It’s my FAVORITE time of year!
The holidays bring about my two favorite things: Friends & Family and Entertaining!
Each year I host a “Favorite Things” party for my “favorite peeps!” Check out the details of the day…
(and holiday decor below!)
Every year a small group of gals from my church and I get together for a GALentine’s Day Brunch! It’s a chance to catch up, and show LOVE to one another.
In the spirit of LOVE and celebration, I choose a woman to shine a spotlight on! Last celebration, my sister was launching her new cookbook, so we featured her book, and each girl got to go home with a copy (along with a little seasonal Starbucks mug from me!)…
This year, there were so many exciting celebrations…each girl was truly celebrating something (from new books, to babies– from milestones ministry to milestones in business..yes, my friends truly are THAT awesome!) So we celebrated our collective group of amazing women! I was thinking it would be cool for each of us to nominate a woman for next year? Continue reading
Oh The Places You’ll Go– Gabriel’s First Birthday
My, how time flies! My baby turned ONE earlier this month! Also celebrating her birthday this month, is his great-grandmother Beverly who turned 90!
Phil and I found it fit to celebrate both young and wise in an intimate celebration with immediate family!
The Theme: Dr. Seuss “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” (and for Grandma we celebrated, “Oh, The Places She’s Been!)
When guests walked in, they signed our “Guest book” which was Dr. Seuss’ “Oh The Places You’ll Go”. I had our family sign a page for Gabriel, and moving forward we will have each of his teacher’s (and influential people in his life) sign it each year, and I plan to proudly present it to him on his 18th birthday, to celebrate all of the “places he’s been!”
Guests would “write a message on any of the pages, it will be something he treasures through all of his ages!” Continue reading
This Christmas was the BEST ONE EVER…
We gifted a family a home, Gabriel’s cousin Easton was born and they celebrated their first Christmas together…and on Christmas Eve we had the gender reveal party for Gabriel’s cousin-to-be (due Father’s Day)!
Since we hosted the party on Christmas eve, we chose a festive theme– “Buck or Doe!” Everyone wore red if they thought the baby would be a girl, and green if they thought it was a boy–this made for super fun and festive photos!
What is a gender reveal you ask?
The parents get an ultrasound or blood test to determine the sex of the baby, and often keep it a surprise and find out with their family together at a fun gathering. You can view mine here, and my sister Emily’s here.
Since my sister is a celebrity food blogger, and famous for remaking healthy versions of food people crave, I knew I had to get creative (especially for the dessert bar and drink bar!)
For drinks, we started with a “BABY It’s Cold Outside” Hot Cocoa and Coffee Bar! Continue reading
It’s my FAVORITE time of year!
The holidays bring about my two favorite things: Friends & Family and Entertaining!
Each year I host a “Favorite Things” party for my “favorite peeps!” Check out the details of the day…
(and holiday decor below!)
Dinner was catered (less stress, no mess) by our favorite Mediterranean place!
We washed it down with some of our “favorite drinks”… champs (& cider for all the “preggos”)–we always have a few each year! 😉
I decided to keep things easy on myself, and do disposable place settings (different themes each year). There are so many beautiful sources I’ve found online to make disposable place settings look beautiful!
…and as they sat down, they were gifted one of my “favorite things” as a favor…
This year I found a beautiful ceramic mug commissioned by Rebecca Rebouche, a native Louisianan living and working in New Orleans, who creates nostalgic, emotive and whimsical art out of paint, mixed media and stitched soft sculpture; a practice best described as contemporary folk art. Topped with a cute edible gingerbread house! 🙂
After dinner the guests brought their mugs (one of my “Favorite things” as their favors) over to a coffee bar to find coffee of different flavors, seasonal creams, sweeteners, and of course…whipped cream!
Across the counter in my butler’s pantry was a dessert bar set up. A “favorite” of all of my guests in parties past is a dessert bar by my sister (and celebrity blogger/ chef “Dashing Dish”!)
