Tips for Throwing a Card Party

I recently hosted a Stampin Up card party and had so much fun, I wanted to show you the results!. We made a set of five birthday cards, but on my request, our wonderful demonstrator Carrie brought along other sentiments like “Happy Mother’s Day” and “Thank you”, so we could customize our cards how we wanted.

As you can see, the cards turned out great! The girls worked hard…learning lots of new techniques like embossing, crimping, two-step stamping… and there were nine of us so there was no lolly-gagging!

Here are some tips for hosting your own crafty get-together:

1. Invite your guests, however many you can sit comfortably around your biggest table. I put both leaves in my dining room table and fit nine comfortably plus one more for the demonstrator. That’s my biggest group yet!

2. Use email to invite your guests. Carrie provided me with a tailored Stampin Up email that was easy to send out. Follow up with a phone call or email one or two days before just to remind everyone.

3. Set up your work space and your party space. While I had the ladies working in the dining room, I set the kitchen table up with goodies and punch (see below). We also set up separate stations in the kitchen for embossing and the die-cut machine, rather than clutter up the main workspace.

When I do these things on my own, everybody brings their own supplies (if they have them) and we spread out. I set up separate spaces for all the paper, punches, paper cutter and mats, in addition to seating for working on our cards. This time, my first with Stampin Up, it was nice have a leader who had all the supplies organized, precut and ready to go!

Ideas for Card Party Nibblies

The biggest tip here is to not overdo it. Fussy messy food only gets on the paper and cards. You’ll find the biggest thing your guests want is something to drink…crafting is thirsty work! And not just alcohol either. I had water and a non-alcoholic punch on hand that seemed to be everyone’s favorite.

For ten people, I served:

• One  divided tray with munchie mix, tortilla chips with artichoke dip, strawberries, melon, and grapes
• Plate of tiny cookies
• Punch (non-alcoholic)

Super Easy Punch recipe:

• One can of frozen pink lemonade
• Jug of cranberry blend juice
• Box Five-Alive juice
• Gingerale
• Ice