This super cute ARMY BOOTCAMP THEMED BIRTHDAY PARTY was submitted by Teresa Anderson of Hugs and Punches.
What a fun party full of fabulous ideas! Some of my favorite elements are:
Teresa said this about planning the party- ”Six year old Anton wants to be in the Army when he grows up so he requested a Bootcamp Birthday Party. Challenge accepted.
After getting geared up and ready, the birthday boy’s dad sat the kids down for a few minutes to talk to them about what it means to be a soldier and how men & women in the military give their lives to protect us. Per Anton’s request, he also explained a little about a group called Goruck that his daddy is very involved in. Complete with a rucksack full of bricks, these 12-17 hour Goruck Challenges are a slice of what the Special Forces go through in training.
Through these challenges, this party was born.
Though the kids initially thought of it as a race, they began to understand that they needed to work together as a team on several of the events. They also sweated it out running tires, hurdles, {fake} barbed wire army crawl, and several climbing & balancing challenges.
After several water breaks, it was time for cake and snacks. There were lots of “oohs & ahhs” as the boys and girls unwrapped their cupcakes and saw that even those were camouflage inside.
Everything from the cake and snacks, to the construction of the events themselves were fully made by Ben & Teresa, the birthday boy’s mom and dad.”
Items used in this party available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop: Army / Camouflage party decorations Black striped paper straws Dog tag necklaces Army Men Army themed cupcake wrappers Mason Jars Twine Ribbon Face Paint Balloons Bakers Twine
This incredible COUNTY FAIR DONALD DUCK PARTY was submitted by Patty Smith of Sweet Treat Stands.
I’ll tell ya, this is one ADORABLE party with SO many darling party ideas that could be utilized in so many celebrations! Some of my favorite party elements are:
The Donald Duck party invitation
The Donald Duck party table backdrop
The ferris wheel cupcake stand
The award ribbons
The vintage county fair touches
The ruffle tablecloth
The popcorn cupcakes
The Donald Duck cupcakes
And MORE!
Most photos are by Wendhy Jeffers photography
Vendors:
Concept and Styling: Sweet Treat Stands
Handcrafted décor and props: Sweet Treat Stands
Photography: Wendhy Jeffers Photography
Nut-free Bakery (cake and cupcakes): Fairy Tale Cakes
Custom Cookies (letter “C” and “3” prize ribbons): Sweet Goosie Girl
Custom Cookies (name, popcorn box, kernels, farm animal “cookie” cupcake toppers): Batches
Fresh Cotton Candy: Sweetopia Cotton Candy
Mini Pie Pops (apple with sugar crust and raspberry with powder sugar crust): Sweet Piefection
Custom Birthday Poster/Chalkboard Poster: Moulage Collection
Custom Pageant Sashes: Jenna Schaal
Custom County Fair Raffle Tickets: Risa Rocks It
Retro Paper Straws, Retro Popcorn Bags, Wooden Forks: DK DeleKtables
Burlap Tablecloth and Burlap Sacks: Miss Hettie
Vintage Clothes (striped dresses): Vintage Frocks Of Fancy
Tim Thomas (singer/songwriter/guitarist/bassist, Full band and Classical string quartet available upon request: Email trthomas1@interact.ccsd.net
Party Venue: Legends Ranch
Custom Invitations and Accessories: The Blue Egg Events
Custom Lil’ Boy Shirts: The Baer Essentials
Custom piñata: You Buy It You Break It
Vintage 1950′s/60′s Child’s Donald Duck and Daisy Duck Handkerchief: Bex Vintage
Vintage Child’s Donald Duck Illustrated Handkerchief: Planet Alissa
Old Vintage 1970′s Wall Hanging with Donald and Huey, Dewy, and Lewey: Lisa’s Old Stuff
Vintage 1978 Donald Duck and the One Bear Book and Vintage 1979 Donald Duck and the Super-Sticky Secret Book: Country Expressions
Disney Steampunk Handmade Donald and Daisy Duck Romantic Silhouette Charm Bracelet: Gears Jewelry
Bouncer: Fun House Jumpers
Items used in this party available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop: Ferris Wheel Cupcake Holder Ribbon Burlap Tickets Circus Party Supplies Paper Straws Popcorn Bags Wooden Forks Ribbon Balloons Twine Mason Jars Bunting Banner Rainbow Swirl Lollipops Cupcake Liners
“I’m so excited to share this party with you! Months before our lil’ guy’s 3rd birthday I had an idea of wanting to go with some sort of a carnival theme. Since our son loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse I had started going in that direction of maybe a Mickey and Friends Carnival theme. I really wanted to try to do something different though. I also had some other ideas that were non-character themed as well. I kept running ideas past him to see which seemed more fun and exciting to him. Donald Duck kept coming up. Bottom line is that he’s a little boy (my baby bear) and it’s HIS birthday party and we want it to be a theme that HE loves and that HE’s excited about. Now that he’s getting older he can choose his party theme. I don’t mind going with a character themed party because I can always put my own creative spin on it.