This year she hosted a trifle bar..with gluten free cakes (healthier versions, which is what her cookbook and blog are known for), lighter versions of fillings, and toppings (some naughty, some nice–your choice!) The instructions–get a glass, layer it up with your “Favorites”, and enjoy!
After dinner and dessert, we headed to our lower level for our annual “favorite things” gift exchange!
Here’s how it works… each guest brings 3 gifts wrapped (this year we did a contest for who had the most creative wrapping!) We each put our name in a bowl 3 times, and picked 3 new names (not our own). The 3 names we picked were the 3 people we got presents from. Each person got to share why they were gifting that item as their “favorite thing”! It is so fun to learn of each other’s favorites, and leave with 3 new “favorite things”! This year I gifted a few of my favorite holiday candles & match strikers (wrapped in a cute Santa bag!)
We also did a contest for “best gift” (we voted) and “best wrapping”! Check out these great gifts!
A great time was had by my FAVORITE FRIENDS…
Hope you have a very happy holidays filled with your “favorite things” (& peeps!)
To keep it festive and fun…
Here’s our holiday home tour to top off my favorite post of the year!
CLICK ON A PIC TO START THE SLIDESHOW TO SEE FULL SIZE! 🙂
My baby sister is having a baby! And how good is God that he is also due the same week of Christmas (like my son, Gabriel!) We have a feeling these two will be best of friends, about one year apart!
Here are the invites and the theme:
And the invitation inserts:
Myself, my mom, and sister Katie decided to host her baby shower where I had mine–the beautiful Royal Park Hotel. We love the Conservatory, as well as that gorgeous “tiffany blue” chandelier!
The theme we chose was “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” since my sister is an Elementary School Teacher. We had guests sign the book by Dr. Seuss, and moving forward she will have each of her child’s teachers sign it each year. She plans to present the book back to Easton when he graduates high school! 
Hot air balloons are the theme of this Dr. Seuss book, so we had them decorating each table, along with some pretty roses, of course! Each table also included the “Wish tree” instructions. Our family isn’t big on baby shower games, so this is an activity we enjoy–“Write your wish for Baby-To-Be and hang them on the wishing tree!”
My aunt Lorrie made these sweet hot air balloon cookies as favors for the guests!
And here’s the wishing tree…before, and AFTER! (Look familiar?)
People seem to enjoy these baby shower brunches!
Brett’s mom made this lovely cake!
My sister Katie and I had fun with this whimsical theme in decorating, gifting, etc! Our gifts to baby…We had each guest bring a book in lieu of a card to help baby build his library. I chose “Oh, Baby, the places you’ll go!” It was fun to write a note inside to my sweet nephew!
I can’t wait to meet this sweet angel! Oh, the places he will go!!!
Writing this warmed my heart, and gave me a little flashback of my shower, which you can view here!
On Mother’s Day this year, I found out I was going to be an aunt! “Grammie” sure is blessed…as she found out last year on Mother’s Day that I was pregnant with her first grandbaby! It was so sweet…my sister took our son Gabriel in another room to “play” during our Mother’s Day gathering with my mom…and when she came back to the room, check out what he was wearing to share the news…
And guess what is even greater news??? Baby Yost is due around Christmas too (just like Gabriel was!) Cousins! One year apart! Isn’t this amazing news?
I immediately offered to host a “gender reveal” party for my sister and brother-in-law. If you’ve never heard of these before, it’s a newer concept to me too! Basically, you get your gender scan, and wait to open it up in front of your closest friends and family. Together, you all find out the sex of the baby at the same time! Emily and Brett would find out in July!
Since Brett and Emily would have Baby Yost’s gender scan in July, we decided on a patriotic theme–but instead of Red, White & Blue…we would ask people…Blue, (White), Pink? What do YOU Think? He or She? What Will Baby Yost Be? Guests had to show up wearing the color that guessed the gender of the baby! Can you believe my sister waited until this day to open up the results of the scan?!
