Wednesday, April 22, 2009

my themed party obsession

Updated on 5/29/09: This party was featured on Creative Parties & Showers & One Pretty Thing.

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For Works for me Wednesday, I want to share something that definitely works for me...themed parties! I love themes! Birthday parties, baby showers, you name it and most likely I'll create a theme for it. I even enjoy giving themed presents for birthdays and baby gifts. It gives me a chance to get my creative juices flowing and I have so much fun in the process. One very important thing to know, however, is that I often put more TIME than money into creating themes. I like simple, but with some extra special touches. My sister would say I'm an overachiever! I just call it crazy.

TODAY is my daughter's 3rd birthday and last Sunday we had family over for a fun celebration! So, what was the theme you might ask?

~ Lollipop Sweetness ~

The invitation (pictured below) was shaped in the form of a lollipop. I also made a birthday collage of pictures of Mikayla from this past year and I sent one to each of the family members with their invitations. At the party, each of the cousins received their own lollipop with their initial on it.


At the end of the party, I took out the "lollipops" and had little baggies for the guests to put some of the candy in and take home with them. It was great to use this not only as decoration, but also for a little treat for the guests at the party!


At every birthday party, instead of cake, I make cupcakes (see here for more). This time I wanted to do something simple and bright, so I used lots of sprinkles and made some fun cake toppers with Mikayla's initial on them. So easy, so cute!




I've seen this idea floating around in many different places, so I just had to try it! These are strawberry marshmallows dipped in chocolate and covered with sprinkles. I then put a lollipop stick in them...they were a hit with the kids!


You know you can't get enough sweetness and I thought it might be fun to throw in some fruit roll ups just for fun and to add even more color to the table.


This idea was originally done by my friend Andrea when we co-hosted a baby shower together, and I just had to recreate it for Mikayla's party. Of course the matching paper is on purpose!


The completed table. If you look closely I have candy necklaces hanging from the light fixture. The rest of that idea was to have pictures hanging from the necklaces, but I ran out of time! For lunch we had a sandwich bar, chips, veggies, and fruit salad.


For some simple decoration, I found these bubble wands at The Dollar Tree and turned them into lollipops with some cellophane and ribbon. I loved how they turned out and it gave just the right amount of decor that was needed.



Near the end of the party, I took them all down and I had Mikayla give them to her cousins as party favors. Again, I loved being able to use these for two things...decorations and favors.


We then broke out the bubbles and the kids played with their wands in the backyard. It was a hit! Cheap entertainment works for me!


At one point during the party we also had a lollipop hunt. I had purchased some small lollipops and stuck them all over the yard and the kids ran around looking for them. It was so fun to watch them find them and put them in their bags. This was pretty much the only "organized activity". The rest of the time was spent eating and playing outside in the sun. Ryan had found some oversized blow up sports equipment on clearance last fall, so we got those out and the kids enjoyed having something to play with.


Not surprisingly if you know me, there are still lots of pictures to share of the party, especially of opening presents, blowing out candles and such. But, I'll save that for another post! On Friday, we're having 3 of Mikayla's girlfriends over for a tea party/dress up party, so I'll be sharing some more fun pictures if you want to come back to see!

And...if you want to see some of my other "themed obsession", check out the following:

Monkey Birthday Party
Flowers & Favorites Birthday Party
Pink & Green Icecream Sundae Baby Shower (aka Pickles & Icecream)
Themed Baby Shower Gifts

Head on over to We Are That Family for more Works for Me Wednesday!

33 comments:

lsnellings said...

What a great party idea! I love themed parties too! Last year I did a ladybug theme for Libby that was really fun!

Dawn said...

Everything came out so great!! Love it all! Glad you were able to have the party. Your cupcakes look great with her initial on them. We've been doing cupcakes lately too-much easier. Yours look so pretty with all the sprinkles. Glad it all worked out for you-great idea :)

Katie said...

The party theme is just adorable! I was anxious to see all the details b/c I LOVE how you decorate/plan themed parties. The big bubble wands were such a fun find!! I am sure Mikayla loved her special party!

Rachel Holloway said...

I love theme parties too..but you are just OVER THE TOP AMAZING with all your attention to detail!!! I LOVE IT! SOOO impressed. I might have to borrow some ideas for my daughter's birthday next month! FABULOUS!!!

Bran said...

Very Cute! I also LOVE themed playdates!

DairyQueen said...

How adorable!!

You thought of everything ~ looks like the kiddos had fun too!

Tanielle said...

Absolutely adorable!!! Throw me a party will ya?! What amazing ideas you came up with! Thanks for sharing all the cute pics, and can't wait to see more!!!

Have a fun day!!!

Tanielle

Kelli W said...

What a great party theme!! I love a themed party too...but I with boys we have had to stick to dumptruck and cowboy birthday's! No cute pink frillies at our birthday parties!

vicki said...

