My daughter Ally decided she’d like to have a kitten themed party to celebrate her 8th birthday. Honestly, I wasn’t a huge fan of her idea. I rattled off at least ten other themes, but since it was her birthday, we went with kittens.

Not really knowing where to start, I searched eBay for a little inspiration. I found an adorable scrap of vintage kitten fabric, and some old kitten art. I added them to my cart (gotta love Buy it Now) and showed Ally. She loved it. We had a start. She asked if we could have turquoise (her new favorite color) and pink for her colors. Done. I picked up some inexpensive frames at Michaels and spray painted them pink, turquoise, and red, to frame the kitten art. I also may have sacrificed (aka spray painted) a few of my vintage cake plates to coordinate the dessert table.

Our farm has a cool detached garage with the most amazing loft above. I knew when we bought the 1937 property, the old loft would be put to good use. It was the perfect place to host her kitten party. Unfortunately that meant hauling most of my party furniture and props out, but it was worth it. With just bare barn wood walls and floor, it was a blank canvas, and in my opinion, the best place to start. I strung globe lights and fabric buntings across the entire ceiling. I made more yarn balls than I’d ever seen in my life and tucked them into every nook and cranny of the loft. I found a couple inexpensive rugs online and rolled them out across the wood floor. They weren’t a perfect match, but they warmed up the room and pulled the space together.

For the dessert table, I hung my re-vamped kitten art on a backdrop made of barn wood. Color coordinated cake plates held yarn ball cake pops, kitty shaped sugar cookies, mini pies, colorful cakes, and personalized sugar cookies that matched Ally’s invitation. I scored a vintage porcelain kitten on etsy.com that ironically was dated JANUARY, and made a perfect cake topper. The party was shaping up to be a pretty cute theme.

The morning of the party arrived and I could literally see my breath while setting out the desserts. I panicked. We couldn’t have guests over to freeze. My husband called every store he could think of to find a commercial space heater but of course everyone was sold out. So, what does he come home with? A gigantic propane heater that had flames coming out. Seriously. For a children’s party. And he placed it dead center in the middle of the loft. I bit my tongue and thanked him for finding me heat, and said a quick prayer that no one’s coat would catch on fire.

Ally was thrilled to invite her little friends from school over. The girls giggled as they decorated kitty cat sugar cookies, played with kittens, and crafted super kitty capes from Kiwi Crate. My friend Joanne from OH GOODIE DESIGNS made the most adorable personalized party hats, horns, and kitty confetti for the girls. And Jesus heard my prayer because no one caught on fire.

Photos by Molly Vaden Photography

Mason jar drinking glasses w/lids, fairy lights in mason jars by Lights for All Occasions

December 2013 marked our third annual Santa’s Secret Workshop event, put on by my friends Scout Masterson and Bill Horn of Marque Communications. Each December, the celebrity event benefits L.A. Family Housing, whose mission is to help families transition out of homelessness and poverty through a continuum of housing enriched with supportive services. Celebs gathered to kick off the holiday season with Santa Claus photos, crafting, and Jenny Cookies cookie decorating!

Celebrity guests in attendance included Tori Spelling, Busy Philipps, Sarah Michelle Gellar, DeAnna Pappas Denise Richards, Malin Akerman, Tiffani Thiessen, Sasha Alexander, Melissa Joan Hart, Phaedra Parks and many more.

We chose a glittered gold theme for our dessert table, complete with gold cookies, cake pops, cake, and cupcakes! In addition to all the treats guests enjoyed at the event, we sent them home with even more sweets, glittered cupcake favors.

Hudson’s birthday party didn’t turn out quite like I had planned this year, but with everything else that went on in 2013, it wasn’t a huge surprise. We renovated a 1937 farmhouse for what felt like forever. It was supposed to be finished in June, but turns out, it wasn’t completed until Mid-September. Hudson’s birthday is August 12th, so let’s just say his party was about a month late. With all the home completion to-do’s, no birthday party was happpening mid-August.