On the menu was a dessert bar, or as we called it “Emily’s Cravings Bar”! We chose to stick with sweets since it was later in the evening to showcase the fireworks. We did a sundae bar, popcorn bar, and s’mores bar…that included many sweet treats to top off their snacks!
People brought gifts for each gender (one boy gift, and one girl gift–or a gender neutral gift!) You could always return the other once you found out it was a girl or boy! I had so much fun finding the “perfect diaper bag” that I stocked up with all of the essentials, that they could throw in the car for their trip home from the hospital! Here is what it included….
Stain stick & sanitizer, diaper cream & diapers, wipes & wash bag, bibs & bags for diapers, pacifier & pacifier clips, blankets & burp rags, bottles & bottle holders, cover-up for nursing & clothes, diapers & a diaper bag, and of course–a toy for baby & a cute Tory Burch bag for mama! G got his cousin a gift too–teal and pink (since we didn’t know boy or girl)…a little “Rockin Robbin” baby toy from our little Robbins!
We headed outside for the big reveal of baby Yost! Pop! Pop! Pop! The firework was…BLUE!
Can you believe it?! I am going to have a nephew…and G is going to have a cousin exactly one year apart! We are all so very excited! Congratulations Brett and Em!
OH BOY! It’s a…
We can’t wait to meet our little nephew (and G’s new cousin/bestie) around Christmastime!
Here’s more pictures and details from the special day…
(*feel free to click on any pics if you desire to view them bigger to check out details!)…
PS. if you missed my gender reveal last year, you can view it by clicking here!
XO, Sarah
Credit where credit is due: Food by my little sister, the super famous Dashing Dish. Pro pics by my sister’s bestie Dayna Mae Photography (along with a few amateur ones taken by me, scattered in!) And to the cute parents Brett and Em who are making us all another beautiful baby to celebrate!
Hippity Hoppity Easter Is On Its Way!
We are gearing up for Easter here at the “Robbins Nest”…it’s our first with “baby G”, and I couldn’t be more excited!
On the menu will be: food catered by my sister Katie Farrell, of Dashing Dish! We are deciding between a spring lunch like grilled shish-kabob skewers, rice pilaf, and greek salad…OR doing brunch with frittatas, gluten-free pancakes, and turkey bacon. Of course there will always be one of her famous fruit trifles for dessert!
For a fun treat, I am preparing adult Easter baskets with some of my favorite beauty products for the gals…and yummy chocolates for the boys (pictures to come, as I don’t want to spoil the surprise!)
Here is last year’s tablescape…I can’t wait to see what I create this year! (*If you know our family you know that I LOVE to entertain and decorate, but am a TERRIBLE cook…but my sister is actually famous for cooking! So between us three girls, we have the best holiday gatherings!)
What are YOU doing for Easter? I would love to hear your plans below! Happy Easter from “The Robbins Nest” and our cutest little EB, baby G!
Sources: I got the napkins, and napkin ring holders from Pier 1 last year!
It’s my FAVORITE time of year!
The holidays bring about my two favorite things: Friends & Family and Entertaining!
Each year I host a “Favorite Things” party for my “favorite peeps!” And although I’m 37 weeks pregnant, I couldn’t go without hosting my “favorite” event!
Here are the details of the day…come on in…
As guests entered, the fireplaces were roaring, Christmas tunes were blasting, trees were lit…and I greeted them with a big hug (baby bump and all!) I thought it was a nice touch to try to have as many of their pictures displayed as I could, since the night was to celebrate my “favorite” friends!
Dinner was simple this year–Mediterranean food catered in (my friends are healthy eaters!) But in parties past (where I wasn’t preggo) one of my favorites was a salad bar where they could choose their “favorite” toppings…
We washed it down with some of our “favorite drinks”… champs & sparkling cider!
