Stacey

Madison has these rosy cheeks you just want to snuggle with and her nursery is birdcage themed, so a garden first birthday party seemed very fitting. Her mother had a very clear vision, she just needed a little help with focusing all her Pinterest inspiration ideas and executing them. Guests were greeted by rabbits holding “Welcome to Madison’s Garden” signs before walking under an arch adorned with flowers, which later doubled as a photo station. Birdcages hung overhead and large butterflies were placed in planters, giving the modern space a whimsical feel. Dining table centerpieces were large birdcages with beautiful pink, lavender, and white floral arrangements with ivy spilling out. They were topped with butterflies and birds, which the kids got a kick out of. For the dessert table, we brought the outside in by stringing ivy and pink flowers to a garden lattice as a backdrop. “Grass” (aka turf) atop the eyelet tiered tablecloth completed the outdoor look. A string of butterflies spelled out “Happy Birthday” along the front of the table. An amazing birdcage cake took center stage and was surrounded by flowery “sweet tweets” including cake pops, cookie pops in flower pots, petit fours, cupcakes that looked like potted roses and rose topped cupcakes in floral wraps. Beautiful can be delicious, too! Flower shaped signs in a garden box denoted what the yummy goodies were. The bar signage mirrored that and listed the signature cocktails (Madison Collins and Scotchy & Soda after the family dog. Woof.). The items on the brunch buffet were described with charming potted “flowers”. While adults mingled, the kids were kept entertained by painting birdhouses in a craft area, getting their faces painted by fairies, playing parachute games, or jumping in the bouncy house. The aspiring gardeners received buckets with butterfly nets, sun visors, seeds and shovels to indulge their green thumbs. Everyone had a “bloomin’ good time”!

Like most preschool girls, Rowan is obsessed with the movie “Frozen.” Being a mom to a boy, I never thought I’d get a chance to design a sparkly girly “Frozen” party before the craze had passed, so I was psyched when Rowan’s mom asked me to step in and help pull it all together. There is still glitter in the cracks of my floor. The challenge with movie, book or character inspired parties is to keep the focus on the birthday girl or boy while keeping with the theme. I think we did a pretty good job here!

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No! It’s Super Caroline’s 4th Birthday Party!
 
“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” might be a box office hit, but Caroline’s superhero themed celebration was a real showstopper! Going against the “Frozen” trend, the Batman-loving birthday girl went a rather untraditional route for a girl—including the desire to have blue as the main color. Mom, however, wanted to keep it non-commercial and unisex, so we threw in purple and yellow to make it as gender-neutral as possible. Everything from the comic inspired invitations to the personalized capes, Superman font banners to the caped crusader cake pops were custom created—and easy for anyone with a computer, a little extra time, and most important for a busy mom– energy to do. My own son was the “fit model” for the toddler sized telephone booth made from an Ikea bed box. The sweets buffet backdrop, made from a big-screen tv box, was hand-painted to match the invite. The hero graphics were from Etsy and were used to create centerpieces, walkway décor, accents on all signage, and the cake topper. Upon arrival, kids were all given personalized capes, though some had already gotten into the spirit and came dressed in costumes. To keep the little heroes busy, they decorated their own masks, leapt tall buildings in a single bound at the photo station and tested their X-ray vision with a touch & feel game. The phone booth even managed to survive the 20 sugared up toddlers– a super power in itself. The very opinionated birthday girl was so happy with her party, she’s already thinking about the theme for her 5th!
 
 

OOH OOH AAH AAH! A circus themed birthday party that kids and adults could enjoy.

Baby, it might be cold outside somewhere, but in SoCal, it was a balmy 80 and sunny. That didn’t stop a dozen toddlers from getting into the holiday spirit by indulging their inner Martha Stewart at a good old-fashioned cookie decorating party. Frosty didn’t come to visit, but I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of frosting in odd places for months to come…
We kept the party more “winter” themed, and incorporated iconic winter images- snowmen, snowflakes, mittens. Hints of Santa & his elves filled out the details. The snowmen cake pops were a definite crowd-pleaser. Then again, who doesn’t love food on a stick? The Santa strawberries & whipped cream could almost be considered healthy. Almost. “Elf Juice” kept the kids hydrated while they worked on the cookies. Kids were able to take their colorful creations home with a jar of layered hot cocoa. Hmmm… maybe when winter finally gets to LA it’ll come in handy.

Welcome to the jungle where dinosaurs and toddlers rules the land… Though a week before the party, the birthday boy decided that “dinosaurs are kind of scary.”