Showing posts with label Birthday Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birthday Party. Show all posts

Reagan's 4th Birthday {Real Party}

I know I've been MIA lately... well, maybe make that MWNA - missing with no action! Some of you may know that I started a small boutique design business earlier this year and it has just absolutely taken off lately. I have been devoting a lot of time to my business and therefore, I began to neglect my blog. About a month ago I announced that I'd be focusing more on my business than this blog. I will keep the blog, because there will always be days like today when I have something I want to share with you! They just may not always be close together!!  Please make sure you visit me at Posh Peony Creative Designs - I'm really building a portfolio and I'm available for just about any design work you need!

Today, I finally have my own party to share with you! Without further ado... I present Reagan's 4th Birthday!  All photos were taken by our FABULOUS friends at Captured by Jason Photography!  Many, many, many thanks to Jason & Kristin Merritt for helping us preserve and cherish this day!!


I chose a Rainbow theme for Reagan's birthday for a few reasons... the first one was the tablecloth!  I found it on Pinterest via Hip Hooray.  I fell in love with it and decided I wanted to put my sewing skills to the test, and boy was it a test!  More on that below...  The next reason I chose the rainbow theme was the sheer availability of color.  How much more color can you get than rainbow?!  The options were endless...



The dessert table was the main focus with 36" balloons providing the backdrop, although my red balloon wasn't filled to capacity and was very gimpy!  It was the only thing I could complain about, so for tha I'm grateful!  I made a cake, cupcakes, cake balls, cake push pops and rainbow jello (well, my husband made that!) and then we also had M&M's and rainbow Twizzlers.  I think my fave were the push pops!  The dessert table also featured 7 pictures of Reagan in glittered frames.

The cake was all white cake with buttercream icing, more info about the cake below, because as you can guess it was not just white!  The cupcakes were mixed - some rainbow chip and some were white cake dyed rainbow and layered.  The push pops were rainbow chip mini cupcakes with rainbow colored icing and nonpareils.  The cake balls were made from white cake, golden Oreos and buttercream coated in almond bark.  I'd originally planned to layer the Jello, but after much consideration I decided to serve each flavor individually.  I like the way it turned out, but did you know Jello melts in 100° Texas heat?!  Yeah, it was quickly Jello soup!  I designed and printed buffet cards for the dessert table as well.



The first truly original idea I came up with was a drink bar.  Thanks to Pinterest, it wasn't long before I realized it was not as original idea as I'd thought!!  Don't you hate that?!  I served seven different flavors of Kool-Aid - cherry, orange, lemonade, limeade, berry, watermelon kiwi and grape.  You can't actually buy 7 colors, you can buy 6 so I bought an invisible one (watermelon kiwi) and dyed it indigo!  It worked!  I also had paper straws (not pictured) so you could mix and match your rainbow!  The cherry and berry were big hits, the lemonade was not, haha!



I had a lot of ideas about decor, but I knew I could easily go overboard and I really wanted the focal point of the decor to fall on the tablecloth, so I used some honeycomb balls to give some height to the decor.  I also painted and glittered Reagan's name to place on the entertainment center.  We placed balloons all through the house and outside, but again that 100° Texas heat causes balloons to pop almost immediately when they head out of the house.  We had balloons popping ALL day!  I also knew I wanted to make a tulle wreath, and I did this one differently than my last (found here).  I used all seven colors and I LOVE how this wreath turned out!!  It stayed on my door until Halloween!  The day before the party I also made some time to create a small garden flag using materials I had on hand.  It turned out to be very cute!

I sent the kiddos home with gable boxes that had crayon rolls (making 20 at one time is a TASK for sure!), pencils and rainbow colored bubbles inside, and I somehow did not ever get a picture of any of that!



Back to the cake... as I'm sure you guessed, it was layered with the rainbow inside!  All seven colors... I will say - it was MUCH easier to make this cake than the layered cupcakes, go figure, right?!  Reagan LOVED it!!!