“Who’s got the sweetest disposition? One guess, guess who…No one but Donald Duck!” That’s one of Donald Duck’s theme songs that debuted in 1947. This is a well-known song in our household since we love watching old classic Donald Duck cartoons (late 1930′s – 1950′s). Our lil’ guy refers to Mickey Mouse cartoons as Donald Duck cartoons, he loves Donald Duck the best and it’s Donald Duck this and Donald Duck that. He even won a photo contest this past October dressed as guess who…Donald Duck! :)
So one day while watching one of the old Donald Duck cartoons I was really inspired. At the beginning of the cartoon, while playing the credits, there was a white wooden fence with a Donald Duck face drawn in white paint. I knew that I wanted an old wooden fence as the backdrop to the dessert table. I didn’t have any other ideas at that point except that I knew I wanted an old fence backdrop. That’s what sparked the start of a Vintage Donald Duck County Fair birthday party! We checked with our son to make sure what theme he wanted and the vote went to Donald Duck!
One of the challenges was finding just the right venue. I researched and researched and finally found the perfect place for our party, Legends Ranch. It’s a private ranch that is used for weddings, birthdays and other events. This location transports you from the city and desert to a different place with green grass, big trees, beautiful backdrops and lots of vintage props. Beautiful!
Planning took months especially with the holidays and two lil’ ones at home. But it was so much fun! Most of the details were all handmade by me. A labor of love, is that what they call it? Yep, definitely a labor of love!
County fairs have so many features from rides, food, games to farm animals, baked goods, arts and crafts, etc. I was set on trying to include all or most of these features at our party and transport our guests to an old-fashioned charming county fair with cotton candy, hot dogs, cream sodas, classic games, quilts and of course Donald Duck. I had to keep all of these factors in mind when planning.
The Blue Egg Events did a gorgeous job of designing the custom invitation and accessories. The invitations really had the wow factor. I was super impressed!
I especially wanted the dessert table to resemble a mini county fair. I started out with a really old wooden fence backdrop. Hanging on the backdrop was a beautifully designed county fair birthday sign. The centerpiece was one of my custom cupcake stands that’s simple and rustic looking. It displayed gorgeous fondant themed cupcakes and a super cute Donald Duck themed cake from the very talented Juliette of Fairy Tale Cakes. The cake had the cutest lil’ fondant Donald Duck hats, bowtie and carnival marquee letter “C” as the topper. To the right of the cupcake stand was the ferris wheel, a miniature popcorn booth and swirly lollipops. To the left of the stand was a vintage looking pickup truck with homemade mini fruit pies and barn with farm animal sugar “cookie” cupcake toppers. The table was rounded out by rice krispy treats on a stick, a variety of cupcakes and custom designed sugar cookies up front. The tablecloth tied in beautifully with its matching colored ruffles. I love ruffles and was determined to make the tablecloth along with a really cute bunting tablecloth that was displayed on one of the food tables.
