Monday, January 16, 2012

Strawberry Shortcake Inspired Party

Hey there! Well we made it to New York! We're setteled in at the hotel for a bit (more about that later) and I finally have a chance to blog about the strawberry party! The incredibly slow internet at the hotel has made the blog quiet a task! I have literatly been uploading a pic or two on this post for a week!  

The theme for my oldest daughters party this year was a no brainer. Strawberry shortcake. This kid thinks about strawberry shortcake 24/7. Anything she can possibly make strawberry shortcake related she does. I didn't even try to convince to her to have a different creative party for mommy, that was a battle I knew I would never win. I even considered going the easy route and buy *gulp* store bought decorations. But the obssesive party planner inside me just couldn't let it happen! I knew I could make the party way cuter and way cheaper (and way more awesome) myself. However, the army threw a wrench in my plan with the whole moving to another state thing. They were packing us 3 days after the party. So this party had to be easy, cheap, and strawberry.  And to add a little more fun to the mix my bestie Shar and I decided to team up together to have Cadence and her daughter Hannah's party together, why have two parties with the same guest the same week. And Hannah was totally on board with Strawberry shortcake, whew.

At first I had thoughts of a little vintage strawberry party, but I knew the girls were expecting the new hip Strawberry shortcake they love. I wanted it to be cute and trendy inspired by strawberry shortcake, but not plastered with her face! So I decided to go with a print to match Strawberry's dress and a green and white stripe.All the printable decorations I made using a mix of MareeTruelove illustraions and JW illustrations.

The biggest task of this party: keeping it simple. I had so many cute ideas and plans! But SO little time and 1000 other things to do!

Here's the invite I used. Don't worry I didn't black out the addy, because we don't even live in that state anymore!


LOVE how the dessert table turned out! So simple and cute.
The frames were $1.00 frames sprayed pink with strawberry images I printed! Hung with simple strips of ribbon.

We served strawberry kabobs, sugar cookies, strawberry shortcakes, strawberry milk, cupcakes, and some candy!

The girls favorite part, strawberry shortcake was hanging out in the candy dish!

These cute little cupcakes took the place of a cake this year. I was so sad to have to pass on making her a strawberry cake, but too little time! The wrappers came from Lulu's and the toppers I made with fondant.

 

I LOVE how the cookies came out. I wanted them to mock the image on Strawberry's shirt. I think my cookie skills are improving!


Strawberry shortcake rolls, straight from the Wal-Mart bakery! Ha, now that's easy.


Christmas suckers with a little printable on them :)

The paper straws also came from Lulus, Apple green. I get lots of questions about these glass milk jars. You can purchase them from party stores for $$$ or you can buy target brand cold coffee with plastic easy tear labels and wash them out ;) I save the glass bottles once my husband is done drinking them.







The tables were kept sweet and simple as well. I used left over paper and wrapping paper for place mats, made paper napkin rings, a paper centerpiece in a painted mason jar (my fav part), and placed an extra paper strawberry filled with candy on each plate, which we already had. Simple and super cheap.


Can't wait to share the details on making these colored mason jars. Going to have to make a few more!



It was a bit of a task for Shar and I to cut and fold all these, but they were awesome in the end. You can find the pattern on orientaltrading.com.



For an activity we went on a strawberry hunt. In each of these little paper strawberries has a clue leading the girls inside the house and outside to their prize...

(The little green baskets were found at the dollar store of course!)

.....Ice cream!


For party favors the girls got to fill their bags with sweet treats and strawberry lipglosses and mail polish. I had SO many awesome party favor ideas...just no time. *sigh*


The paper bags also came from Lulu's.


I used white and green crepe paper to make a little backdrop! We later used this for the girls to take photo's in front of. Just happened to capture this adorable picture below!! These girls are all close friends and the fact that we just moved away from them....makes this incredibly special <3


Each girl got to pose for some pictures!


And here's are the birthday girls soaking up the fun!


Cadence fell in love with an adorable dress on etsy, grandma Miller whipped a very similar one right up! Her favorite dress yet! (Thanks Cindy!)


Shar made Hannah an awesome hat and skirt and I made her shirt.


I really loved throwing this party! It was easy and pretty cheap and at the end of the day our girls were thrilled! Happy birthday girls!

It was a berry sweet party! 

***Due to internet issues I can't seem to post the links. If you would like more info just leave a comment below or message me!**