** Printables from this party are now available in my etsy shop!**
I had so much fun putting together this party to celebrate Lila's 2nd birthday! As I was brainstorming themes I kept coming back to birds, probably in part because that's the direction I've decided to go with her bedroom, and also because a lot of the books we enjoy reading together feature bird characters. I (obviously!) got a lot of my inspiration for the decorations from the blogs I read and Pinterest! I adored the color scheme of this party Kim at The TomKat Studio threw for her daughter, and could not stop looking at this baby shower from And Everything Sweet and this birthday party from Paiges of Style. My sweet friend Becky of Studio 623 Photography agreed to take some pictures for me, which was awesome because she knows what she's doing! Some of mine are sprinkled in as well.
Some Party Details...
Lila wore a special birthday outfit which included a tutu and fabric flowers accented with feathers. We couldn't leave out big sister, so Camille got a new outfit for the occasion as well, a blue feather print dress from Old Navy. I actually kind of matched the party too, but I forgot to be in any pictures, except you can see a little of me in the picture of the birthday girl. :)
For the dessert table I decided to use the chandelier as the focal point. The poms and lanterns were hung with monofilament and ornament hooks onto the chain of the chandelier. I LOVE how this turned out! In fact, as of now it's still up because I can't stop looking at it!
The table was decorated with a white tablecloth, two painted bird houses on candlesticks and a revamped birdcage from Goodwill. The desserts were displayed on white dishes as well as on diy cupcake stands and my 'rustic elegant' dessert stands.
We purchased the cupcakes from our local gluten free bakery, Crave Bake Shop, winner of Cupcake Wars! Not surprisingly, they were insanely delicious! I made the dipped marshmallows, the butterscotch nests, and the birdie cake pops. I don't even want to post the link to Bakerella where I got the idea for the cake pops, but it's probably only fair that you know what they're supposed to look like. ;) I also made marshmallow fondant topped bird cookies as party favors for the kids.
Since our party was for both adults and kids, we had an amazing food spread courtesy of my husband! I'm super disappointed, but I didn't take a SINGLE picture of the food. My husband always does an amazing job, and I didn't take any pics!! Becky took a couple, so at least we have those! The food consisted of fruits and veggies, cheeses and crackers, meats, deviled eggs, meatballs, bacon wrapped dates (my favorite!), chocolate chip cookies, chips and some kid friendly snacks. It was all really pretty! We served strawberry lemonade and iced tea on the little tea cart and had a variety of other beverages in coolers.
I created the invitations, banners, food labels, cupcake toppers and straw flags in PSE. I bought the bird graphics and blue digital papers that I used from etsy.com. I also ended up making the cupcake liners myself because I hadn't originally planned to have regular sized cupcakes. They were super easy to make though, so I would probably do it again rather than buy them! The paper plates, napkins, cups, paper straws and mason jar lids were all purchased from The TomKat Studio.
There were various other diy decorations- the cupcake liner L in the dining room, the birthday wreath on the door, little painted bird houses etc. The party was a lot of fun for the kids and adults alike (bounce house anyone??)! We had so much fun with the bounce house that we bounced on it with the girls after everyone left and one more time after we put the kiddos to bed!
Daddy bouncing with his girls
Is anyone else in the throes of party planning?? I've got another one on the horizon!