Ahhh... the tablecloth!!  This took me WEEKS... and by the time it was said and done I'd used 3360" x 6" of colored fabric and then ruffled it by hand since the ruffler foot I purchased for my sewing machine was the wrong foot.  I was so pleased with the outcome of this tablecloth and I can't wait to find more reasons to use it!!!  It was a true test of will... and something I will cherish forever!  Am I a nerd?!



Needless to say, a fun time was had by all...!  My precious princess turned 4 and she was able to spend an amazingly colorful day with all her friends and family!  Thanks so much to all who came and made her day that much more special.  We are all so blessed!!

Vendors:

Cupcake Social - nonpareils, cupcake liners (mini & standard)
Love to Party - rainbow candles
Little Yume - paper straws
AOC Welding Supply - amazingly priced helium for my oversized balloons!
Factory Direct Party - small cups and spoons (Jello)
American Balloon Factory - 36" balloons (great prices!)

Top 10 Party Must Haves (Party Trends)

Here are some party items I am currently totally obsessed with!

click image to enlarge

These aren't necessarily a new trend, and I've seen some party pro's suggest that these are or should be on their way out of the party scene... but, as usual I'm always a little late on the uptake and just finding these and I LOVE them!! Now beware... if you've never placed a paper straw between your lips, it does feel funny at first!

There are many shapes and sizes of paper lanterns floating around out there today - and I love them all! I've even seen many tutorials on how to make them yourself (not this particular version though). I love the fact that you can hang these and party or you can light them as well - which is GORGEOUS!

Yep... I said 3 FOOT!!! They are large and in charge, that's fur sure! But boy what a beautiful popping presence they have! Although as I am quickly learning, they may not be so practical for every party, at least not in mass quantities. Each balloon ranges between $5 and $8 and with helium becoming one of the most expensive gases in America... inflating the large guys can get pricey. But I think they are SO worth it!

These have been around forever... I remember making them in class in elementary school. But they are coming back and the are here with a bang! They can be found in almost every party picture you see and since you can make them in every color or scheme imaginable they fit in well from birthday parties, to baby showers to weddings. Beautiful, playful, dainty and bold all at once.

This is a huge hit right now... I actually just had this conversation with Kyle... I'm not sure if they were becoming a huge hit before but they definitely have hit the party scene running with the large popularity of Milk & Cookies parties. These are so neat, look great with those paper straws and give a wonderful presentation!

Bye bye paper birthday banners, hello fabric bunting! Well, paper banners aren't totally gone... but these guys sure have taken over! You get amazing textures, patterns and colors and many times you can make them no-sew! Oh and shapes... you can have pennant shaped, scalloped, square... so pretty!

Again, these really have been around forever and they went from party drab to party fab overnight! I think the key to their reappearance is how they are hung - with the right grouping of colors and sizes, you can create a gorgeous cascade of dainty tissue in a bold arrangement.

What an excellent DIY - so many great resources for ideas on how to make these adorable cupcake stands. Many use items you see everyday from wood circles to old candlesticks... slap on some paint and ribbon and viola! Tiny cupcake stands!! Love the professionalization too...

How adorable are those?! Gable boxes are a huge party favor holder these days. And they come in so many colors and some prints - and so easy to personalize. You can add tags, letters, ribbons... anything to make these your own personal party perfection!

These great hats are making their way past 1st birthdays... and with this amazingly simple fabric hat tutorial you can make one for very guest! Such an eye drawing detail and I'd bet they'd make for one happy party kid!

I hope you love these as much as I do!!! Party on my friends... party on...! :0)

Top 10 Birthday Party Themes

Hey guys! I have been doing tons of party research in preparation for Reagan's upcoming 4th and I'm coming across some of THE most amazing parties and I HAVE to share them with you!!

In no particular order...


Not only is this party done in amazing shades of pink and yellow, but it is a perfect mix of cute and elegant. I'm in love with everything from the flowers to the cake... the favors to the birthday girl's tutu - serious cuteness here!



