It's a Party with Martha!

This where I was at 8:30 this morning.  In my pajamas.

Why, you ask?  I was invited to the taping for The Martha Stewart Show's slumber party episode and everybody there - including Martha herself - had to be dressed for the occasion.  Believe me when I tell you I had quite the debate over which PJ's of mine were worthy of today's excursion.  I finally settled on a pink flannel pair with donuts all over them.  Who doesn't love donuts, right?  Here I am with "Martha" before the show.

I've been to quite a few talk show tapings and honestly, the Martha Stewart Show set is the biggest and nicest one I've seen.  We were allowed to take pictures before the show started so here are a few peeks.  This is the view from my seat of the kitchen area and the beds set up for the slumber party:

A witch flying through the studio:

They have a water tower, which is very NYC.

The crafting area was all decked out for Halloween (I know - it's far away, but I told you the set was big!):

And I love these cream pumpkins and gourds lining the staircase.

Here are some of the cutie pies who got to take off school to be part of the party.  They were all adorable!

 
And this is me pre-show.  Yup, that would be in the front row! 

Remember when I said everyone had to be dressed in their sleepover finest?  When Martha came out, she was wearing some fabulous silk animal print pajamas and I adore the fact that she paired them with Manolo Blahnik slingbacks.  No slippers for this fashionista!

And then it was show time.  The episode revolved around a slumber party that Darcy Miller, the editorial director of Martha Stewart Weddings, had thrown for her daughter's fifth birthday party.  I've been a huge fan of Darcy's for years.  I love her sense of style and even modeled the invitations for our wedding on the ones from hers, so it was no surprise that I was totally impressed and inspired by the attention to detail she put into the slumber party she planned for Ella.  

Darcy set the tone for the celebration by making the cutest invitations - little illustrated pictures of Emma that she tucked into vertical envelopes to look like sleeping bags.  The night of the sleepover, the 20 guests got to participate in activities galore.  There were personalized pillowcases and flashlights to decorate, goodnight journals and bookmarks to create, Mad Libs to write and giant books to read.  I think my favorite activity was the "Pin the Bear on the Ella" game, where the girls were blindfolded (with sleep masks, natch!) and had to tape a paper bear onto a blown up illustration of Ella.  Here's a look at what the poster looked like:

You can download this image to use at your own slumber party and get all of the details for the crafts and activities at MarthaStewart.com. 

Darcy talked about how all of the food at the party was cut into moon, star and teddy bear shapes to tie in with the invitations and graphics, and one of my favorite moments of the show was when Martha oohed and ahhed over a bowl of Teddy Grahams.  Apparently, she'd never seen them before.  It's nice to know that I have something in my pantry that can impress Martha should she ever stop by!

After Darcy's segment, Bobbi Brown came out to talk about beauty tips for teenagers and Dylan Lauren from Dylan's Candy Bar, one of my favorite places in NYC, created Candy Wrapper & Bubblegum Houses with Martha.  (How cute are her candy PJ's, by the way?)

The houses were super cute and a great craft project for kids.  Dylan has a new book out, which we all got a copy of, called "Unwrap Your Sweet Life" and it's filled with terrific ideas for how to decorate and celebrate lots of different holidays and occasions with candy.  And the tips aren't just for kiddie parties - the Halloween section has the recipes for Black Widow and Vampire Cosmo drinks, which look like must tries for any grown up fright night festivities!

If you read AFOMFT regularly, you know it's GET YOUR GHOUL ON! MONTH and you're probably wondering what slumber parties have to do with Halloween.  Well, not to fear!  Martha shared a frighteningly fun craft that fits the bill - a Glittered "Candy" Garland.

Can you believe that's made from Styrofoam?  It's so simple to make - just coat some Styrofoam with white glue and then sprinkle on glitter!  Okay, there are a few more steps than that (one of which involves cupcake liners - I know you're intrigued now!), but you get the gist.  Get the full how to HERE.

I promise to have better shots of all of the crafts tomorrow but in the meantime, if you missed The Martha Stewart Show this morning, the slumber party episode re-airs tonight at 8:00 EST/PST on the Hallmark Channel and can be found online at MarthaStewart.com.  Be sure to look for the chick in front row sporting pink donut PJ's!

Images: AFOMFT & Martha Stewart