a charming party
EAT YOUR HEART OUT BARBIE
Our (no longer a) baby, McCall turned the big 4 in December. She is our tiny little dancer, who can’t wait for her big dance recital this spring. She keeps asking when she can be on the “big stage”. So when I initially started planning her party, I naturally thought “ballerina”. But, I wanted to put my own spin on the theme. That’s when I thought of the classic musical jewelry box with the twirling ballerina.
Think soft pinks and corals, and oh so sweet. But, McCall is at the age where her favorite colors are hot pink and “rainbow”. As I would show her ideas, she would cringe and say she wanted rainbows. She wanted unicorns. She wanted the exact same party we just threw her sister last May.
So the concept evolved, as it always does. How do I incorporate color, unicorns, ballerinas, and jewelry I wondered. Then the light bulb moment: charms! Charms are a great way to incorporate “a few of her favorite things”. This party was going to be visual eye candy. A vibrant, super girly, pink on pink with “sprinkles”, charm party that McCall would absolutely love.
I knew I wanted to create a “charm bracelet” backdrop. I found these balloons on sale at Target! Which were just perfect. Then I started the hunt for just the right “charms”, aka balloons. The pink star, cotton candy, unicorn, and donut/sprinkle star balloon were all found on amazon. The “beads” on the floor were also purchased at amazon. Warning, some of these come in bundles. I have so many balloons left over from the search, I could open a balloon shop. Anyway, to add authenticity to the charm bracelet, I attached wide ribbon at either end of the chain balloons. This was the final touch, to make it look like a bracelet just waiting to be tied on someone’s wrist.
When the time came to order the invitations, I couldn’t find any that I felt reflected the vibe of the party, so I made one. Now, I’m a designer, but not a graphic designer. My strand of pearls look more like a strand of pills, but I think it turned out pretty good for an amateur.
For the food we had Chic-fil-A nuggets in gold boxes, because, gold nuggets. We had this beautiful gold dipped rock candy from etsy, pink sixlets to emulate beads, and ring pops, of course. For the added “pink with sprinkles” feel, we had a pink bubblegum machine (borrowed from my sister) and filled it with a 2:1 mix of pink to colorful gumballs. We had told McCall she could try gum when she turned 4, so I wanted to incorporate that into the party. Turns out, she doesn’t even like gum, which will make her dentist very happy!
The gold sequin tablecloth is left over from my wedding! I learned a long time ago it’s cheaper to buy tablecloths than to rent them. The swooping pink tablecloth was more of a “make it work” moment, and thankfully it did. Not only did it soften the look of the gold sequin tablecloth and give me another place to incorporate the pink ribbons used at the balloon bracelet, but it also mimics the look of stage curtains. That, along with the paper plates that were just too cute to resist, were perfect for the birthday girl who can’t wait to be on stage.
Cupcakes, donuts and animal cookies rounded out the food selection. When I began setting it all up, I put the animal cookies, sixlets, and rock candy on a separate tier of the pink 3 tier stand, and it just wasn’t working for me visually. So, I mixed everything up and boom, eye candy casserole.
I bought vintage ballerina toppers on etsy for the cupcakes, as a nod to the little ballerinas in jewelry boxes. I found a larger one to use for a donut topper on the food table. And after I saw this adorable idea on another blog, I knew I had to add sprinkles. It was so easy and just made the ballerina that much more whimsical.
For the kids’ table, I had another donut tower, with a confetti “4” topper. It was actually my 6 year old’s idea to add gumballs in the middle of them, and it turned out so cute. At each place setting, I had these jewelry/trinket trays to serve as their plates. I put their sixlets and ring pops in jewelry gift boxes, and I had a cupcake for each girl in a pink gift box. I added the “eye candy casserole” mixture on the tray, surrounding the cupcakes. It was such a great filler, so the tray didn’t look empty!
I folded the napkins into bows, there’s so many tutorials out there for this if you want to know how. For the napkin rings, I used these little “pearl” bracelets and attached a different CHARM IT for each girl. The paper chargers that I ordered came in too late for the party, as did the star confetti, but I used some left over disposable plates I had and this confetti instead and it still worked beautifully on the table runner. I added the same table runner and confetti to the food table as well. For their drinks, I happened to find the gold star drinking cups in the Bullseye Playground at Target for $3/ each at just the right time.
For her gift from us, I knew I wanted to get her a musical jewlery box with a ballerina, and fill it with costume jewelry. And of course, I wanted to get her a charm necklace. My mom had previously bought the girls CHARM IT bracelets, and I knew that would be the perfect place to find what I was looking for. I just love their charms for little girls. They remind me so much of those necklaces covered in plastic charms we had back in the 80s.
McCall did love her colorful, pink, ballerina, “few of her favorite things”, charm party! Total success. And naturally, Halston now wants a pink party for her upcoming birthday.
Photography is provided by myself and my sister at Keen Eye Photography. If the pic isn’t great, then it’s definitely one I took.