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Sweet Carolyne’s 1st Birthday Party

We wanted to have a beautiful, fun party to celebrate our sweet Carolyne turning 1! Our “theme” was “Sweet Carolyne” (like the Neil Diamond song) and included a dessert table with nothing but “sweets.” We used different shades of pink and coral, along with gold and glitter accents. Most everything was DIY by mommy!
Since the party was at 10 am, we had a breakfast bar with some brunch favorites – mini pancake stacks, sausage balls, chicken salad on croissants, mini blueberry muffins, and a yogurt bar!

An Under the Sea-Mermaid 3rd Birthday!

My daughter Emerald loves the Little Mermaid and Nemo. As an Event Designer I wanted to create the underwater world that she loved for her 3rd birthday party, but with a unique twist and sophisticated decor elements. Keeping the color palette pretty narrow, blues, greens, with white would be the key to the elegance of the party. The focal points are Dessert Table and Kid’s table.

Nautical Baby Shower

I was so excited to have had the chance to plan my nephew’s baby shower. The venue was at my sister-in-laws house. We had chosen a nautical theme of dark blue, bright yellow, and neutrals. The dessert table was accessorized with a canvas blue and ivory stripe cloth. It worked so well with the theme she had chosen. The sweet treats table included a sail boat theme cake, cupcakes, vanilla pudding, strawberries stuffed with cheesecakes filling, cookies, chocolate covered marshmallow and chocolate cover donuts.    

Girly Elmo Birthday Party

You know me, when it comes to creating ‘character‘ parties, I prefer to focus on great patterns and colors, and accent with the character! While putting together the original party plan, I decided to incorporate a child-friendly color palette of ‘Elmo’ red, pink, yellow, green and turquoise, but use three modern patterns to appeal to the adult’s design aesthetic.  A bold chevron pattern and two-tone clover pattern mingled beautifully with colorful polka dots and served as the basis for all of the paper goods designs.  I created my own “furry friend” that resembled Elmo to use on the paper goods – note how he has her age on his party hat!A personalized street sign was included in the return address label and we used Sesame Street sayings on the invitation and throughout the party goods (‘brought to you by the letter ‘A’ and number ’2′, ‘Alexandra’s World’, etc.).  You will see coordinating party goods throughout the party, including custom fabric used for pillows and the dessert table backdrop.Guests were greeted in true Sesame Street style at the front door with green street sign for ‘Alexandra’s Street’.  When they entered into the house, there was a large ‘A’ made out of yellow roses along with colorful decorations leading guests through the house into the official party space.  The adult tables were inside and out, and were dressed with bold, solid-color tablecloths and gorgeous flower arrangements.  There was a combination of high and low arrangements, and some also included jars of candy, and ribbon pomander balls.The kids table was set with a bold pink, satin tablecloth and the mini white chairs were wrapped in turquoise satin bows.  Each placesetting had a polka dot plate, a party hat with an Elmo sticker on it, and a cello bag full of crayons with a chevron topper.  (there were also coloring pages to keep the kids busy)  There were three monochromatic centerpieces lining the table – each filled with a different color of gerber daisies. Jars of candy with custom centerpiece sticks sat between the flowers.The self-serve bar was set up with rainbow striped glassware, paper cups for the kids dressed up with stickers, and water bottles with coordinating labels (big ones for the adults….mini ones for the kids!).  The food was served as a buffet in the dining room, and the table was set with three tall monochromatic flower arrangements to create a whimsical touch of drama.  Coordinating food tent cards labeled yummy eats such as mini sliders, sweet potato fries in paper cones, rainbow fruit kabobs and goldfish for the kiddos.  Pink silverware was tied in our coordinating napkin rings.The kids were entertained with face painting, a huge Sesame Street bounce house, and a visit from Elmo, himself!  A Sesame Street bounce house was flanked by colorful balloons and the outdoor living room was dressed with throw pillows made out of our custom fabric in the chevron and polka dot patterns.As usual, the dessert table STOLE THE SHOW!  Bright and colorful, it literally makes my heart happy to see how this came together!  A fabric-covered backdrop (made with our custom chevron fabric) defined the space and an amazing cake from Cakes by Gina held center court. (Don’t you love how she incorporated all of our colorful patterns into each tier?!)  Jars of candy were embellished with coordinating candy jar tags, and we used cupcake toppers to brand the candy in the tilt bowls.  Brownies held fondant toppers by Two Sugar Babies in our coordinating patterns, and The Cookie Jar created cookies in the letter ‘A’ and number ’2′.  Elmo cake pops received rave reviews from the little ones and cupcakes were a hit as always.There were small polka dot and striped boxes for people to fill up with candy (dressed up with a coordinating sticker, of course) and there was signage all around the party helping brand it.  Guests went home not only with their box of candy, but also with a cello bag with two containers of play dough (each wearing an ‘A’ and a ’2′ sticker on top) and a large Elmo cookie, tied with a polka dot gift tag saying ‘Thanks for partying at Alexandra’s World’.”

