a halloween-ish birthday party

my daughter, charlotte's birthday is the day after halloween. in the past, she has had a chinese themed birthday party (click here and here), and a pajamas+ pancakes + pedicures party (click here). this year, we decided to embrace the season and opted for a loose halloween theme---black, gold, and lots of natural textures with a splash of orange.

(photography by sara boulter.)

 the idea for the tree theme started when we selected the invitations:

they are available from this etsy shop.
i added the lining to the envelope, as well as the zig zag band, stamped tag and twine.



for the cake, i had a simple two tier cake custom made and decorated with white icing in a rough pattern that is reminiscent of the grain in wood. the inside of the cake actually has three layers--similar to candy corn!

the tree topper is a $3 halloween decoration from michaels. i added the garland.

the gifts bags:
(available here)

inside:
*homemade pumpkin spice bath salts (made with kosher salt and some scented oil)
*hand made pumpkin soap made by this etsy seller
*a tree necklace (not pictured. oops. available here)

you can see the pinterest board i made when gathering ideas for the party here.

here are a few more pictures that i (obviously!) took: 

chocolate covered strawberry ghosts

chocolate mousse cups with chocolate shards.

apples with fruit dip

gold + black lanterns with polka dot balloons.

the birthday girl!

the cake--vanilla, sweet potato and chocolate layers. it was delicious!!

too bad i count afford to hire sara to stay the full three hours of the party, huh?
ha!
sara recently shot the interiors for the book room recipes---a REALLY great book that you should add to your design book library!
(i was actually designing a room for this book, but literally EVERYTHING that could have gone wrong, went wrong, and the project wasn't ready in time for print)

a few of the  rooms in her home were showcased, and they are GORGEOUS!
click here to check out her blog.

happy friday everyone!