I recently invited my "beach girls" for an end-of-summer party. I had been wanting to have everyone over for a while, and we barely slipped this girls night in before school started.
I literally spent hours browsing the Lilly Pulitzer store in Hilton Head, S.C., and a few items I picked up there inspired our Life, Lilly & the Pursuit of Summer theme. (Step into summer on the Lilly Pulitzer site here.)
Aren't these shift note cards precious? Find them here
. I thought these would make sweet invitations. 
With signature Lilly prints peeking through the cut-outs, these tri-fold note cards
are adorable. I must admit, in my vacation state of mind, I was a little lax in getting the invitations out. In fact, a couple of guests received their formal invitation at the party. Maybe they will serve as keepsakes anyway ... .
Joe and the boys have an annual summer tradition of spending a night in Atlanta to go to Six Flags, so we planned our girls night during their trip. A few of the beach girls have daughters, so we invited them to join us for food, fun and flip-flops.
I saved the gumball vases I used for daughter Emma's bubblegum blow-out earlier this year. Water damaged the gumballs in one vase, but I was able to use the other for our summer party. Filled with lime green, pink and yellow flowers, this whimsical arrangement fit our Lilly theme perfectly.
Here is a view of our table, set for the party in pink and green.
Besides wrapping up party favors for all the guests, a roll of Lilly Pulitzer gift wrap was perfect for adding accents of color. Shown above, lined scalloped name tags were tied to our glasses. That's one of my favorite party tricks: Beverage tags make cute place cards and keep drinks separated. (You don't want to wonder whose pink lemonade is whose throughout the evening!)
Here is a close-up of our place setting. These wavy plastic plates from Party City are so cute I will definitely use them again. (Find the bright pink dinner plates here and the smaller lime green dessert plates here -- buy one get one free at the time I am posting.) Place mats, Dollar Tree. Napkins: Pink, Wal-Mart; green, HomeGoods; paisley, Party City.
Our table centerpiece was easy peasy limey squeezy with an apothecary jar filled with fresh limes.
For the Love of Lilly Menu
Shrimp Tacos
Party Ham Rolls
Tropical Fruit with Cream Cheese Fruit Dip
Corn Dip with Corn Chips
Pink Lemonade and Key Lime Tarts
Pink Lemonade
Miniature ice box pies in pink and green fit our color scheme and summertime menu. The day before the party, 9-year-old Christian worked at one end of the counter to mix up the green limeade filling, and 7-year-old Mary Ashley worked at the other end to mix up the pink lemonade filling. One recipe of each flavor yielded enough filling for 18 mini-pies and four more regular pies. Find the ice box pie recipe here and the shrimp tacos here.
Corn Dip
My friend Nia brought this dip, a delicious recipe from our church cookbook.
2 cans Mexican corn, drained
2 to 4 green onions, chopped
Chopped jalepenos, to taste
2 cups shredded cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
Mix together and serve with chips.
I couldn't wait for the girls to open their party favors ...
Lilly Pulitzer 2011-2012 Pocket Agenda Planners
These adorable planners are perfect for my beach girls -- all of whom are busy moms or working women when they are not giggly beach babes for one weekend a year. These planners begin with August 2011 and go through December 2012. I am hoping the cute stickers and colorful layouts of their Lilly planners will help my beach girls carry a little bit of summer through the rest of the year.
Find Lilly pocket agendas here in our pink and green floral pattern, Luscious
; royal blue sailboat pattern, Docksider
; navy and fuchsia floral, Navy Bloomers
; and turquoise, lime and pink Nice to See You
. Our older daughters unwrapped Lilly Pulitzer A Day in the Life Journals
, and the younger took home Lilly memo pads.Hmmmm ... what is this?
Did you leave your new pocket planner behind? It seems I have an extra just waiting to be filled with happy occasions.
Leave a comment below to enter my giveaway for a Lilly Pulitzer 2011-2012 Pocket Agenda Planner
, and I will announce the winner next week.Long live Lilly, and long love summer!
