birds of a feather tween party

my oldest daughter olivia just turned 12.
AND, she is almost as tall as me...where in the WORLD does the time go?
*sigh...
in our family, we alternate "friend" birthday parties and "family" birthday parties.
since we only have a "big" party every other year, i like to make it really special.
when olivia turned 10, we had a "safari pool party" and invited over 20 girls. it
was a fun party, but making 20+ party favors and 20+ invitations was a little
overwhelming. this year, she opted to invite only her 6 best friends.
olivia is an animal lover through and through, and wanted the "theme" to
have something to do with animals...i searched and searched for inspiration...
i wanted something with an interesting color theme, and that was just
a little grown up and suitable for tweens. i was shopping at michaels when i spotted
the perfect inspiration in the wedding section! for those of you that don't know, most
craft stores carry a beautiful assortment of printable wedding invitations.
i knew with a few minor additions, these invites would be perfect for her party.

the inside of the envelope was pretty plain, so i lined them with metallic patterned paper.

 i also added the "flight itinerary"card.

 we decided to have the entire party "out", which is perfect for a group of young ladies.

 

since i only had 6 girls (versus 20+) AND i didn't have any food or decorations to

worry about, i really went all out on the party favors.

each girl got a wooden box filled with goodies.

(the boxes were also found at michaels.)

as each girl came to the car, we gave them a cute flower to wear in their hair.

i made the flowers with a floral garland that i  found at walmart and some barrettes and felt 

picked up at a craft store.

 each girl received:

a monogrammed bookmark (made from scrapbook paper and a letter cut with my cricut)

a stretchable mood ring

some m+m's and chocolate covered sunflower seeds in a hinged tin. 

(found in the wedding section at michaels craft store)

blue nail polish,

some vanilla body spray

a homemade hair clip

and some chocolate!

 for just a couple dollars more than it would have cost to buy paper bags, i was able to get these wooden boxes. i think they give a very "grown up" feel and will be something that each girl can use

 for years to come.

 my daughter wrote each one of her friends a poem and a note and attached it to the inside of the box.

these notes were the "response cards" that came with the wedding invitations.

a quick look at the cake...i am NOT good at making birthday cakes, so this

is something that i usually have a bakery do. i have also ordered plain cakes from

grocery stores and add somthing to dress them up. i did that here and here.

when ordering from a bakery, i always come armed with color swatches,

some sketches of what i want and a print out of the font that i want matched for the writing.

yeah, i'm a little crazy when it comes to things coordinating for a party...

party was a success and the party favors were a big hit! 

the girls all had a great  time, and so did my birthday girl.

i love you olivia!

happy 12th.