Posted on September 8, 2012 by Kara

Pink Farm Birthday Party

I am in love with this PINK FARM THEMED BIRTHDAY PARTY submitted by Gretchen of Three Little Monkeys Studio! What an adorable girly celebration! It looks like Gretchen had so much fun planning this special event for her daughter…a lot of really cute ideas!

Gretchen said- “Madeline’s favorite things are the color pink and animals of all kinds. So when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she chose a pink farm birthday … with chocolate chips. So with feedback from her, I designed a vintage pink collection for her in pinks, creams and browns, with lots of cows, pigs and chickens to round out that farm feel. To keep it feminine and girly, I alternated floral, gingham and striped prints.

I am not the best about sticking to a budget (just ask my husband), but I do try to use things from around the house and homemade treats whenever possible to keep costs under control. I delegate cookies, cake and fondant work to some truly fab ladies who have mad skills. The rest of the treats are dressed up homemade or store bought treats to keep it a budget party….{continued below}

Items used in this party available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop:
Polka Dot Nut Cups
2″ Paper Punch
Mason Jars with Daisy Cut Lids
Striped Paper Straws
Glass Milk Bottles

Continued……”Miss M requested lots of chocolate chips and cookies, so I made sure everything served had chocolate chips or cookies in the recipe, as well as some of her favorite treats. I served sugar cookies made to look like cows and faux chocolate chip cookies by the fabulous Cookies With Character, fondant chocolate chip cookies by Edible Details topped a store-bought cake, chocolate cupcakes, homemade cookie cheesecake shooters, chocolate truffles, and homemade chocolate chip sandwich cookies, with many of the treats being dairy-free to accommodate my son’s dairy allergy.

For beverages, I served pink lemonade and chocolate almond milk. The milk bottles were actually Starbucks frappucino bottles that I removed the labels from, and then covered with “Farm Fresh” bottle labels from my collection and some chocolate brown ribbon. The pink lemonade was served in ordinary mason jars decorated with lace ribbon, flower mason jar lids from Mindy Mae’s Market, paper straws, and straw flags from my collection.

For decorations, I used antiques from my own collection and from my favorite local flea markets, Good Ju Ju and The Fleating Flea. Flea market finds included a rustic, chippy old barn door placed on its side for my back drop, an old vintage milk crate to elevate the cake stand, and a rusty metal cow. To bring the outdoors in, I used two vases from my milk glass collection and filled them with wildflowers found in our neighborhood, and roses and hydrangeas from the garden.

I decorated a large “M” for Madeline that I found at a hobby store by spray painting it brown and then decorated with homemade pink and green felt flowers attached with glue dots to the corner of the initial. It made the table pretty, and now Miss M has a special reminder of her big day.

I reused the doily bunting I made for my Grandmother’s party, which is simply old crocheted doilies folded over twine and sealed with a bit of hot glue. I used doilies picked up from flea markets and old, stained doilies from our family that were able to be given a second life (folding over conceals the stains). I have also seen crocheted doilies at Dollar General, which would also work well in a pinch.

To give the food labels and milk bottle labels more of a vintage flair, I used a Doily Lace edge punch from Martha Stewart Crafts (picked up at Hobby Lobby). It really added a special touch and made an ordinary strip of scrap book paper look like lace.

I created flag toppers for the cake and to give the sandwich cookies some flair using the tutorial from One Charming Party.

For party favors, I gave away glassine bags filled with homemade chocolate chip cookies and a treat bag topper from my collection.

The birthday girl wore a party hat from Prop Shop Boutique that Jessica custom made to go with our shabby chic look.”