When we finally were settled in our new home, I planned a fantastic outdoor Super Hero birthday party. I rented two huge bouncy houses, planned an awesome super hero obstacle course, rented children’s chairs and tables, all to be set outside on our newly renovated 5 acres of property, with plenty of room for the kids to run around and “fly” with their superhero capes.

Then in true Jenny party fashion, the weather report showed rain. Not just sprinkles…Downpour. So much for the outdoor party. With just hours notice, our local gym granted me a favor and let me throw the party in their gymnasium. Not quite the ambiance I had planned, but sometimes you can’t have it all.

Even though the walls were padded in blue, and I couldn’t cover the basketball floor, not a single kid could have cared. Dressed in their capes and masks, devouring cupcakes and bouncing off the walls, I’m pretty sure every kid would agree it was pretty super!

cape favors: kiwicrate
superhero masks: miriamsolano
fondant cupcake toppers: Lynlee’s Petite Cakes
photography: KCB Photography
stationary: Minted

Have you ever been to a Disco Fiesta? NO? Me either….until this summer.

My good friends Scout Masterson and Bill Horn (of Marque Communications & aka Tori Spelling’s “Guncles”) asked if I’d come down and help throw Lisa Rinna’s 50th birthday party. I love any excuse to plan a party so Scout lured me down by texting ideas and asking my advice on everything from table linens to party decor. He’s a smart one. He knew I couldn’t party plan by phone and then not actually be there to execute. So two nights before the party, I booked an insanely overpriced airline ticket and jumped aboard the Disco Fiesta party train.

Scout was right when he said it was a once in a lifetime party. It was. I can remember thinking how are we going to pull this off? I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Disco-Fiesta? That doesn’t even make sense. But somehow we managed. With disco ball cake pops, sombrero sugar cookies, and the brightest buttercream icing I’ve ever made, it actually turned out pretty cute!

Jo Anne of Oh Goodie Designs custom created an adorable disco ball logo with Lisa’s name that transferred onto party hats, party favors and even sugar cookies. Minted sent fun signage, banners, and other party decor that we used around Lisa’s gorgeous property guiding guests to different areas/stations.

The best part about this party was that it was at least 108 degrees while we were setting up. I was worried my desserts would melt into a buttercream river meanwhile thinking I may have a stroke in the heat. Coming from Seattle, it felt like 150 degrees. HOT! We may have lost one bright yellow cake to the heat, but in the end, the dessert table was so full, it wouldn’t have fit anyway.

Thanks again Scout for talking me into coming. I loved being a part of your 50th birthday Lisa!!

We had so much fun dreaming up desserts for Tiffani Thiessen’s daughter Harper’s 3rd birthday. Harper chose a pirate princess theme to celebrate her big day. The party was held at The Coop in LA, a cool, modern playplace for kids, on one of the hottest days in June, reaching 108 degrees. It was warm.

For Harper’s desserts, we kept them girly but with pirate details. The only thing Tiffani specifically requested was NO SKULLS, which I completely agreed, so we kept it playful and left the crossbones out. We made chocolate peanut butter cracker cookie gold dubloons, pirate ship shaped sugar cookies, princess wand cake pops, and my favorite, the pirate map sugar cookies. We did a 2-tier pink ruffle cake and topped it off with an adorable, personalized and hand made peg doll made by Jenny of Craft that Party. Our favorite stationary designer, Minted, custom created amazing pirate princess party decor which we used to greet guests, label our food and drinks, and decorate around the venue.

Thank you Tiffani, Brady, and Harper for including me in your special day. Harper, you are one sweet and adorable little girl!

See pics from Harper’s 2nd birthday dessert table: HERE!

Time sure flies because little Simone Masterson-Horn is now 3 years old! It seems like we just threw her 2nd birthday party and now she is already a big 3 year old. I’ll be decorating her wedding cake before we know it.

