PNW Blogger Holiday Party

Kayla and Holly here!  We are very excited to finally be sharing our experiences from the Pacific Northwest Blogger Holiday Party!  It was so much fun, and we met a lot of great people.

It was a first experience for both of us, and it hopefully will not be a last experience.  The party was held Sunday November 3rd in Portland, Oregon, so we made a trip out of it.  We drove on Saturday, met up with a good friend, did a little exploring of Portland, had dinner, and then spent the night at a friend’s house who lives in the area.  Read all about the highlights of the trip here!  Sunday morning we headed to the venue, Union/Pine.  It was pretty awesome.  Industrial and open.  The party was a brunch, so it started at 10 a.m. and went until 1 p.m.  (Crazy how fast three hours can go when you’re in a room full of awesome bloggers.)

IMG_6618cThe ticket to attend was $30 which was a really good price!  Here’s a rundown of what it got us:  two crafts, adorable name tags, brunch, drinks, a photo booth, swag bag, and five tickets to enter to win various raffle prizes.  We also got to meet with Lauren from The 7th Chamber who had flown in from New York to meet us bloggers and talk to us about how to make some money from our blogs.

IMG_6611ccWe absolutely loved the name tags they had for us!  We both ended up choosing the Corgis, although there were other options available.  How cute though, seriously!  

Since the party was a brunch, the food was simple and delicious.  There were multiple bagel options, various toppings of meats, cheeses and veggies to make bagel sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, fresh fruits, and Greek yogurt.  There was also an adorable dessert table complete with cookies, doughnuts and juices.  To drink there was coffee, mimosas, and bloody Marys.  (Whew, the drinks were strong!  So, we made sure to have just one.)

IMG_6610cc IMG_6616cIMG_6613cIMG_6648And how cute are all these paper goods from Pinhole Press?  The “treat yourself” packaging on the cookies… love!

photo (2)Our eggs were quite complimentary.  {It’s all in the details!}

There were two crafts available to make, but we only had time to do one.  Even with the three hour time-frame, we did not get to meet everyone there (sad!) or do both crafts.  (Reason to plan on attending the next blogger event!)  The craft we did do was a paper rose.  This craft station coordinator was Lia Griffith from liagriffith.com.  She was super helpful, and answered all our questions and assisted with all our rose-making problems.  She provided us with paper that had the shapes we needed to cut, curl, and glue for the rose.  Here’s what we were aiming to make:

IMG_6621cHolly’s rose:

IMG_6622CI forged a new path accidentally by making a few mistakes and created a carnation more than a rose.  Amazingly the flower still turned out awesome and I received a golf clap from Lia.  More power to the idea that anyone can craft!

Kayla’s rose:

photo (3) copyLuckily, we ended up sitting by two fellow bloggers who claimed to be “not crafty” as well.  (I try to be sometimes but I’m definitely just a wannabe!)  I feel like, when you think “blogger” you think “crafty.”  I suppose it’s because bloggers are creative in their own sense, whatever it may be.  That’s what I loved about this holiday party– it brought together bloggers of all kinds.  Food, photography, lifestyle, you name it.  

The photo booth area was a real hit.  This is a genius idea for any event, because it allows you to get pictures of the guests without having to make a point to walk around and photograph them all.  There were miscellaneous props to choose from, a Yoked backdrop and a camera set up.  Talk about an easy and fun addition to any event! We sure had fun with it…

photo copyIMG_6623A favorite detail?  The swag bags!  These were awesome!

IMG_6625cIn these fabulous bags were many coupons and offers, an entire roll of wall paper, rose earrings, a candy wrapper craft kit, a small can of paint, awesome sunnies, a bag of delicious bagels , a free sound track, an absolutely adorable dainty ring, and a few other miscellaneous items.  Score!  We had so much fun going through the contents of the bag on the  drive home.  Here’s a breakdown picture of one of our bags:

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IMG_6656 copyTowards the end of the party, they drew for the raffle prizes.  The grand prize was a tablet!  Though neither of us won the grand prize, one of us did win this awesome gift card to GelaSkins!  So excited to check them out!

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Okay, so there is a rundown of all the fun details of the blogger holiday party.  What was the best part  you ask?  Meeting lovely bloggers of course!

We so wish we had time to meet more!  The party was a blast, and we are both so happy we traveled the distance to attend.  We definitely want to make it to the next blogger meet-up in Seattle!

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xoxo,

Kayla & Holly

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