Looks like the party was a success! Glad the weather turned out so nice. Wish we could have been there too!
Dad and Mom

Kelli said...

Just so you know, my birthday is November 8. That should give you plenty of time to buy a plane ticket and plan my party! Her party is adorable and so creative, just like you! She'll remember those things.

Moore Minutes said...

I am HUGE fan of party planning too! This party was adorable!! I love every single detail. The marshmallows are awesome. If you scroll through my blog or click on the "birthdays" topic you can see some that I've done. My mom just had her 50th and my son had a dinosaur one. You are super creative and I enjoyed looking at your ideas.

Kris said...

Holy cow! That is one of the CUTEST birthday parties I have ever seen! My little girl turns 3 this summer and I think I now know what I want the theme to be! Your creativity is just amazing. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the bubble wands that you made into lollipops. So clever!

Sarah said...

This is great! I see you incorporated the scalloped punch :) I looked for one today with no luck. I just love planning a themed party. Wish there was some way to make money doing that!

Tammy Williams said...

With reference to your previous post, it is amazing how quickly they grow-up. I can't believe how long Mikayla's hair is at 3 yrs old. Hopefully Maya's is like that by the end of summer when she turns 3 too.

Fun pictures.

Russell Family said...

So cute! Again, I love your ideas and craftiness(if this is even a word) :) I am sure Mikayla had a wonderful birthday party!!
Angie

Tracey said...

Very crafty! Love the themed ideas and the pictures!

He & Me + 3 said...

You are a rock star party planner! Loved the whole theme thing. I am a totally theme party planner too. Awesome fun!

Shelley @ My Treasure Hunt said...

You did an awesome job! Love that theme, what a great idea to hunt for lollipops-- and all your treats were so cute. I want to try dipping the marshmallows...how simple and cute! I also love the water bottles! Great job! Can't wait to see what you do for the next one!!

Jenny said...

That is awesome! I love the bubble wand lollipops!

Emily said...

Wow...you are so creative! I love themed parties too...we are doing a carnival theme this year for Jack. It will be nowhere near as creative as your parties though...feel free to pass along any extra creative juices you might have...I'm apparently lacking!

Sharon said...

How fun! Your party idea is too cute, and could be used for a boy or a girl! I love the bubble wands for decorations and favors!

Maridith said...

What a wonderful idea!! I might have to steal this one. My daughter is turning 4 and can not think of what to do for her birthday.
This is a great idea & looks like you had a fabulous time!!

Thanks for telling me about how to get larger letters for banners. Now I know!

Jennifer said...

This is great! Thanks for sharing your creative ideas!

Mama King said...

Love all the special details! Love bubble wands wrapped as lollipops

Xazmin said...

I love it! What a fabulous Birthday party!

I love themed parties too...but I usually end up spending way too much - even when I try to do it on the cheap!

I can't wait to see more pictures!

jennykate77 said...

I love your lollipop themed party!! It looks like it was so much fun! The initial picks in the cupcakes are really cute! Party planning is so fun. I love thinking of a great idea and just running with it. I probably can go a little overboard sometimes. ☺ I can't help it.

Hope you've been having a great week!

heidi said...

Are you KIDDING me?!?! Can you be MY mom?! Seriously, girl, you know how to rock some party decorations. You should become a kids party planner - fo sho. Big money to be made, swear it. THose fancy pants would ADORE to have someone do up something wonderful like you do for your kids. AND you could do coordinating invites or thanks yous with your design business.

Yk, cause I know you were looking for something to do.

You're welcome.

;-)

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

Hi Heidi!

What a cute party! I love those lollipops. And those marshmallow treats look so fun!

XOXO
Jen

Michie said...

Wow, that is one impressive party! How do you find the time to do all of that and have two little ones?
I really want one of those cupcake stands but I keep talking myself out of it because I know I won't use it enough for it to be practical.

Could you tell me how you make the tags for the water bottles?

Becca @ The Texas Darlings said...

Absolutely adorable!!! I loved it!!

~Becca

Heather said...

a girl after my own heart! i have seen many incarnations of the lolipop decoration lately, but the BUBBLEWAND is my favorite! so creative...and the water bottles! is there a tutorial??

Totally Tolers said...

WHAT A GREAT PARTY!! This is one of the best I've seen.
Thanks for addiding the waterbottle holder things. I can;t wait to make them.

Monica Bremer said...

Aw, Mikayla looked so beautiful! This is a great idea for my daughter's 3rd birthday in April. We're still looking at some ballrooms in Denver, though. We're gonna have a double party this time. Cupcakes are yummy alternative for big cakes, I think. I'll be arranging 'em to form a big cake. What do you think? I'm gonna add those bubble wands to my list! Thanks!

 
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