There were 24 girls, and I’m 9 months preggo, so I decided to keep things easy on myself, and do disposable place settings. There are so many beautiful sources I’ve found online to make disposable place settings look beautiful! The theme: “Brown paper” dishes, utensils “tied up with strings”…and as they sat down, they were gifted one of my “favorite things” as a favor…
The favors this year…one of my “favorite things”–initial mugs topped with mini-gingerbread houses, to use with the coffee bar we served after dinner!
After dinner the guests brought their mugs (one of my “Favorite things” as their favors) over to a coffee bar to find coffee of different flavors, seasonal creams, sweeteners, and of course…whipped cream!
Across the counter in my butler’s pantry was a dessert bar set up. A “favorite” of all of my guests in parties past is a dessert bar by my sister (and celebrity blogger/ chef “Dashing Dish”!)
This year she hosted a trifle bar..with gluten free cakes (healthier versions, which is what her cookbook and blog are known for), lighter versions of fillings, and toppings (some naughty, some nice–your choice!) The instructions–get a glass, layer it up with your “Favorites”, and enjoy!
Because there were 24 girls this year, we had to break up into two separate dining areas…
After dinner and dessert, we headed to our lower level for our annual “favorite things” gift exchange!
Here’s how it works… each guest brings 3 gifts wrapped (this year we did a contest for who had the most creative wrapping!) We each put our name in a bowl 3 times, and picked 3 new names (not our own). The 3 names we picked were the 3 people we got presents from. Each person got to share why they were gifting that item as their “favorite thing”! It is so fun to learn of each other’s favorites, and leave with 3 new “favorite things”! This year I created a “cozy Christmas” gift as my “favorite”–complete with a Christmas mug, Christmas candle and matches inside, and a Starbucks card hanging off the handle…
Although I didn’t win the wrapping contest, here was my theme: “brown paper packages tied up with strings!”
and now, for the wrapping winners…one of my besties Hannah (who also had an adorable “favorite things” theme), and my sister Katie (who went the distance buying cute items and making DIY snow globes with these items from Etsy! ) The girls won some of my “favorite things”!
An amazing time was had by all! I so love my “favorite” peeps!
Wouldn’t this be an amazing party to host this month for your “favorite” peeps and/or team???
Try it out…I promise, it will end up being one of your “Favorite” events too!
Want to see more holiday decor and ideas from me???
For a full holiday home tour with decor and more, click here!
As seen in Style Me PrettyFrom VLD Events (our event planner extraordinaire)…
Sarah and Phil Robbins joked that they had the worst wedding possible when they got married 10 years ago. They were 20 years old, they had very little money, and let’s just say that everything that could go wrong did. Dress got covered in tar on the way to the church – someone even ate their wedding cake in the freezer before their 1st anniversary. They laughed it off, but once their 10 year anniversary came around, they wanted a re-do. It was time to celebrate how far they’ve come together, and with their closest family and friends.
To do this, we enlisted a wonderful team of vendors. We wanted to mix luxury and comfort. Sarah is a true girly girl – she loves chandeliers, beautiful blooms, acrylic, fun patterns, and silk fabric. But at the same time she is incredibly down to earth and far from stuffy. This wasn’t going to be a party that no one felt comfortable at. This was going to be the kind of event you take your shoes off for and dance until the wee hours.
It was the kind of event you are seated in ghost chairs, but are served Mediterranean food. The kind of event that that has an awesome lakefront bonfire and a s’mores station. Not only that, this is kind of event that everyone could feel good about – because it wasn’t just to celebration two people in love and the ones they love; it was also to raise money for a cause they both so strongly believe in – Angel House (building orphanages in India).
Continue reading
I’m a wife to my best friend Phil (Mr. “Rockin” Robbins) and a busy mom-to-be! (There’s a new “Robbins” coming to the nest! ETA= Christmas Day!) I run an international business from home, am a best-selling author, am passionate about my faith, I adore my family, have fun entertaining my friends and absolutely love all things fashion and for the home!
