Sunday, February 8, 2009

a sweet strawberry party

Hello friends! That is, if anyone out there even remembers this blog. How I have missed blogging and interacting with you all! I am a faithful lurker on my favorite blogs, of course, but I'm constantly finding myself with lots of ideas for the blog - and wishing I had the time or energy to make it happen!



homemade strawberry cupcakes (with toppers from thepaperplayground)


Here's one thing I pulled off recently, however. My daugher's fourth birthday party. She loves strawberries, and decided she wanted a "Strawberry Party". Not a Strawberry Shortcake-character party, mind you - just a Strawberry party. And, of course, how can I resist? I do love having a good theme to work with.



For the first time ever, rather than making my own invitations, I had someone else do it. Primarily because as I was searching Etsy for all things strawberry, I found a set by Etsy seller thepaperplayground that were perfect. I asked myself, "Self, when you're seven months preggo and someone's already created exactly what you're looking for, why recreate the wheel?" Kristen (of thepaperplayground) created this whole suite of hand-stamped invitations, thank-you cards, cupcake toppers, and paper favors (with a sweet message and candy inside), all with my strawberry theme. And she was super-nice and helpful to boot. What more can a girl ask for?




I decided on a palette of red, pink, and lime green. I wanted to make sure to include the lime green so that it didn't look too much like a Valentine's party. That being said, it didn't hurt that her birthday was just a few weeks before V-day - there were so many things in the right colors available for decor, and especially for favors - so it worked out perfectly.




A tiny disclaimer: my husband took every single one of these photos for me (thanks babe!)...however, he had two things working against him: 1) a new camera, on which he is still trying to figure out the best settings, etc. 2) the inability to read my mind. (I was busy running around until the very last minute - wait, running is a slight exageration...waddling is more like it - and didn't have time to give specific instructions as to what I would like to have photographed. So, what you see is what I got.)






We decided on a menu that was entirely strawberry. Peanut butter and strawberry-jelly sandwiches, strawberry lemonade, chocolate-covered strawberries, and strawberry cupcakes. I used a cookie cutter to make heart-shaped sandwiches (and ate the crusts as I went along).


The favors were so fun (and inexpensive!) to put together. I got the baskets at the Dollar Tree - two for a dollar - and almost everything else came from the dollar section at Target. Ohmyword I LOVE the dollar section at Target! They really came through for me on this one. Little Strawberry Shortcake pens and pencils, bracelets, and stamps. I would spend a dollar and get a package of six items (I had six little girls, so that was perfect) and split them between the baskets. They even had tiny grow kits - I'm not kidding - a tiny terra cotta pot with soil and - wait for it - strawberry plant seeds. I threw in a handful of strawberry candies from the dollar store, and the cutest little handmade favors - paper strawberries with a message on the outside and strawberry candy on the inside - also by thepaperplayground, and voila! We also had plenty of extra balloons, so we sent one of those home with each girl as well. I figured that each loaded favor basket cost a total of maybe $3 altogether. I was loving life.



I also provided two crafts for the girls to work on. Target (again) had these little picture frame sets in the dollar section that I bought for the girls to personalize with stickers, glitter, and stick-on jewels. Next, they put together some jewelry. I found these bead kits on after-Christmas clearance at Michael's and the girls made bracelets, necklaces, and key-rings. That ended up being fairly labor-intensive for the mommies, but I think the girls really enjoyed it. (And what wouldn't we do for our kids?!)



I wrapped a clear glass vase in pink tulle ribbon, and put in a bouquet of berries that I think are used mostly for filler - but ya know, they resemble tiny strawberries! So no boring old roses for us - we chose the berries (from Costco, butofcourse) for a charming little detail that probably no one else noticed or appreciated but ourselves. But hey - a good party is all in the details - whether they're noticed or not!




I found these adorable little truffles in the right colors - some even had little strawberries on top - that were actually tiny candles. Supposed to be Valentine's decor, but they worked great for a strawberry party, too.



Candy in jars is always a good standby when you'd like to carry a color theme around a room. Here's the shrine to my daughter - a couple of photos of her, plus candy. Of course!



I made a banner for the mantle, although I'm bummed that I can't show you a close-up (I don't have one). I found these paper doilies at the dollar store - a package of 24 for a dollar! I bought some oval ones and some rectangular ones. They were the perfect size for cutting letters and strawberries out of scrapbook paper, pasting them on the doilies, and then stringing it along the front of the mantel. You can't tell, but I even glittered the strawberries. I don't have a lot of patience for small crafty things these days, so I was pretty proud of myself for that one.



Strawberry Dreams tutu by Etsy seller tiarastutus


And lastly, a most important question. What should the Party Girl wear? After much (enjoyable) browsing again on Etsy, I discovered this amazing Strawberry Dreams Tutu by tiarastutus that I had custom-made in my daughter's size and preferred length. It had plenty of pink tulle, with little bits of green tulle like strawberry leaves and black rhinestones on the skirt to simulate strawberry seeds. It even had a matching hairbow with strawberry on it! Oh my. How could I not buy it?
But the cherry (strawberry?) on top of this whole thing was my daughter's reaction. (She just turned four, mind you.) She was so genuinely grateful and excited about each and every element of the decor and the party that it made it all more than worth it. At one point, when she saw my handmade banner, she said, "Oh, it's so beautiful! I might cry because I'm so happy!" And it was totally genuine and not melodramatic (if you can believe it!). She really was so thankful for everything, that I found myself trying to freeze those moments in my memory forever...while simultaneously praying that she'll never change and will always have that grateful spirit. So, it wasn't easy to pull off in my large and grumpy state, but it was MORE than worth it. Man, I love that kid.

