Skyla's 4th Birthday Party

I didn't get on yesterday, like i had hoped, to post a little bit about the parties that have been keeping me so busy these past few months.

Little miss S, had her 4th birthday at the end of February. I had been pretty consumed by my sisters hens and only decided at the last minute to throw Skyla a birthday party. I had been googling for some inspiration when i stumbled across a blog which showcased heaps and heaps of parties. All of them were amazing, with special touches added via personalizing "goody bags", banners even adding cute labels to lolly jars, all with a unifying theme and matching decorations. Many were submitted to the blog by professional photographers, professional party planners and paper goods designers, but many are added by mums as well.

So this was the starting point on my journey as a designer of party paper goods, also known as "printables", (as sometimes they are sold in pdf format and the buyer has to print and cut out all the pieces themselves). As a party planner, by hobby, i recognized what a great touch they were and how simple but effective they were. I hadn't really seen anything like it here yet, although after some googling and web searching i found a few suppliers, so i figured i would give it a try for Skylas party.

We decided to theme her party Pink Unicorn, as she is obsessed with the colour pink and she love love loves her unicorn, (a stuffed toy that this past year must always accompany her to bed). Plus each year i make the girls a cake, usually of whatever it is they are in love with at the time, and i had come across a great 2D unicorn cake.

It was around the same time of finding the party planning blogs, that i found Bakerella. She makes these absolutley gorgouse CAKE POPS and i fell in love them, not just how cute they were but also the idea of cake, mixed with frosting, then rolled into a ball and dipped into chocolate - YUUUUUMMMMM!!!!!!!! So i found Skylas party as an excellent excuse to give them a go, they are a great way to show off the party pieces aswell. The little customised circles around the cake pop sticks were all in the colours of the day aswell as having either SKYLA, 4 or a picture of a unicorn on them. It makes them look so cute and helps tie in with the party. (it was such a hot day that day and our poor cake pops were having trouble standing up in the heat!!).

So although they were a treat for the guests, by the time they arrived our yummy pink cake pops were starting to melt and fall off their sticks. Here is a good pic of the cake pop tags, that can also be used as cupcake toppers, (when attached to cute little lollipop sticks).

One of the recurring elements at the parties i really loved and tried to 'channel' at Skyla's party was the lolly jars that were part of the dessert Buffet table, (another very popular addition to parties, that are so yummy - pics i hope to bring you soon). I went to spolight and found these jars, only about $5 or $6 each. I created little labels for them that read " Help Yourself" and "Yummy Treats" and stuck them to the jars with some pretty ribbon. Then i went to a $2 store and found some cute mini tongs and online found some bright pink, paper lolly bags. The jars were full of lollies in all shades of pink, so cheap and cute.

I had some star shaped cookie cutters, to cut out the bread for fairy bread and used the "fairy sprinkles" available from the supermarket instead of 100's and 1000's to stick with the colour scheme.

Here is my little darling, tucking into some treats before her guests arrive. Just behind her is a welcome sign, designed originally for the table centrepiece, but it was so windy that day, i decided to attach the sign to the ballon ribbons.

Unfortunately that is all the pics of the party decorations that were taken. The only other paper good i had designed for Skylas pink unicorn party was thank you tags for the lolly bags that we gave to guests as they left. Each bag had a crazy straw, and roller stamp/texta or bracelet and lollies in pink clear bags tied with pink ribbon and  had a cute thank you tag attached, it read: "Thank you for celebrating my special day with me, Love Skyla" I had seen variations on what we call lolly bags on these party websites, they were called party favours, (which you do hear here), but they can be a little gift as simple as cookie or i have even seen one where the favour was a goldfish in a bowl, from an elmo themed party.

We had all things pink, we also had watermelon balls and strawberries and yummy antipasto platters for the grown ups on hot pink platters, (courtesey of the best aunty!!), of course the tables were covered in light pink tablecloths and we had two bunches of pink balloons in mixed pinks, one with a giant foil '4' balloon the other with a giant foil unicorn balloon.

It was a really fun day, all the kids had lots of fun and Skyla got really spoilt, which was lovely. She is such a sweetheart.

Well that is all for this party and this post, better leave a picture of the cake, the 2D unicorn cake i attempted. It was quite tricky but i know Skyla got a real kick out of it.

The unicorn balloon

Family snap at cake time.

My next post will be about Lily's beautiful Rainbow party. I am still waiting on the professional shots from Shilo's hens night to post about that. TGIF tomorrow, i have my youngest brothers birthday dinner tomorrow night, looking forward to it.

Have a great weekend.