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 AIRPLANE + AIRPORT THEMED BIRTHDAY PARTY submitted by Suzie Boluarte of Project Party Perfect is just darling. What a cute party theme that any child would just adore. This theme would also be super cute for a baby shower!
Suzie said- “My son Caiden loves airplanes…we go to the airport at least once a week to watch them land and take-off! So I knew for his second birthday party we had to celebrate with an airport theme. I made all the decorations including the cake stand and airplane topiaries. I found the perfect cloud backdrop form Michaels and made the clouds poms from crepe paper. Guests got their food from the “food court” and got to paint wooden airplanes and make a pilot badge from the “pilot lounge.” Kids left the party with a luggage filled with goodies!”
Vendor Credits:
Photography by Leah Minium
Cake by Love ‘Em Sweet
Items available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop: Paper Straws Brown Paper Favor Bags White Tissue Flowers Free Standing Party Frame Miniature Spoons
What a CUTE party! I am in love with this GIRLY CAMPING / GLAMPING BIRTHDAY PARTY for the BACHELORETT’ES DAUGHTER submitted by Adria and Maureen of Anders Ruff! Maureen and Adria did an incredible job! There are sooo many darling, darling ideas here!
Maureen said this about planning the party- “Adria and I got to work on an inspiring and exciting project a couple weeks ago… We got to style Emily’s Maynard’s daughter’s Birthday Party! Ricki turned 7 and chose to have a Glam Camping themed party. We have been wanting to style a party using our glam camping printable line for a long time and this was the perfect reason!
We had literally 5 days to pull together props, designs, decor, fabric and round up vendors for the party. With many long hours, we are proud to share the results and beautiful photographs from Becca Bond Photography. Most of all, what made us happy was to see Ricki’s face when she walked into the room! That was the icing on the cake.”
Items available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop: Wooden Chevron Spoons Bakers Twine Clear S’more boxes Gumball Tubes Paper Straws Trail Mix Jars RicRac Ribbon Baking Cups Balloons
Inspiration:
Adria and I knew that there were several elements we wanted to include in the party decor throughout. Yarn, twine, ric rac, chevron print and ruffles. Nothing cuter! We were so inspired by the adorable tents that photographer Wendy Updegraff made for her daughter’s party, and what little girl wouldn’t love a tent for their room? We had Morgan (Made by Morgan) sew up a custom tents and Adria’s husband built the frame.
We shopped at our local adorable fabric store in Concord, We’re Sew Creative, for the fabulous and gorgeous fabrics used in the tent and pillows. Morgan also made adorable matching pillows that we gave to Ricki to keep for her bedroom. Nancy of A to Zebra Celebrations happened to have a lime green chevron runner that we also used on the buffet. Everything coordinated perfectly!
Dessert Table:
Adria and I loved working with the glam camping color scheme – pinks, purples and limes. It was so fresh! I adore how the dessert table came together. We wanted to pull in camping and outdoor elements, while keeping it “glam” and girlie.
We painted kerosene lanterns and used white washed logs and 4x4s to add height and dimension to the table. We mixed in our girlie pink milk glass cake stands and glass domes to soften it up. Yarn, twine, ripped fabric buntings and ruffles were used throughout.
Printables (from our Glam Camping / Glamping Printable Collection) were shown throughout the entire party. Bright and gorgeous french macarons (from Cupcrazed) were placed on a whitewashed log slice that was lined with our patterned paper.
Cupcrazed also made the yummy and irresistible s’mores cupcakes. (Remember how Cupcrazed won Cupcake Wars on Food Network? We know why!) We are talking chocolate cake, graham cracker crumbs, chocolate ganache and toasted marshmallow icing. Could you die? We topped them with ruffle backed printable cupcake toppers (Ruff Draft Tutorial here).
We set up adorable terrariums with marshmallow flowers (tutorial here) and homemade purple meringue mushrooms (remember Kiss Me Kate did these for their Red Riding Hood party? We were so inspired so we made purple mushrooms!)
We made trail mix and labeled cute jars with our printable “trail mix” label from the printable collection. Twine was used to wrap the cute label around the jar. We slipped in a wooden spoon (with chevron print embellishment).
We worked closely with Mandie of Got What It Cakes, who created the most beautifully crafted cake for the table. (Did we mention it is delicious, too!? We had to leave early so we wouldn’t be tempted to eat more cake!). We loved doing a non-symmetrical table for this theme and the cake fit perfectly within the setting under the fun printable bunting banner and yarn pom garlands.
We used Ricki’s initial as part of the focal point to the table. (Printable available in the shop). We used our matting/twine wrapping technique to make it pop. (See the Ruff Draft here). I also made swirl meringues and added them on top of purple and pink chocolate covered oreos. A cute little printable flag was added for an extra touch.
Plus, we packaged up individual S’mores kits for the girls using containers from Nashville Wraps. The printable tag is available in the shop.
Activities:
Emily had an ADORABLE setup out back. She had precious lanterns for the girls as well as butterfly catchers and some activities. She set up a tent for the girls to play in as well. They had so much fun (even though it was 100+ degrees out!).
The girls all enjoyed the custom tent and were greeted with a gorgeous tote bag from Monica of SookEe Designs. Just wait until you see what was inside each of the totes! Monica was so amazing to work with and even added custom rosette pins on the bags so the girls can use it on their shirts or as an accessory elsewhere after the party. We tied a printable favor tag onto each of the bags.
The “Camp Ricki” pillowcase was made by Polka Dot Market. Sally provided not only the party ware (straws, cupcake liners, balloons and more), she whipped up the gorgeous pillow case at a moment’s notice.
Ricki was wearing custom precious lounge wear that was custom made by Lila & G. Her hair accessory was from Evelyn’s Whim and Two Lucky Cats sent precious felted flower cuffs for Ricki to wear on her wrist.
Each girl received a unique headband from Evelyn’s Whim. We fell in love with her work! The girls also received their own set of lounge bottoms and ruffled tanks from Polka Dot Market and felted flower cuffs from Two Lucky Cats. I love the cute button closure and how each piece was so unique on the girls’ wrists. They also received a “Camp Ricki” custom bottle/canteen from Clarabelle and the Hen.
We printed up some personalized thank you cards (in the printable package) for Ricki to send out to her friends later. The Glam Camping (Glamping) invitation design and all of the shown coordinating graphic printables are available in our shop!
Winners of the Shot In The Dark Mystery Party Game Giveaway!
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