Sunday, September 18, 2011

Enchanted Forest Birthday

This will be my first party post, we have had three parties in the past four weeks, it has been a busy month.

I started planning this party back in June and had three months to work on it.  It all started with some great inspiration from the internet.  Originally I decided fairies was the theme, but then really liked the woodland aspect to the parties.  My daughters friends include boys and girls, and we could never have an all girl party that would not include the boys too.  Toadstools and a red, green and white template quickly were everywhere!

I started with this great invitation from Paper and Pigtails on Etsy:
Invitation

A do it yourself person, and slightly new to the paper craft world, I bought a Slice die cut machine and started crafting.

I made these custom designed favor bags for the party as my first project.



Next was costumes - I made fairy costumes for each girl at the party.  I started with a four color pallet of the wings, and on about my 9th costume I made a red/ green and white set.  Had I realized how good this would look I may have made them all the same.  But we had 12 costumes that were all different.

We set them up for the girls to choose from as they arrived.  For the boys I made Robin Hood style outfits with hats.



Each fairy costume came with a skirt, wings, wand and headband.


There was LOTS of tulle in the skirts!  This picture shows how full each skirt was.


I had seen the names done in wood - so I painted Madeline's name in the party theme colors - this looks good for short names...this name went across the whole table.




There was so much other planning, but in the end, the party was a success!


The dessert table included several treats.  Yes, I did all of my own baking.  In review I know why having vendors is a great idea.

My sister helped decorate these cookies:


This was the first time I had ever made a cake pop!


I love Marshmallow Pops - much easier to make than cake pops!



There was a candy buffet in these great jars:


We made cupcakes, I made the toppers.  I saw the idea for the cupcake platter on another site.  My husband thought I was crazy, but he made them anyway.


We really did not get any good photos of the food.  We served cut fruit, veggie sticks with ranch, potato chips in paper cones and toasted cheese sandwiches for the kids.  The adults got most of the same, with an adult sandwich station.  We served lemonade, tea and water to drink.

We have had the hottest Summer on record ever here in the Houston area and we are still in a serious drought.  I planned the party for the evening, hoping it would be cooler.  It was 101 during the party.  I decorated the patio, and we set up a parent area outside, only it was so hot, the kids barely even ate outside.



More pictures of the patio:




Even under the awning it was very hot!



This was the place-setting.  Polka dots with a brown dinner plate.



The kids played a lot - this is a photo of the Birthday Girl.


For entertainment we hired Daisy of Curly and Daisy to paint faces - this was so worth it and the hit of the party.  She does the most amazing fairy faces - and the boys got some really cool artwork too!  The kids all stood in line and could not wait!  If you are anywhere in the Houston area - I highly recommend her!
Curly and Daisy

Look at the great fairy details the Birthday Girl got! (Not sure why she made this face)




We also had a pinata - I tried making my own, which did not go so well at all.  I think modern day pinatas are way too small, but I found both a fairy and a toadstool on the internet, so we sat the fairy on top of the toadstool, unfortunately I only have a picture after the kids had been trying to get the candy out!


Overall, for a real party, it was a lot of work, planning and time - but so worth it.  Everyone had a blast!

No comments:

Post a Comment