Arctic Coco and Smores Holiday Party

This party was a perfect fit for a little girl with a love of all things penguin. It was a small get together for a few friends before the winter break. We did something small that would entertain and include some traditional holiday fun with a twist. The choice was obvious, a hot cocoa bar and smores yum. A few of the activities included letters to Santa, pin the nose of rudolph, face painting, and penguin bowling. We ended the day by making a visit to the hot coco bar where kids got the chance to choose from a number of wonderful topping: whipped cream, caramel, chocolate syrup, marshmallows, sprinkles, peppermint crumble, and chocolate chips. Instead of cookies or cake we chose to do smores. With a parents help everyone toasted their marshmallows and chose from chocolate, cinnamon, or honey graham crackers. To top things off they got to choose from cookies and cream or milk chocolate candy bars. Other items on the tables were peppermint pretzel sticks, smore marshmallows, chocolate dipped spoons. For favors there were take home smores kits, cocoa kits with mini marshmallows, chocolate Santa mustache pops, letters to Santa, personalized crayons with childs name on them, penguin cups and cuddly stuffed penguins. Since it was a Christmas party we thought it would be fun for all the kids to be Secret Santa’s for each other. We took photos of everyone saying shhh then printed them on tags that said, “Ho Ho Ho I’m your secret Santa.” Each guest was asked to wear red and white to get in the holiday spirit. As they arrived we had them sit down at the table and draw pictures of what they wanted for Christmas on placemats we printed out. 

Vintage Robot Party

All little boys love robots and I tried to create this one with a modern twist to a classic theme. We added vintage antique robots collected by Logan’s dad to the dessert table and had food to resemble “robot” parts. Red licorice wheels, gumballs, cosmic cookies and more for all to enjoy! Logan’s favorite food is french fries, so I created custom french frie cones to match the table fabric. We  created arts and crafts projects using robot cut outs. The kids had fun gluing and glittering them and then we hing them up to create a “home made” banner for all to enjoy. Fun “global” blow up balls were a fun toy for all the kids to play with and then take home as one of the favors.

Sophia’s Vintage Barbie Inspired Birthday Party

For this party, I wanted the dessert table to help capture the children’s imagination just a Barbie does. So, I tried to design it as though it was actually a place in Barbie’s house.  I found the perfect black and white striped fabric, for the background, which called back to Barbie’s original bathing suit. And then I chose a dressing table to display the sweets and used it as inspiration for many of the other elements. First I found the most beautiful corset cookies and chose to stand them up like a wardrobe of gorgeous Barbie dresses and displayed them in and around a jewelry box. I had the cake pops standing up in a make up bag like beautiful lip glosses. And I created a silhouette, inspired by the classic vintage Barbie silhouette, and used it as one of the icons for the party as I designed the paper goods.  To create the “floral” centerpiece for the dressing table, I was lucky enough to find the perfect marshmallow roller pops .  The favor table was laden with fabulous accessories which I was able to find in the Target dollars bins… pearl necklaces, bracelets, flower headbands, gloves and even little purses to hold all the goodies!  

Goldilocks and the Three Bears Party

I attempted to create a feeling of being in the bear family house at baby bear’s birthday; lots of little chairs, a bed, balloons, bunting and handmade desserts! And of course, a couple of pictures of the family the bears would hang up in their home. I used dark woods in crates, trays and tiny dollhouse chairs to display desserts that might find their way into a bear celebration: baked porridge topped with maple frosting and cinnamon, marzipan acorns, honey cupcakes, chocolate covered bear pops, bear sugar cookies, and all natural lollipops. Allyson Jane provided the sugar cookies, and I baked the rest, save the cake! The cake was special; grandma flew in just for the party and made the cake for the birthday boy. Mama bear probably didn’t deal in fondant or cake tips, so we left it very homemade with love looking and topped it with a little mini bunting and wooden bear. The blocks were custom made by Laugh Loud Smile Big to match the party and spell out Brennan’s name. Vicki, in her keen foresight, wanted to make my daughter happy as well, so they also spell Madeline! She also made a beautiful burlap banner that says “be the BEAR” for the photo booth. The kids ate all their goodies and boxed lunches at a four-poster twin bed I converted into a kid-sized table. Each little head was topped with a fabulous party hat by none other than the talented Natalie at Southern Belle’s Charm.Party favors were porcelain bowls and wooden spoons personalized with each child’s name and a small teddy bear nestled in the bowl. Outside, mason jars were filled with wildflower blooms selected and arranged by Buds, Etc. They were just right!