28 comments:

  1. YAY! A "berry" nice party. I love all your creative ideas, and I especially admire you for doing this for your daughter whilst you're in a "delicate condition." :-)

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  2. What a cute girly party! Love the tutu.

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  3. Oh so sweet! What a wonderful party! Makes me wish I had a little girl!!! ;-)

    Thanks for sharing!
    Alesha

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  4. Um...my birthday is next week and I would very much like for you to throw me a strawberry party. :-) This looks FANTASTIC! Your thrifty berry baskets are a great score. I just can't believe how wonderful everything looks! (And you gave me a great idea in advance...cutting sandwiches into Christmas tree or gingerbread man shapes at my December cookie party!).

    Great to see a new post from you...It totally made my day! :-)

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  5. thank you, sweet friends. so nice to know I've not been TOTALLY forgotten. :-) And Laura - your wish is my command! (Although I hope it's truly the thought that counts - I am mostly THINKING about throwing you a strawberry party. Ah, if only you didn't live in New Jersey!)

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  6. Courtney it all turned out so adorable! I love all of the details from the food to the decor. What more could a 4 year old ask for! :) Very sweet.
    I am so flattered that I was asked to do the invites and thanks yous when you are so talented yourself. Thank you so much :)

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  7. What a gorgeous little girl's party!!! Courtney you're an ideas woman! Come back to blog land as soon as you can as your inspiring ideas are truly missed.

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  8. I heard from a little bird, it was your birthday... I hope you have a happy birthday!!!!!

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  9. I love this!!! What a sweet party. My daughter is talking about having a Spongebob theme for her birthday that's coming up, and I don't think I can have nearly as much fun decorating with yellow and Patrick and Krusty Krab pictures. Ugh. Maybe I can convince her it would be more fun to go with a strawberry theme? :-)

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  10. oh my goodness so cute! my daughter would love something like that!

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  11. Such a great looking party! =)

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  12. Such a great par-tay!!!!!!
    Glad to see a post from you.

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  13. What a sweet party! I've been wanting to put a Strawberry party together for some time and this really inspires me! Thank you for sharing. :)

    Lisa

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  14. Love the mirror above your fireplace.

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  15. wow. you did a really fanatsic job. this party is a-dor-a-ble. i'm sure she was thrilled!

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  16. Wow what a great Party! It all looked so cute! Great job on the banner on the fireplace. My little girl is about to turn Two in May and she's going to having a Princess Party, so I have been looking for inspiration and this would be perfect to do! Daisy~

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  17. this party is absolutely adorable! i love the creative details so much that i just did a feature about it on my birthday blog! www.birthdaygirlblog.com

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  18. Thank you for sharing your ideas. I am looking for a "strawberry" party for my 3 year old and came across your blog site. Love your home made banner and food ideas.

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  19. I am having a strawberry party for my 2 year old (who incidently loves strawberryies as well). I googled "strawberry party" and found your blog post. I couldn't help but notice that the date was around this time as well. I thought I would struggle finding cute ideas for strawberries mid-winter, but you did it!! Yay! Thanks for posting. Super cute!!!

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  20. This is too awesome! My daughter is turning 3 next month and she has asked for a strawberry party too! Thank you for so many wonderful ideas to draw inspiration from!

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  21. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!
    My daughter is turning one next month, and you gave me the BEST ideas! I love your blog too!

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  22. OMG! My daughter has been asking for a strawberry party (not the character either) and I came across your site. She will be 3 next month and loves strawberries as well, this party you threw is exactly what I was thinking of trying to do. You did a fantastic job and thanks for posting b/c I love the ideas, details and I also shop at all of the same places!!! You have saved me a ton of legwork, Thank you.

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  23. I love strawberry specially, they are delicous, it drives me crazy!!!! i like to eat strawberry any time. actually I was interested to find information about how to buy viagra online and i found this blog. i must to say is really wonderful, i stay entertainment all the time. Really fantastic.

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  24. your decorations are AWESOME! My daughter is going to be 3 in July and we asked her what she wanted on her Bday cake and she said Strawberries! So, I am looking for some creative things to do w/ strawberries....

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  25. Hi there,
    I am doing a 2nd strawberry short cake theme birthday for my daughter. The invites and etc would be perfect! Im wondering if you don't mind telling me aprox how much you paid for them and how many you had all together?
    Thanks so much!
    Melissa

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  26. Hi Melissa,

    I purchased invitations/toppers etc. for eight. The cost was $40 including shipping but I'm sure the prices would be different now as that was a few years ago. I got them from thepaperplayground on etsy.

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thank you for commenting, dahling! I can't wait to hear what you have to say. :-)