Now she is this!!
It seems like overnight, doesn't it?
This year for her birthday, she wanted a very fancy tea party. She didn't want a princess party, and she didn't want a "little girl" party, but she wanted it to be fancy. Off to Pinterest I went. At first, I just typed in little girl birthday parties. There were way too many ideas. Next, I typed in tea parties. I came across this wonderful site where the woman had done a Breakfast at Tiffany's theme party for her 4 year old. I didn't want to steal her idea totally, so I decided to take parts of it and mix it together with all of the other ideas that I had found. The main thing was that I didn't want to spend oodles and oodles of money on a party.
We started with the theme. We wanted fancy, but not necessarily black and white and blue, like in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's (which, by the way, I have never seen). Since I love zebra, and Abby Sue loves pink, we decided to have a black/white/fushia colour scheme. One major idea checked off of our list.
I didn't have a clue as to what sort of decorations we wanted, so I scoured wedding ideas, because a lot of people make their own wedding decorations. I went with the pom poms from the Martha Stewart site. They were so easy to make and they looked great (not to mention that they are now hanging in Abby Sue's bedroom). Check them out
Ignore the vaccum in the background. At least you know that the house is clean, right???
Next, we had to decide on food. We were planning on having the party at 10:30 in the morning until about 1:30 in the afternoon. That way the kids wouldn't want to eat right away and they could nibble when they got hungry. I decided to go with finger foods - mini bagels with cream cheese, mini croissants with ham and cheese, and peanut butter rolls. We also had every kind of pink candy known the mankind!!! Do you have any idea how long it takes to pick the pink jellybeans out of the bins at the Bulk Barn? I was there for almost an hour.
Check out my rack with the sandwiches. Made it myself from 2 candle holders and three funky plates. Total cost - $5.
I also went a little crazy and made a lollipop tree.
This absolutely adorable party guest ended up begging to take it home with her
Next came the cake. I let Abby Sue look at cakes with me on Pinterest. She picked out these three
I actually looked into buying one. They were between $90 and $120 - and all this for a child who doesn't even like cake!! No way was I going to pay that. So, I decided to make my own. Bought my cake mixes for $1 each, my icing for $1 and some roses from the dollar store. I was pretty pleased with the result
Now for the place settings. Since we were using pink table clothes (of course), I wanted to go with fushia chargers, zebra plates, and white napkins. We folded the pink silverware in the white napkin and used a pink ring pop for the napkin holder. I bought pink champagne flutes (2 for a dollar) and used them as their drink glasses. Then I bought clear plastic glasses and put a cute flower-shaped cupcake holder inside for their dessert. My friend sells knock off jewellry and gave me some Tiffany cards that we used as placecards. It turned out so cute.
Then we covered the buffet in a pink tablecloth and loaded it down with food.
Next came the fashion. Abbs was pretty stubborn on the fact that she wanted to wear a tutu. So, we decided to go with all black, plus pearls, a bun, tiarra, and, of course, sunglasses. It only took me about 2 hours to make the tutu, which is now laying on the floor in the living room. Sigh. My child doesn't get how much parties take out of her mommy. lol
She made a sign for her Auntie Lori, who lives far away in Iowa. Love how she spelled it wrong and just crossed it out. Personally, I think she looks like an 80's reject, but she was in heaven. We tried to get all of the girls to get their hair done and put on an outfit, but a bunch of them were little snots who I hope Abby Sue never becomes close friends with. Is that horrible to say?
Her best buddy Hennessy was all for the costume. I took an old cork board and cut a circle out of it, then I covered it in funky duct tape. That became the backdrop for pictures.
Aren't they adorable?
I put wedding bubbles beside their plates and they all had a blast blowing them. My poor hubby got the brunt of them
.jpg)
I love this last picture with Raygen smiling like she was having an absolute blast. She is such a cute kid.
Instead of having loot bags, I made the kids do a scavenger-hunt type of activity and as they finished their lists, they were allowed to adopt a stuffed animal and take it home. I had a list of 10 questions, with things like "go into the fridge and count the number of jammers" or "go into the bathroom and count how many rolls of toilet paper there are". The kids had a great time
After that, we had a dance party, where Abby's friend Jasmine sang Taylor Swift and I showed them a few zumba moves
Abby's friend, Jasmine, is the funniest kid
Next up, we had an ice cream bar, which I think the kids thoroughly enjoyed
Lastly, presents!!!!
I am hoping that, judging by the big smiles all around, that everybody had fun
It was a hectic day, and we were exhausted by the end. But, all in all, it was totally worth it. The best thing about it? The most expensive thing was the pack of $5 zebra plates. Everything else came from the dollar store. I would say I spent about $100 for everything. How's that for a DIY party???
Party over here too!!
