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!

pajamas, pancakes + pedicures party

a look at my daughter charlotte's birthday party, which was held a little while ago at my house:

the theme was "pajamas, pancakes and pedicures".
the girls showed up in their pajamas, and we had breakfast and then all the girls got pedicures. it was perfect for 10 year old girls!

the inspiration for the party color scheme was the floral fabric, which i found in the clearance section at joann's for $2 a yard! i loved the different shades of pink and raspberry and purple. i thought it seemed girly and sophisticated. i decided to use muted shades of pinks and purples, and tossed in a little gold and black and cream.

i tied bunches of coordinating balloons to the chandelier with coordinating ribbon. 

the "10" was made from pictures of charlotte throughout the years...it was so fun to look at, we kept it up for almost a week after the party.

the flowers really make the table special. i was lucky to find them at my local grocery store! 

the colored candy was purchased at a party supply store.

i brought a fabric sample to the bakery, and they matched the colors. the cake only cost $16.

charlotte wanted sparklers instead of candles.

as a party favor, each girl got a pedicure set (from the dollar store) and a gift bag.

i hired a gal to come and give pedicures to the girls. they LOVED it! i bought some large cheap bowls from the dollar store, and filled them with warm, soapy water. each girl soaked her feet while she waited for her pedicure.

my husband was a little reluctant to let us use sparklers on the birthday cake, so we stood next to an open door while we sang happy birthday...it was totally fun and cute, and the sparklers didn't leave any ashes or residue on the cake at all (which i feared)! it turned out great. we let the kids light the leftover sparklers outside.

the finished toes....

and, the birthday girl, charlotte.

the invitations...

i just printed out the invite on a plain ivory card and added the colored strips of paper at the bottom, which i sort of "weaved" to give a 3d effect. i lined the envelopes with gold wrapping paper.

the party favors:

i bought 1/2 yard of fabric and sewed the bags myself. the purple flower is actually a hair band, and was purchased at the dollar store.

inside the gift bag was a little tin filled with candy, some bubbles, and two mini bottles of nail polish.

happy birthday charlotte!

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.