Black White and Yellow Happy Birthday Day

Two years ago my 4 best girlfriends and I celebrated our 30th birthdays together. We live in 5 different towns, 4 different states and 2 different countries so being in the same place at the same time these days is rare!  Somehow it worked out that we were all together and since the love for planning fab parties began with these girls when we were in high school, it was a must to throw a party for our 30th!

In honor of my 32nd birthday (today) I wanted to share these fun photos.  I hope everyone has experienced or one day will experience the sense of belonging and support that comes from a fantastic group of friends like these girls.  What a blessing their friendships are to me!

Vintage Pink and Blue First birthday

I am so excited to show you guys this adorable party from Our Fancy-full Life. This first birthday is sweet and sophisticated all at once.  I love the vintage feel and ll of the unique ideas.  Doilies for a garland?  Hello!  So simple and classy!

See the doily garland?  I love that!  The tissue paper poms just don't get old either but did you notice how Charisse used tissue paper to make a huge wall display?(look at the top photo)  Looks like she folded it accordion style (think paper fan times 4) and added some cuteness and another doily.  Wow!  So clever!

Cupcake toppers have become really popular and they are always adorable but adding tulle and pearls... talk about taking it to the next level!  Seriously great!

I must mention I am swooning over the white lacey cake plates as well.

Pretty candies, an adorable cake and look at that sweet banner!

Okay this is a scrapbook that matches the party.  I love this.

 I love the colors, the feel, everything!  Cait's party has come and gone but perhaps you have a first birthday to plan.  This is such a great theme!  I am thinking it would work great for a bridal shower, baby shower or even a 4 year old tea party! If you adore this party too, pop over to Charisse's blog and show her some comment love!

Adorable Dollies

Sometimes I get to feeling like all the parties and the crafts and the little details don't amount to much.  I mean, I know they make and impact but I am talking like making a difference beyond that moment, you know?  I am always sort of working this out in my head.  Today I was so excited when a friend posted photos of her daughter's party on Facebook with these adorable dollies.

 I commented right away on how cute they were and she responded by telling me that the giraffe stuffies from Cait's party had inspired her.  I know that much of what I do creatively starts with a spark of inspiration that I have seen somewhere else.  It is so encouraging to hear that something I have done has had that effect as well!

Jennifer made these cute dollies for the favors for her daughter's first birthday and she let the party guests pick out the one that they wanted. Each dolly is unique in many ways; they have different faces and ribbons and fabrics and cute names:  Mindy, Daisy, Lola, Lily, Candy, Zeva and Ariel!   I love how Jennifer made them unique while keeping them perfectly coordinated with they party color scheme.

 Wow, I think it would be hard to pick!


Here are a few other cute details from the party.

 Cotton candy balls on a stick?  How cute!

 I never did like the name "deviled eggs".  This is so much sweeter and very clever:)

Thanks Jennifer for sharing your creative party!  I am hoping to feature more parties more frequently.  There are so many creative ladies out there and I just want to share the inspiration!




  

A Dirt Bike Boy Party

Caleb turned 4 the same weekend that Cait turned 1.  Lucky for me and my crazy party planning brain, he wanted to have his party at the park and asked only for a "dirt bike cake".  Now, just be to clear, I have "done it up" for my little boy a few times in the past, like this and like this and like this.  I do not have an aversion to boy parties AT ALL.  My son, however, does not care much for the big fuss.  I asked all the kids to bring their bikes and I bought each family a kite.  Who knew kites could be so fun?  Everyone had a great time even though the party was very simple and I did a much smaller amount of preparation in comparison to Cait's party.  This begs the question of course, as to why I spent 3 months fussing over the details of Cait's party when a scaled down party can be just as special and fun?  Hmmm... there's one for the psychologists..

Here's the promised dirt bike cake.  Notice the number on the guy...

 Cake and favors ready to travel to the park.

Bike shaped pasta.  How fun is that?!

 All the kidlers.

 Have you flown a kite this year? Have you ever?  It is seriously so fun!  You need to!

For more details about the dirt bike cake, go HERE!

Cait's First Birthday

My little Caitlyn turned one last week and we had such a great time celebrating her!

I am finally getting around to posting some of the details.  Here we go...

 Originally the theme of Cait's party was going to be "pink and brown giraffe".  I mean, we are talking since I sewed her a blanket with giraffe print BEFORE she was born I have been planning this theme!  Two weeks before the party I decided I was bored with that idea and I switched it up but I did keep a few cute giraffe details.  One of my favorites is this cute "floppy friend" crocheted giraffe I got off etsy.  Cait loves it and it's so adorable when she totes it around!

 I had so much fun putting together the sweets table at my sister's party, I knew this was a must for this one as well.  I am no Amy Atlas but I did my best!  I didn't iron the tablecloths or anything but I did stand on a chair on the table to pin those lanterns up there...and I think that was at around 1 in the morning. 

 I found these cute favor boxes at Party City in California.  My daughters tied the ribbons on the boxes the morning of the party.  I am kind of a control freak so it is always a pleasant surprise when I hand a task over and it turns out "how I want it" without me barking orders!!

Like those tags?  I ordered them from Bridgett of Perideau Designs through Etsy.  She was awesome to work with and I really love her simple, charming designs!

Wondering what that cute tag is tied to?

 Giraffe Stuffies!  The favors I made for Cait's two baby friends.

 And one year old party girls always need bibs to keep themselves clean:)

 Look at Cait and her fun friends Emilie and Azraia playing with their new giraffes!

 Every month of Cait's life, on her "day", I have taken a photo of her in a diaper sitting next to this hippo.  I strung those 12 photos up along a ribbon.

And because I believe there can never be too many photos, I also stapled some of my favorite pictures of Cait to a few ribbons.  These are still hanging in my house today.

I'll get around to taking them down eventually...

The mantel.  I used my fun fabric to hide the TV.  Those letters are foam, They came in those colors and I got them at the dollar store!  I heart my teeny flag bunting.  So sweet!  It's going in Cait's room when i get around to it.

I bought a box of canning jars and used them as glasses for the party.  My daughters filled them with lemons, oranges and ice.  I never got around to the cute name-tag-straws I had envisioned in my head....

I just have to add...that fab paper under the glasses was made with my fun fabric.  I just walked into the copy store, "copied" my fabric, paid for a few color copies and that was IT!  So easy!  So clever.  Has this been done before?  If it has, I have never gotten the memo but none the less, I have figured it out for myself now!

Here's a close up of Cait's cute party hat.  I was glue-gunning this baby together as the guests were arriving!  Whew, so glad I got it done, I have made a hat for each of my children for their first birthday.  I kinda consider it a little tradition.  Would have been a shame to miss that on the last kid!

 There's the little dolly wearing her special hat!

 I have more details to come and there are also a few pics of the cakes over on the sweets blog.

I have decided that I am going to start scaling back on the birthday parties.  Keep it simple yet fabulous.  What elements do you feel are most essential?