For her 3rd birthday, Bill and Scout chose a Doc Simone party theme based around Disney’s hit show Doc McStuffins. I’m normally not a huge fan of licensed character parties, but I knew we could pull this one off without too much of the cheesy character look. Doc and her gang are actually pretty adorable characters.

Guests were greeted through the front gate adorned with a glittery pink & purple ribbon welcome wreath by She’s Kinda Crafty. First stop was the patient check-in area where little guests picked up their own “Doc’s big book of boo-boo’s” journal, custom created for us by Minted and placed on amazing custom “Simone” melamine trays by Oh Goodie Designs.

Kids crafted patient ID bracelets, tended to the stuffed patients in the “Operating Room”, and filled candy prescriptions in Doc’s Pharmacy. We found tiny prescription bottles in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop and miniature Doc McStuffins doctor bags from Piggy Bank Parties. We filled vintage medical glass canisters with pink and purple rock candy and rolled cotton candy “cotton balls”, in addition to all the other pink and purple candy filled apothecary jars.

Guests nibbled on food from our hospital “cafeteria”, complete with character named foods (Stuffy’s Stuffin, Hallie’s Taters, Chilly’s Chicken Bites), all made into miniature servings thanks to the adorable mini food containers from Kara’s Party Ideas Shop. At our drink bar, we served lemonade, and mason jar margaritas with darling daisy lids from KPI and party straws from Minted. Guests dined on our outdoor picnic tables decorated with pink flowers and custom party horns, and super cute Doc centerpiece flags.

So many fun details were included into this party but of course I’m partial to the dessert table. To keep the table looking chic and not too character cluttered, we had Jenny from Craft that Party create Doc McStuffin characters from wooden peg dolls which were placed on top of the 2-tiered Doc-inspired birthday cake (purple & white striped top tier, pink ruffle bottom tier, resembling Doc’s daily ensemble). Band-Aid, nurse hat, and prescription bottle sugar cookies filled the gorgeous purple and pink wood cake plates, among custom Doc Simone logo cookies. Sugared purple cake pops stuck out of a vintage medical supply box and while chocolate dipped pretzel “thermometers” were nestled into vintage pharmacy beakers. For the backdrop of our table, we leaned a gigantic clipboard holding Doc’s signature symptom checklist (found at Pottery Barn Kids), strung Minted’s adorable custom banners, and dangled a few pink and purple paper lanterns overhead. Without an overwhelming amount of characters, the table screamed Doc McStuffins!

With all the candy from the pharmacy and sweets on the dessert table, we thought we’d offer our guests some fruit, so we did an “Apple a Day” table filled with purple and pink chocolate dipped caramel apples. Of course not many were guests had room left to indulge in our apples, so they made awesome take home treats!

A big thanks to all the vendors involved in this adorable party and a huge thanks to Bill and Scout for including me again in such a special event. I just adore your family and love being a part of Simone’s life!

Read more about Simone’s big birthday bash on people.com!

Photography: Francis Iacuzzi, Jenny Keller

Last weekend we had the opportunity to create a dessert table for the famous French doll company Corolle. Corolle is known for their sweet looking (and smelling) baby dolls and darling outfits. Corolle hosted a Parisian Picnic in the Park “Adopt-a-Doll” afternoon for celeb families, held at The Grove in LA. Celebs such as Denise Richards, Ziggy Marley, Samantha Harris, and Lisa Loeb, (to name a few) attended with their children.

We worked closely with Minted to create party decor that matched the theme. We chose black and white stripes, zig-zags, pink polka dots, and an iconic Eiffel tower. To incorporate Minted’s design into the dessert table, we lined our table with a black and white runner, created Eiffel tower shaped sugar cookies, and iced our cupcakes in bright pink frosting. We strung 4 strands of their adorable garlands behind the table and placed desserts on pink, white, grey, and black cake plates.

Along with their adopted baby dolls and adorable doll clothing, guests were treated with crafting provided by JoAnn Fabrics, a nail station for kids by Hopscotch, delicious french cuisine, and a super fun caricature artist.

It was such a fantastic event, we were thrilled to be a part of it!