Kodak Photo Fantastic House Party

So this Saturday evening I'm having friends over to check out the new Kodak Gallery website. This is probably one of my most frequently visited sites now that I have a child and definitely a site where over 50% of my online shopping is done. Since most of my family is out of state I can order photos, gifts etc. and have them shipped directly to their home which is so easy and convenient.

I'd learned about the House Party website while reading a friend's blog. They'd had a few parties for various companies and said it was a fun experience. When I received and e-mail from Kodak encouraging me to apply to be a host, I thought sure this should be fun.

As a host I received a $75 credit to use towards a photo book, a mug and a holiday card. These were fun to design and make. The photo book I created is a baby album full of pictures from McKenzie's first year. It took me forever to finish this project but not because the Kodak Gallery is difficult to use but because I love almost every photo we've taken of her. This is the second time I've made a photo book with Kodak, the first was a wedding album I created and gave to my husband as a Christmas gift last year. Kodak recently made changes to their website making it easier to use, faster to upload photos and provides the use with more options than ever.

Both albums are keepsakes that our family will be able to enjoy forever. And as someone that isn't very organized at home I don't have to fiddle with putting picture in the album, writing captions, labeling everything etc. Its as easy as uploading, placing the pictures into a layout I choose and placing an order. I also love the fact that if I need more of an item my project is saved at Kodak and I can easily order more copies.

My family is hoping to take more and more pictures and improve our photography skills. For Christmas we're going to upgrade from a point and shoot camera to a SLR. This will mean more photos, which means more prints for the family and more photo books for me.

Kodak has provided me with some sample holiday cards to share with the party guests as well as 40% off coupons for my guests and their friends and family.

So far my experience with House Party and Kodak has been a positive one and I look forward to hosting more parties. Check back for pictures from this weekend's party.

McKenzie's First Party a Success

Last night when we crawled and I mean crawled into bed, my husband says, "We survived our little girl's first birthday party and it was a success." And I think that was my last thought before I crashed hard.

I'm not the best hostess, Martha Stewart and Rachel Ray would be stunned at my total lack of entertaining/presentation skills. I'd like to be better at it, but where would I find the time?

Yesterday, and this happens every time we invite guests over, I was running around from the time I got out of bed until I crawled into bed last night, like a chicken with its head cut off. I ran to Costco and picked up the burgers, dogs and soda. Then I popped over to Kroger for chips, ice and produce.

When I arrive back at the house, my husband, is in the garage trying to turn a chaotic space into an outside dining area. We had mail covering the kitchen table, toys scattered all over the place and grocery bags with food in multiple locations.

I knew my neighbor, Kayla, was going to come to my rescue and decorate the house but how was she going to decorate when you couldn't get to any of the areas? We went into overdrive, things were stuffed, yes stuffed into the laundry room out of sight. Our guest bedroom became a dumping ground for anything that needed to get out of the way. And when we'd finished our dumping, I locked the door, afraid that if someoen were to open the door, the contents would spill out everywhere.

And by 3PM and hour before the party was scheduled to start, we'd made great progress. Kayla was hanging yellow and blue streamers, tacking the banner to the wall, putting together the cone party hats, etc. I had the chili simmering, the hot dogs boiling and was chopping the vegetables that would top the burgers. Bethany, our neighbor and Kayla's sister arrived with the cake...wait her fantastic creation that was the cake. And it was pretty awesome for a little girl's first birthday cake. Our other neighbors arrived, began wrapping a few presents we hadn't wrapped yet, and helped finish setting the table.

I took a deep breath, checked the clock, 3:45 and realized we were so far ahead of schedule compared to our usual party preparation timelines and I relaxed. The guests arrived and MC enjoyed moving from one to another being held, and fed, and plain being spoiled. She came over and played with Colton, the 2 year old from down the street, and they played next to each other for a while.

Everything went relatively smoothly. Now MC didn't smash the cake as we were waiting and encouraging her to do but that's not such a bad thing. And we weren't able to keep her attention while unwrapping all of the gifts, no surprise there. JB and I found it amusing how MC was so fascinated with all of the balloons.

So her first birthday party is in the books as they say and we can relax until next year.

Now, how do we handle having a live Christmas tree and wrapped presents with a toddler?