiration for a unforgettable summer wedding! We cannot wait to see your summer wedding pictures! Tag us on Facebook and Instagram. Did you have a sparkling exit? We have a monthly photo contest, so don’t forget to send us your sparkling exit pictures for a chance to win!

Engagement Pictures with a Twist

He’s popped the big question and you’ve said YES! What’s next on your wedding planning to do list? Engagement pictures! Before you get into the craziness that is wedding planning take a moment to enjoy being engaged! The man of your dreams just asked you to be by his side for forever. Fiancée is an exciting new title upgrade from girlfriend, and that needs to be documented! So, engagement pictures are a must do!

Engagement pictures are so much fun and there are endless themes and ideas! Is your soon to be hubby a huge sports fan? Saira Barron Photography captured this perfect picture of Tom and Jennifer! Tom is a huge football fan, so incorporating both his love for the game and his love for Jennifer created a spectacular picture for these two! I love how the jersey has his last name and her soon to be last name on it! This shot also spotlights her gorgeous engagement ring as well!

I absolutely adore this engagement picture of Dave and Kate using our confetti cannons! These confetti cannons are perfect for any outdoor photoshoot as they are water-soluble! You know what that means? ZERO clean up! Our confetti cannons shoot up to 15 feet in the air, showering you in confetti! We get asked all the time if our confetti cannons are hard to use, the answer is no! They are super easy! Hold the cannon with both hands, aim the cannon towards the sky and twist lightly on the bottom of the tube and BOOM, you’ll be in a beautiful cloud of white confetti.

Props are another fun addition to your engagement photoshoot! These I stole her heart … So I am stealing his last name signs by Refunked Junkies add such a fun flirty feel to your pictures! Another idea I have seen a lot lately is save the date signs used during your engagement picture session. Which I think is a brilliant idea if your future hubby is anything like mine. Convincing him to take professional pictures with me is like pulling teeth, so getting some cute save the date pictures at the same time as your engagement pictures is win, win, win in my book!

Before your elbow deep in seating charts and floral arrangements, capture your love and excitement during this beautiful chapter of your life. You won’t be sorry you did! I can’t wait to see your beautiful engagement pictures, so be sure to tag us on Facebook and Instagram. Don’t forget we have a monthly photo contest! If you use confetti cannons or sparklers in your engagement shoot be sure to send them to us for a chance to win!

5 Tips for a Flawless Sparkling Exit

Your sparkling exit is the grand finale of your dream wedding, so of course you want it to go flawlessly! Here are some tips to help make sure everything goes off without a hitch!

Tip number one for your flawless exit is to make sure you order the correct type of sparkler! I know there are so many different types of sparklers to choose from, so making sure you get the correct one for your wedding is important. Everyone wants that perfect sparkling exit picture, so be sure to use smokeless sparklers. Now let’s talk about how many guests you’ll be having. You want to make sure you get sparklers that have the correct burn time for the amount of guests you will have. The last thing you want is to come out for your beautiful exit, only to see half of the sparklers have burned out. Our 20 inch sparklers have a burn time of 2 mins and are recommend for weddings with 150 guests or less. Our 36 inch sparklers have a burn time of 3.5 mins and are recommend for weddings with 150 guests or more. Both sparklers are made with easy light tips and are smokeless allowing you to get the best pictures!

Tip number two! Make sure all your guest know when your sparkling exit will be taking place! This sign from Hadley Designs is a cute and fun way to display your sparklers as well as let guests know when your exit is taking place. You can also leave instructions for your guest on how to light the sparklers. Did you know that the best way to light a sparkler is with another sparkler? In our sparkler packages we include a few 10 inch sparklers to make the lighting process as easy as possible, helping to ensure you get all those sparklers lit and ready to go for your sparkling exit!

Want to add a fun touch to each sparkler? Check out these sparkler tags! They are the perfect finishing touch.

Tip number three! Be sure and talk with your photographer about the shots you want! Do you want your new hubby to dip you back and give you a kiss, do you want to fist pump in the air with excitement you are finally married, whatever you want, be sure your photographer knows. Don’t forget to send us your beautiful sparkling exit picture to be entered into our monthly contest!

Tip number four, HAVE FUN! You did it! You made it through the chaos of planning a wedding, you are marring the man of your dreams, so relax and enjoy it! Your wedding day will be a day you’ll never forget, but it goes by all to quickly! So, don’t forget to have fun! Celebrate this new chapter of your life with the ones you love.

Last but not least here is tip number five! We get asked all the time how to properly dispose of the sparkler stick after they have all gone out. Be sure your wedding planner, venue coordinator or whoever is staying behind to clean up after you leave, knows how to dispose of the sparkler sticks properly. Have a bucket of sand or water for your guest to put their sparkler stick in. Easy trick, use the same container you used to display your sparklers in! Once they are out and cold they can be thrown away. It’s as easy as that!

Well that’s it! Those are my 5 tips for a flawless sparkling exit. Congratulations on your big day, I know it’ll be amazing! Don’t forget to send us your beautiful sparkling exits! You can also tag us on Facebook or Instagram. I can’t wait to see them!

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