Just around this time last year I was getting ready for a special little girl’s birthday party.
Starting from this inspiration page…
To this fun party {Part 1, Part 2}…
It was a great day, and I can’t help but smile looking at these pictures. Her mom and I had so much fun planning this party. I know this year will be just as special.
Happy Birthday, Charlee!
If anything can equal my love of bright, saturated colors it’s stark modern black and white. Both palettes leave a statement, and the bolder the better, in my book. The only question left is: which one to chose?
Images: black and white balloons/two tone balloons
cookies and milk/disposable bakeware (!)
black confetti garland/polka dot garland
These origami wonders are in a showroom, but can you imagine them at a wedding in a white loft? How cool would they be, flying above the bride? Or showing the way from one room to the next? {via Plenty of Color}
I’ve always loved stripes, way before the French made it popular. 
Multi-colored, black and white– I’ll take them all!
Top row: pillow/shoes/umbrella/shirt
Bottom row: Candy wrapper/iPhone Case/black and white pillow/pillow
This week’s Ask-A-Planner is another How-To, this time on chocolate covered marshmallows with sprinkles. It sounds pretty simple {it is!} and by following just a few little tricks yours will be professionally perfect! {These are surprisingly good, by the way. They sound a little sweet, but somehow it all works out into wonderful goodness.}
To melt the chocolate and keep it at the right temperature for dipping a double boiler is needed. We created our own by putting a pot of water on to a low boil.
While waiting for that to boil, we got the other ingredients ready: semi-sweet chocolate chips in a metal bowl, ready to go on top of the boiling pot, a plate of sprinkles and marshmallows on a stick. {you can also use lollipop sticks, which look much nicer, but for this demo we cut down some bamboo skewers we had on hand.}
When the water is at a low boil, put the metal bowl of chocolate on the boiling pot and melted the chocolate down until there are no lumps.
Then take a marshmallow on a stick and dip it the the chocolate rolling it to ensure its covered on all sides.
Once chocolate is covering the marshmallow, roll it across the sprinkles to cover the sides. 
Then place the finished marshmallows on a sheet of wax paper {we didn’t do that here, and it was a mess. Thankfully we did when we made these for a party!}
That’s it! They look so colorful and fun at a party and add to any dessert set up. Enjoy! 
Happy Labor Day everyone!
I’ve received a lot of questions lately about this background from the Unicorn Princess Party a few months ago. So I thought I would put together a how-to post of how to make one for yourself! {perfect for Labor Day, no?}
Ok, to be honest, this was one of my husband’s tasks for the party, so I had to ask him the finer details to make sure I got them right for you.
I knew this was going behind a 6 foot table, so that is how wide our backdrop would be. I measured the length {and a little more} for the streamers and we taped those up first {there was a white board behind, so tape was the best option for us}.
Now for the balloons… we used a bike pump to blow them all up. We used 3 per color block area to create the stripe effect, but if you can used more {like Design Mom did here}. We also mixed in some polka dotted ones to add some texture. {Note: I would not suggest using helium, as I imagine it would be harder to manage in this next step of tying them together}
Now for the fun part— use a needle {very carefully!} and thread heavy twine through the end of tied balloon {you know, not the part with air}. Make sure you thread your 3 {or 4} of the same color in a line, then thread the next group of colors. {Design Mom used a slightly different method of tying the colors together first– use which ever works best for you.}
Once all of your balloons are on the twine, situate and tighten the like colors together. Once you are happy with how they are arranged, it’s time to hang your balloon backdrop! It’s pretty light– I think we used pushpins. 
Now it’s time to enjoy your beautiful backdrop! If you try it– I’d love to see some pictures! xox0
Back to the fun! In case you missed the party decor details– check them out here.
Now on to the activities!
The kids started out making Fruit Loops necklaces. We gave them each a piece of string and a cup of brightly colored cereal to make their own jewelry while everyone arrived.
Once all the guests were there we played Pin the Horn on the Unicorn.
Then it was story time! Charlee’s mom had a book custom made for her about unicorns. So sweet.
Next was time for cake!
While the special guest got ready, we played a little hot potato. But before we could finish, the balloons started calling again!
Finally– the unicorn was unveiled! The kids each took a ride.
It was raining, so the kids didn’t get to decorate the pony as planned. So they came back inside and played with the balloons again– and each other.
All and all– a good time. I had a great time planning and working with this family. What’s the theme for Charlee’s 6th birthday?! xoxo
{All images on this post from Derrel Todd/FootPrint Fotos}
Taking a quick break from the day- of the party, here’s a quick DIY of the tablecloths from Charlee’s 5th birthday. Even though this element was the biggest thorn in my side– the other design from the party took so much longer than I expected. But they all made such a statement in the room. I’m so glad I did them. I might even try these polka dot ones again. {ya know– in a few weeks…}
Instructions
1. We don’t have a lot of room in our little apartment, so we had to lay out the tablecloth folded in half. We taped together strips of paper to go in the middle of the fold, because the paint would seep through.
2. I layed out bowls, painted on the bottom, to figure out the pattern. They were close to the size of my circles, so it gave me a good idea of what it would like. I wanted it to be a bit random, but still get across the rainbow concept.
3. I created stencils {used some thick, ugly paper I had on hand}, then used them to paint my circles, one color at a time. I went through 3-4 stencils per color.
4. I waited until one side dried (2-3 hours) then flipped it over and repeated steps 1-3.
I got up early so I could put together the photos from the big birthday party I organized the other weekend to celebrate Charlee turning 5 years old. {remember this planning post?}
These invites were designed by Three Little Monkeys Studio– she customized the colors and we bought the entire matching paper suite from her. I got the envelopes and extra jewels from paper source to give it that extra touch.
The room was bright with color–
These tables are the kids’ activity tables, with their unicorn horn hats, water and the first activity laid out.
The dessert table—
The cake, cupcakes, cake pops and cookies were made by Tiffany & Cake. The rest– my amazing husband, Christian.
The cherry blossoms were in bloom– perfectly in color, just for us.
The reading tent– with the loose balloons, which were the hit of the party.
Favor gift bags for the kids–
And a tray ready to take out to the kids and the unicorn…
More photos– and activities to come! xoxo
I love confetti– the more color the better. These uses for it couldn’t be better.
Confetti garland, confetti shooters, confetti lanterns,confetti invitations, confetti tablecloth, and homemade confetti. xoxo