Another big display that I loved was the custom wooden popcorn/cotton candy booth. It was a great size for the kids. Not only was it a perfect prop but it folds for compact storage! The homemade cotton candy was beautifully displayed at the booth alongside yummy kettle corn popcorn, bottled cream sodas, retro paper straws and gorgeous custom designed county fair tickets, wow! Have you had strawberry lemonade flavored cotton candy? It is sooo good! Here’s a little trivia: Did you know that one of Donald Duck’s favorite drinks is strawberry soda? Yep, we had strawberry soda :)
I really like dressing up to match party themes. The Baer Essentials custom designed our lil’ guy’s birthday shirt to resemble Donald Duck’s suit. The suspenders on the shirt added to the vintage flair of the party along with the paper boy hat he wore. She also designed the cutest shirt for our baby boy with a bowtie and vest to coordinate. I wore a 1950’s striped full pleated dress from Vintage Frocks of Fancy. It was lots of fun!
I loved the custom birthday chalkboard poster by Moulage Collection! It’s a great item to hang on the wall and cherish for years. We love it!
Now I can’t stress enough how grateful and impressed I have been with all of the vendors I worked with in preparing for the party. Every single vendor provided not only great products/services, delicious one too, but outstanding customer service. Plus an extra huge thank you to all the very generous vendors. There were so many details that played a part in the party’s charm. Seriously, I could not have had all the details complete without you.
Thanks Wendhy for your beautiful photos! You captured the details wonderfully. It was a pleasure working with you again.
We had two great county fair helpers too! They were a great help. They passed out party favors such as the custom handcrafted prize ribbons for the boys and custom designed pageant sashes for the girls. They helped with the games, cotton candy/popcorn booth, etc. Plus they were excited to wear the bowties I made them. That was cool! Thanks!
My favorite part of the party was singing “Happy Birthday” and our lil’ guy blowing out his candles (cool #3 sparkler alongside the candles)! My 2nd favorite part of the party was our friend Tim the singer/songwriter/guitarist’s performance. He’s awesome and so much fun! He sang a customized birthday song (super cool), two of Donald Duck’s themed songs, “Hokey Pokey”, a rendition of Zac Brown Band’s “Chicken Fried” with some funny lyrics we sing at home with the kids and “Happy Birthday”. Loved it!
I do have to say our son was just head over heels in love with his custom Donald Duck themed piñata. It was exactly what our son wanted. He wanted a star piñata but he also wanted a Donald Duck piñata. Voila! His piñata was a star shaped piñata that was Donald Duck themed. About a week or two before the party he kept wanting to check on it, hold it, take a peek at the candy inside and show it off when Papa came to visit! LOL!
The best moments while planning the party were when our lil’ guy, the birthday boy would check in on the different items I had made and would say “That’s for my birthday? That’s pretty Mama” and “Thank you!”. That was from a 2 almost 3 year-old. Aaaahhh, that just melted my heart and put a huge smile on my face. How cute! Also seeing him have such a fun time along with our lil’ guests was wonderful. All in all the party was a success. Definitely worth it!
A super special thank you to my husband, my Dad and our friend Don who is the best woodworker ever!”
Items used in this party available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop: Ferris Wheel Cupcake Holder Ribbon Burlap Tickets Circus Party Supplies Paper Straws Popcorn Bags Wooden Forks Ribbon Balloons Twine Mason Jars Bunting Banner Rainbow Swirl Lollipops Cupcake Liners
Sarah said this about planning the party- ”My son Harvey absolutely loves Pac-Man after Santa brought him an old-school games console for Christmas which you plug into the TV. And when we saw ‘Wreck-it Ralph’ at the movies, he was delighted to see Pac-Man amongst the characters and became fascinated with the idea of amusement arcades and arcade games. We visited a local (modern) games arcade, and Harvey couldn’t believe some of the machines spat out tickets that he could then redeem for a prize. Bonus! So when I suggested we could create his own games arcade for his birthday in the middle of our lounge room, he just about fell over!