Items used in this party available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop:
Polka Dot Nut Cups
2″ Paper Punch
Mason Jars with Daisy Cut Lids
Striped Paper Straws
Glass Milk Bottles

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Kara

Western Cowboy / Cowgirl Birthday Party

This fun WESTERN COWBOY / COWGIRL BIRTHDAY PARTY was submitted by Lisa Komer of Fancy That! I love the whole design of the party- so many great ideas! The wooden utensils tied to the mason jars are my favorite…

Lisa said- “This Cowboy party was designed for boys and girls alike to enjoy! The little cowpokes enjoyed fried chicken, pasta salad and chips for lunch. Everyone loved quenching their thirst with root beer served in cowboy boot glasses! For dessert, everyone enjoyed red velvet cupcakes. Favors included little bandana boxes filled with sweet treats.” Vendors and Credits: Party design, favors, cupcake wrappers, place mats, decor, party goods (mason jars, straws, wooden utensils)- Fancy That utensil tags, cupcake toppers, hand stamped forks- Inkberry Ribbon for the cowgirls hair- Ribbon Revelry Photography- Tori Ava Photography Cupcakes- Bliss Bake Shop Items used in this party that are available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop: Wooden Utensils Jute/Twine Burlap Paper Bags Striped Paper Straws Small Mason Jars

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Kara

Western Turquoise Baby Shower

I am loving this WESTERN TURQUOISE BABY SHOWER submitted by Miranda Konieczny of Whimsical Printables. The brown and aqua colors made everything so darling!

Miranda said- “I was super excited when my friend Dara agreed to let me throw her a baby shower! She was really excited when I told her that I wanted to do a western themed shower and incorporate turquoise!! So I gathered up my party gals and went to town on it all. The wonderful welcome wreath came from the very talented Natalie of the The Knock-Knock Factory. She knew exactly what I wanted and captured it so well! My friend and fellow hostess, Brandi, tea stained onesies for me and I put these cute iron on’s on them! I really loved being able to hang them with the rope. I also love making diaper cakes and this one was really fun. As was setting up the tables! The “Make A Wish” station was a real hit as well. I couldn’t believe I found a horseshoe tree either! Each guest was able to write a small note for the baby and hang from the tree. The adorable cookies were made by Dandy Delights. She always makes the most perfect cookies for me! Lynlee from Lynlee’s Petite Cakes always makes my fondant toppers for me and I am blown away each time by her creativity! I decided to try out the chocolate covered Oreos I hear everyone raving about and omg, they are SOOOO good! Sweet Temptations did an amazing job on them too. Each guest got to go home with a small berry basket with a package of sunflower seeds. They also had lots to carry from the dessert table. The winners of the games each received a mason jar filled with the ingredients for “cowboy cookies”, made using a very easy and wonderful idea that I found via Bakerella.com. I was super excited to see the look on my friends face when she walked in and was even more happy that everyone enjoyed the event.” Vendors and Credits: Fondant- Lynlee’s Petite Cakes Wreath- The Knock-Knock Factory Chocolate Covered Oreos- Sweet Temptations Cookies- Dandy Delights Cake Pops- My Cake Pop Shop Berry Baskets- Pick Fair Photography- Amy Craft Photography Chalkboard Labels for jars- Embellishing Life Paper Straws- Isakay Boutique Setup, Invitation & Printables- Whimsical Printables Items used in this party that are available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop: Berry Baskets Brown Pillow Boxes Striped Paper Straws Jumbo Polka Dot Balloons Jute Twine Clear Cello Bags Brown Paper Krinkled Shred

The above berry baskets are available to purchase here. The above brown pillow boxes are available to purchase here.

Jumbo polka dot balloons available here.

Jute twine available here. Clear cello bags available here.

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Kara

Girly Cowgirl Farm Themed Birthday Party

I’m lovin’ this good ole’ GIRLY FARM THEMED BIRTHDAY PARTY submitted by Amber LeBlanc of Fashionably Baked!

Amber said- “There weren’t many details that were left out for my daughter’s 5th birthday party. The burlap, mini bales of hay, and chocolate mustaches were just a few of the details that made this a COWGIRL party to remember!

The cake was simple. I made a few strings of mini bunting flags and wrapped a wooden number 5 with some jute. The hankies I used throughout the party (seen under the cake and used to place the cowgirl cookies on top of) were from Fabric Depot.