Jess is total party GENIUS! She plans the biggest bashes for her little girls birthday each year. She also hosts a massive Halloween party each and every year. Everything matches at her parties, from the lawn furniture to the bottle labels. She leaves no detail undone.



What I love most about this party are the colors... blue and lavender are stunning together and definitely stunning here!! I love the delicate look of this party, the games and the fact that it is for two children 3 and 9 - TOTALLY versatile!!



Looking for a cute boy party? Here you go! This would be perfect for little boys birthday and I LOVE the color combination. Make sure you check out the cake pops, they are ADORABLE!! And the paper patterns used here... well, they're absolutely perfect!



This party is so NEAT! Not only are the colors sublime, the party centers around a photography theme! A photo booth was set up with a professional photographer and the invitations... OH!!! So wonderful!! ♥ this party!



I am dying from the cuteness of this party!! My niece and Reagan are the same age and Krystal would LOVE this party!! Make sure you check out the invitations and the fantabulous milk bar!!



I'm a sucker for Nautical... I think if I had a little boy I'd totally go Nautical on his room. That sounds bad... haha! But beyond loving the Nautical, I love the red, white and blue and especially the addition of the baby blue. The cake and cupcakes are perfection!



I love Carnival parties because they can be for a boy or a girl, and GREAT if you have multiples!! This party is really different from the other Carnival parties I've seen - everything is amazingly gorgeous and the party hats are SO cute - they used clown noses on the tops of the party hats!! And check out these cupcakes, hello?! Genius!!



LOVE THIS!! I love the colors, the printables, the cake... everything! And I love that while mom gets to go all out and throw a super cool party, it is totally perfect and boyish. You get to have a candy bar and all kinds of super yummy goodies but not make it too girlie. Perfection!!


I know I said in no order, but I think I saved this for last on purpose...


There truly are not enough words in my vocabulary to describe this acsolutely stunning party from Paula at Frog Prince Paperie. The details are beyond perfect - I have a huge must check out list, so I'll list it! You must check out: her unbelievably gorgeous daughter, the cake... click here to see more... the push pop containers and MY OH MY OH MY OH MY!!! YOU HAVE TO CHECK OUT THESE COOKIES!!!!! I have never... ever... ever... ever... seen anything more amazing than those cookies. I don't know how ANYBODY actually ate those!! Wow... unreal attention to detail. Talk about party of a lifetime.


Hot Party Trend: Push Pops

OK, so I know I posted briefly about these last week, but man they are VIRAL right now! There are SO many uses for these and they are SO cute! So, I want to share some ideas with you.

First of all... here are some vendors to buy the plain plastic pops from:


Yum Baked Goods on Etsy
Jinkie's Parties on Etsy
Luckecharms on Ebay
Martellato (wholesale)

There are some other places that sell them, but they sell out QUICKLY. If you think you need these anytime in the foreseeable future... begin looking at buying them NOW! They may not be there when you go searching next time! Try doing a Google search for "push pop containers" and you should find some retailers as well.

OK, so now that you know where to buy them... here are some of the BEST ideas I've seen:















Whimsical Mod Parties


As you can see... there are literally COUNTLESS numbers of things you can do with these push pop containers! You can rest assured that there will be push pops of some sort at Reagan's birthday party as I am beyond excited about these awesome new toys!! Oh, and you can actually make ice cream/sherbert/frozen yogurt in these as well... but why go traditional when you can go so out of the pop?! :0)

Reagan's 3rd Birthday Party

For those of you who are my "real-life" friends, this is old news, LOL... but for my new blogging friends, I wanted to share my daughter's 3rd birthday. I found so many great ideas online and took many liberties with Jessica's daughters birthday over at PBD. When I saw the pink and yellow party she did for her little one, I fell in love and HAD TO do it for my daughter as well! I love going with a non-character theme. Reagan's first birthday was all pink and white and polka dots. Her second birthday had a cupcake theme. I really neglected her second birthday since we'd moved into our new home in a new city just 3 weeks before her party. So, when 3 came around, I HAD TO do it up big!!