I decided to give everything a retro arcade flavour, in keeping with the spirit of 80′s video games. I had a lot of fun creating all of the food items myself, except for the cake which I had professionally made to a simple design I created. We converted our lounge room into a games room, with everything from foozball, air hockey, pinball, video games, and velcro darts to play with. After a sit-down lunch of sandwiches and hot food, we played team ball games in the back yard so the kids could earn tickets to redeem at the prize counter. There are always some kids who are reluctant to play party games, so this enticed them to participate because everyone who did automatically earned tickets. Then the winning team earned bonus tickets so they had more to redeem at the prize counter.
All in all it was a really successful party and the kids absolutely loved the arcade. Sometimes the noise level hit fever pitch as they all played the games together and egged each other on…just like in a real arcade!”
Items used in this party available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop: Striped paper straws Polka Dot fruit / nut cups Gold coins Stand up frame Striped paper plates Popcorn bags Streamers Tissue garlands / banners Tickets Honeycomb lanters Mario Party Supplies
This gorgeous FLYING IN THE CLOUDS BABY SHOWER was submitted by Rita Mira of Sweet Little Party in Lisbon, Portugal.
I just love the soft colors and feel of this lovely party! There are so many darling ideas here that could be used for a birthday party or other celebration!
Details about planning the party from Katie-
Party: Eliza’s 3rd Birthday
Location: San Francisco, CA- Golden Gate Park, Koret Children’s Center
Date: April 2013
Guests: 25 kids + 30 adults
Little Eliza was so adorable, her mom asked me to do a Kite themed party! The only direction she gave was that the invitation had to be kite shaped. We came up with all the decor, colors and food in studio. We made sure to keep all the party details a big surprise to Eliza and her family which was so much fun! At the last second Eliza’s Mom said she was totally into “Where’s Waldo” books so we decided to hide little Waldo’s throughout the paper goods for Eliza to find. There were only about 5 of them so she really had to hunt :)
Theme: Kite party with a touch of barnyard vintage
The party took place in front of an adorable vintage red barn in the park. We wanted to create the story of flying kites in the park with your friends with cloud, sun and sky accents and fresh playful prints!
Color palate: Fresh water color aqua, vintage barn red, off cream white
Food and drinks: I knew I wanted it to feel like a picnic so I created these adorable lunch boxes filled with fresh veggies, pinwheel turkey sandwiches made in-house and milk in plastic jugs. Since we had a similar lunch for the parents with lemonade we made sure to add the white cloud to the cold milk and a sun for the fresh lemonade.
Sweets: Keeping with the whole story of the day we had the most adorable cookies created of white fluffy clouds, bright sunny suns and a variety of kites! A sweet berry tart was the perfect birthday cake for the theme and of course the cake pops and pie pops came out to play. These cuties were scene stealers with the adorable kites and cloud details! The kids loved pulling them directly out of the real grass we planted and the parents got a kick out of the pie’s on sticks!
Decor: The barn was center stage for this event so I wanted to frame it with the sweets table and the food table while allowing it to be the main focus. Having the picnic benches and the lunches in front of it created a fun family atmosphere while everyone was enjoying the day. Hand sewn clouds and a kite were created for charm and they were a big hit! A glitter banner with “Happy Birthday Eliza” hung on the barn for all of the park to see and painted paper mache 3′s and E’s were placed on the tables as a tribute to the birthday girl herself celebrating her big day.
Favor boxes: what summer day at a barn does not include berry baskets! Carrying through the aqua, red and white color scheme we created cute berry baskets filled with mini paint sets, a cookie and a mint and blueberry cupcake for the kids to take home. I can’t imagine the cookie and cupcake lasted long but I know they were excited about the mini paint set!
Items used in this party available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop: Berry Baskets Gable Boxes Milk Bottles Striped Paper Straws Wooden Spoons, Forks & Knives Paper Krinkle Shed Ribbon Bakers Twine Washi Tape
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