In addition to all of the different cookies I made, we had “Happy Trails Mix” with little jute favor bags that I hand stamped with a horseshoe. All burlap and jute bags I purchased from Online Fabric Store. We also had Banana Pudding Shooters with bamboo spoons tied with a ribbon to each shooter that I got from Shop Bakers Nook.The Blueberry Pie Pops were made using Bakerella’s tutorial.

The cowboy prop took quite some time to paint, but was the perfect touch to have all the kiddos looking like real cowboys.

For the invitation I printed it on an ivory cardstock, ripped it all the way around, and placed it on a burlap background. Inspired by Lulu’s Cowgirl Chic Birthday on Hostess with the Mostess.”

Free standing party frame, square mason jars with daisy cut lids, push pop containers, paper straws, burlap horseshoe bags- All available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop

Continue reading →

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Kara

Cow Themed 2nd Birthday Party

This darling COW THEMED 2ND BIRTHDAY PARTY was submitted by Rosalie Echavarria-Alonso. Such a fun twist on the classic farm themed party! Everything is so cute.

This is what Rosalie had to say about the party- “My daughter loves animals, especially cows. So as I started to plan her birthday party I said to myself, “Ahh she loves the farm and the cow, it’d be a great theme for her 2nd birthday party!” I then found this great white tent on Key Biscayne in Miami, Florida and totally felt in love with it, so I decided to host a cow-themed party there. The park was lovely, because it not only had a boundless playground for the children to play, but it also had a child-sized train and an antique carousel. I had the birthday invitation designed by Lollipop Prints. The design was based on a farm theme, emphasizing cows. I then had my daughter’s outfit designed with cow spots, gingham, and red bows. It was made by Zamakerr Clothing Co and turned out so lovely and pretty. I also had a lady who hand painted my daughter’s shoes with cows – JL Perillo. I bought fabric with cow spots from Joann Fabrics and had a seamstress design a skirt for me. I’ll never forget the day I bought about 3 hay bales to decorate the party from a local store here in Miami by the name of “Sunset Farms”. The party was full of details and friends and family helped us to put it all together. When our guests arrived, the first thing they saw was a sign a friend of mine designed that said “Welcome to Brielle’s Moo-Day”. The boys and girls were greeted and handed blue cowboy hats for the boys and red cowboy hats for the girls. The tables were decorated with Sun Flowers inside of Mason Jars. All the tables had silver buckets full of peanuts for people to enjoy. The wonderful cow cookies and the cake were designed by Jeka’s Creations. The party included fun decorations from Oriental Trading such as gingham table covers, silver buckets, a cow piñata, cowboy hats for girls and boys. The children were given animal cookies boxes as another favor, which I bought at the Dollar Tree and decorated with favor tags designed by Forever Your Prints. The delicious cupcakes were made by some friends, and the cupcake tags were designed by Dolce Drive. The Mason Jars for the beautiful Sunflowers centerpieces were bought from Michael’s. I found my cow print heels from a store online named Shiek Shoes. The goody bags with cow prints for the piñata, the napkins and the cups were bought online from Cow Depot. A friend of mine let me borrow some cows and farm toys her children had and I put those as decoration on top of the hay bales. All the professional photography was taken by the very talented Juan Peña. This was a truly cute farm celebration with lots of cow print details, gingham, sunflowers, peanuts, lots of fun, and lots of candy. I’m sure no one will ever forget Brielle’s Moo-velous 2nd Birthday Celebration. But the most important thing of all was the fun my daughter had, and how she was able to spend her Moo-velous day surrounded by people who love her!” Vendors and Credits: Venue- Key Biscayne in Miami, Florida Invitations- Lollipop Prints Cookies and Cake- Jeka’s Creations Birthday Outfit- Zamakerr Clothing Co Cow Shoes- JL Perillo Favor Tags- Forever Your Prints Cupcake Tags- Dolce Drive Photography- Juan Peña