I went with the pink and yellow theme and I also knew I really wanted to incorporate damask prints. I named it Toddler Chic :0) Candy buffets are so fantastic and create such a beautiful tablescape, and since the party was more family than other children, I went with it! Well, let's just say, I won't do THAT again (candy is INSANELY expensive), but it did look nice, haha! So, here are the pictures... I hope you love the party as much as Reagan and I did - she was actually so in love with everything, it made my heart melt!!

I started weeks before the party on the paper goods... weeks! I really wanted to make a paper banner, they are ALL over the place and I'd never even seen one before I started researching for her party. I know, what rock was I under?! I'd also never seen the tulle poms or the tissue poms. Wow... ha! Every single thing was pink and yellow, with accents of white and a tiny bit of black. I used my Cricut machine for EVERYTHING!! In fact, I bought it with this party in mind.

Here are some pictures of her banners:






I also wanted a door sign. I used a Bazzil pre-cut flower in yellow and then created and printed the white circle. I cut the 3 out on the Cricut with Paper Studio glitter paper.



As "Thank You's" we had the guests take home candy from the buffet. I placed clear plastic bags out with these ties.



I feel like I should warn you that while we have a nice camera, I have no clue how to use it - so please don't mind my horrible picture skills!

Cupcake toppers:



I even made Reagan a tulle pom wand... of course I forgot to give her to her until AFTER the party! *doh!*


Candy buffet and food labels:



The morning of the party, I woke up at 6AM. I'm a LATE sleeper, so this was a big deal, haha! This was my first project of the day. A good friend of mine (Jenni, from the Cuban Pork post) worked for a florist and gave me instructions on how to do the citrus in the vase. I'm in LOVE with citrus in vases. Well, citrus sliced open faced like this in ANYTHING... but definitely in vases!



This is like the ONE picture of the banners hanging... I so wish I'd tried to get more! It's not the best picture, but it gives you the idea. I have more detailed pictures if you want a better look.



I also loved the Mason jar as a cup idea and tied super cute pink and yellow "3's" on them.



Yep, I even changed the candles out on my candle sticks...



I made a string of tulle poms for the entertainment center and the swing set.



Here is an overall view of the tablescape.



I have made cakes before, and cupcakes. But my oven has JUST NOW started to regulate properly. In September, had I attempted to bake a cake it would have been a nightmare. And besides... I highly doubt I could live up to this cake my friend Laura made!! It was absolutely PERFECT!! I painted a styrofoam R and lucked out with the yellow glitter candle. This was heaven!!



Cake balls - and the recipe for these not only uses golden Oreo's, but it's eggless!! So, if you have any egg allergies, you're covered! So yummy! This was the first thing to GO!



Candy, candy and more candy...


Gumballs :0)


Marshmallow Pops, I love these! They are SO perfect to send to school for birthday's and parties. They don't make a mess and are the perfect size for little mouths.



Pink popcorn - with the help of Raspberry Jello!



Hershey miniatures:



Candy coated Rice Crispy Treats:




More candy....!



The ABSOLUTE BEST cookies EVER! These are called Buttercream cookies - they are so easy and so incredible. They melt in your mouth. Now, that's a recipe I need to post!!!



The bar - I used CountryTime strawberry lemonade, it was a HUGE hit and it a must have in our home at all times now! I added fresh strawberries and lemon slices to it for a really neat look.



Close up of the cake, but this is the only picture you can even remotely see the water bottle labels. I did not get an actual picture of those, the sash I made for her chair and a few other things. *sigh*



The only picture I have of her in her outfit! Of course, with Nana's shoes on, but a picture of Reagan without somebody else's shoes isn't really a picture of Reagan! She inherited my shoe fetish :/


I'm so looking forward to planning her 4th birthday that I've ALREADY started, and her birthday is at the end of September! I have so many ideas and themes in mind from Candyland to Carnivals to Owls or another color party. Although, I should probably do pink and yellow every year since I have so much stuff leftover!!

I hope you enjoy these pictures and draw some inspiration from her party. Thanks for looking!!