Old MacDonald Had a Farm of Barnyard Toothpick Candles
At Dylan’s Racecar First Birthday Party He Races To the Checkered Flag
Both drivers and the pit crew filled their tanks on mini cheeseburgers topped with checkered flags and racing tire wheel macaroni and cheese. Butter cream frosted cupcakes topped with racecar wheels were offered as dessert as well as car-shaped sugar cookies in red, yellow and blue.
What’s a party without a cake? Dylan’s tiered birthday cake had twisting roads of fondant and cars racing down the side. A checkered flag topped off this fun racing confection.
A Mad Hatter Tea Party Alice in Wondland Style
Stacy Coon is a gift and stationery buyer, not a professional party planner. But you wouldn’t know it by looking at this Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter party she hosted. “This was a very fun party to create! I wanted it to be a magical event and I think I definitely accomplished that.”“When planning events like this I find it extremely helpful to have a color theme that compliments the theme of the party-It helps with the decision making. I keep a sketchbook that I fill with ideas and inspiration during the planning process–I clip photos and keep copious notes.”
If you love this table, you should know that it’s trash. Coon found it on someone’s curb with one leg that needed repairing. After she transformed it with a fresh coat of paint, Coon hand lettered part of the through the looking glass story around the edge of the table.
I picked the candy by the color but also in some cases to tie in the Alice in Wonderland theme-example -The Flamingo Lollipops and the M&Ms-I ordered with text from the story on them.”
“One of my favorite things was the tiered stand that I had the black and white cookies on-because I made it out of melamine plates that I purchased and with my husband’s help drilled the plates and used lamp supplies for the pipe that held them together-The “finial” was a place card holder I had purchased at a craft store in their dollar section but it was perfect! I also love the bird on the glass dome covering the cupcake. He came from the bridal section of the dollar store.”
Lucky little Olivia got to celebrate her first birthday in Paris. Ooh lala! Inspired by the classic children’s book ‘Madeline in Paris,’ this celebration transported all the guests directly to Paris. Authentic looking passports set the tone for the event as they were mailed out as invitations. Once the guests entered the hotel, they were ushered to the “customs agent” aka Uncle Albert to stamp their passports and collect a meal color coordinated drinking straw and a French flag.
“While my guests munched on French baguettes and hors d’oeuvers, mommy Monica acted as the “tour guide” to Paris. I wanted to keep them busy so we had four stops/destinations to visit and participate (old-fashion candy shop, the patisserie, Madeline’s book and souvenir shop, and Madeline’s World). In addition, to the shops, we had a street vendor artist do caricatures of the visitors. We also had a movie theater to view the Madeline movie.” In Olivia’s World, a Madeline doll house complete with accessories was set for the children to play with. Paris isn’t complete without a visit to the Louvre, but all the artwork was ‘stolen’ so children had to hunt down 150 laminated copies hidden around the hotel.
The centerpieces were huge hot air balloons with French flags to represent the very first hot air balloons flown in Paris in the 1800’s. Décor included a huge Eiffel Tower created from balloons, a candy shop lining the rue (streets) de Paris and a sweet patisserie of cookies for kids to decorate. Local bakers whipped up sugar cookies with Madeline designs and came with edible ink marks and bags of fresh butter cream for the kids to decorate (and get messy) with.
A Frog Prince First Birthday Party
Sometimes it actually is easy being green. But don’t tell Kermit the Frog that we said that! Green was the color and theme of this Frog Prince first birthday party for Roman Alexander. Wanting a unique theme, mommy Katherine Noller-Fernandez of Custom Celebrations chose to make her son a crown prince, and went to complete with two froggy cakes, cookies, gummi candies and much more to make her guests ribbit. Looking for a really special touch? We love that Katherine presented her husband and baby Roman’s grandparents with Oscar-style trophies from the Academy Awards. Thanks to Stacie Tamaki at The Flirty Guide for sharing this great party!
A Boy’s Construction and Building Theme First Birthday Party
“I decorated the room in construction colors of yellow and black,” Stacy said. Spirals of yellow and black balloons greeted guests into the construction zone while yellow ‘caution’ tape decorated the walls. “We had a lot of babies coming to the party, so I blocked off a play area on the floor with brown construction paper and orange cones.”
Stacy served candy goods to the smallest guests in construction dump trucks and yellow builders hats. This dump truck was filled with yucky trash like ‘dirt’ brownies and gummy ‘worms’. Placemats were triangular signs that read ‘Oversized Load’.
Stacy turned to family friend Joanne Moskin to make Logan’s first birthday cake. With a construction theme in mind, the cake was designed for construction and dump trucks to move dirt around the cake. The dirt in this case was crushed up crumbs of graham crackers and oreo cookies. Detour and stop signs made from sugar were stuck into the cake which looks so yummy.
Lucky little Logan got his own birthday cake to smash. Notice his adorbale bib which reads “I dig being one!”.
Lollipop Lollipop Oh Lolli Baby Birthday Party
Kim Stoegbauer has a passion for all things pretty. When it comes to her daughter Kate, there’s nothing she won’t decorate, design, plan or craft for her little girl. Kate — or perhaps mommy Kim — has a definite sweet tooth. For Kate’s first birthday Kim, author of the TomKat Studio, went all out creating a cupcake themed birthday party. To continue giving sweets for her sweetie, Kate’s second birthday party was a Lollipop bonanza!With her cupcake party, Kim went with an all pastel color palette, because she “tends to wards more muted colors in my designs and decorating.” But brights were much more fitting for her daughter’s big personality. “The bright colors are a perfect reflection of her! I started by finding the perfect paper for the layered lollipop invitations. It is a rainbow striped paper and was really the inspiration for all the decor.”
A major talent in the world of ‘do it yourself’, Kim created the labor intensive invitations herself using a circle cutter made by her idol and DIY queen, Martha Stewart. “Each invite I made required three circles in different sizes. It takes a bit of strength if you are cutting cardstock, and I have to admit that my arms were actually sore the next day! But who gets sore from crafting?!”
Kim considers herself ‘obsessed with details,’ but paper products are her specialty. Her favorite detail of the party were the cupcake toppers, which she customized with Kate’s name, initials, sayings and photos. “They turned out adorable in the bright colors, on the white frosting topped with bright yummy sprinkles…who could resist?
If you like the decorations Kim made, you can purchase them at her Etsy store. Stay tuned for next year’s birthday party extravaganza. (Kim’s thinking ice cream!)
Avery’s Hot Pink and Zebra Diva in Training Birthday Party
For little Avery’s second birthday party, chic was anything but shabby. This hot pink and zebra colored birthday party let everyone know that she’s not just a little girl, but a diva in training. A touch of walking on the wild side were apparent in everything from bows to her birthday cake. Photographer Navy Sou captured the untamed atmosphere of the party with her camera, and contributed by creating the invitations and Avery’s birthday outfit “complete with Chucks encrusted wtih bling and pink ribbon laces!”
