A special side passion of mine is healthy eating. As a mother of three young children, I love feeding them the healthiest foods I can. After attending a 2-year-old’s birthday party where the mother apologized to me for all the sugar the kids were being fed, I realized that for some mothers, they could use some help putting together healthy alternatives to all the sugar that the traditional child’s birthday party consists of. I have worked for the last five years on doing just that with my own children’s parties and have come up with numerous alternatives that the children usually seem to love and don’t even notice the difference. I have come up with everything from cupcakes sweetened with applesauce instead of sugar to pinata favors that are not the traditional candy filled ones.

I have a fabulous sugar-free, wheat-free, dairy-free first birthday cake that you can feel good about feeding your one-year-old, and numerous recipes for cakes, cupcakes, ice cream, and other treats you can actually feel good about feeding your child and their young guests.

If you are interested in having help putting together a healthier version of the traditional children’s birthday party, Parties by Holly would love to assist you in this! Please contact me for more information.

“Working with Holly Lomelino was a joy and her efforts freed me up completely from worries about accommodating 60 people in a very small space. She even came up with setting up colorful tables on the sand to handle the overflow from the house! She had given me several choices regarding table settings, serving vessels, flowers and table sizes for serving food and drinks. Then she took care of getting it all there and removing it promptly after the last guests had left. I felt carefree during the whole party and almost want to have another soon so I can use her services again!”
-Renee, Open House, Montecito, CA

“Last year I had to plan a party for my son who was turning 11, and I simply ran out of time. Holly offered to give me a hand and it was a success! All I had to do was give her a theme and a budget and she came through brilliantly, from decorations, to music, to food. She asked all the questions I hadn’t thought of and helped me put together something fun for 10 pre-teen boys! Now that was a challenge.”
-Robbie, 11 yr. old’s birthday party, Montecito, CA
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I continued to enjoy putting together gatherings and planning events as I got older, and then had my first extreme chance to put it all into action when I planned my wedding in 2002 in Santa Barbara, CA.

In the following years, I ended up planning and executing all different types of parties and events both of my own and for friends, such as birthday parties, bridal & baby showers, weddings, retreats, and Christmas parties to retreats to birthday parties.

Then in May of 2007, it seemed time to put my passion and experience to work, and Parties by Holly began. Part of the vision is to provide extremely personalized party planning for people who wouldn’t normally think to hire a traditional event planner. In other words, most people think of hiring someone to help coordinate their wedding, but how often do they think to hire someone to help plan their 3-year-old’s birthday party? Yet, many people do not have the capacity to easily plan a party, no matter how simple it may sound. I have found that there are usually three hindrances for people: 1. they don’t have the time to plan a party, 2. they just aren’t very good at it (it takes a certain type of thinking to figure out the details of a party, even a basic one), 3. they just don’t enjoy it.

It is my goal to serve these people and bring my passion and expertise into their party planning experience to make it a more successful and enjoyable experience for all involved.