{Real Parties} April Showers Bring May Flowers

Here is an adorable first birthday party styled by my friend, Allison, with the theme, April Showers Bring May Flowers! The guest of honor was born in May, so what a perfect theme!

The cake table was the main focal point of the room and what guests saw as they walked into the party space. Allison wanted the table to stand out and the pink umbrellas sure did the trick!

Allison spray painted the rain boot vases yellow to match the color scheme.

Each child found at their seat, a white lunch pack adorned with a coordinating sticker. Inside was a flower shaped sandwich, carrots and chips. "Rain Water" was the drink of choice at the party!

How amazing is this party hat?! Miss Ruby Sue created this beautiful hat which Allison provided fabric for.

Adults dined on a summer salad bar. To tie in the pink fabric from the umbrellas on the cake table, Allison wrapped wood boxes with the same fabric.

What a fitting favor for this party...flower seeds!

The birthday girl in her adorable hat!

Allison has always been creative! She recently started her own blog showcasing everything from party ideas to interior design. You can visit At Home with Alli here. Stay tuned for pictures of her beautiful wedding!

{Real Parties} A Princess Party Full of Pink & Gold

I had the pleasure of working with a former client {the boutique firm I used to work for planned her nuptials} on her daughter's first birthday party. Katherine came to me with a vision of pink and gold and anything and everything fit for a princess! We worked together for several months to create a dream come true for Katherine and her sweet daughter Ava...

{photography by Aiylynne Abarado Photography}

Wedding Flowers by Lisa did a beautiful job creating the gorgeous centerpieces and "A" welcome wreath as well as the stunning high chair backdrop which you will see soon! A pink carpet was brought in to create a royal feel!

Katherine was expecting a large crowd, so in addition to a candy table, we also need a large cake with other sweets to choose from. Katherine worked closely with The Sweet Boutique Bakery to create the royal cake. The bakery also created the amazing cake pops and crown sugar cookies.

Throughout the party space, princess wands were found on tables, the high chair backdrop and even on the favors.

My jaw literally dropped when I saw the high chair area completed! The ribbon colors were perfect and the addition of the wands really made it pop. The backdrop was AMAZING and Ava's high chair was adorned with a garden rose garland.

Pink tulle poms from Heart to Heart were hung from 3 different chandeliers at the country club.

We did something a little different on the candy table. Instead of labeling the jars with tags, we topped each glass jar with a large bow custom made at Michael's. The candy selection was displayed on a 8x10 pink sign created by Kelly of WH Hostess who also created the invitation and other party signage.

Balloons were everywhere at this party! Karl of Balloon Masters always does a phenomenal job of creating balloon art.

Bright Star Productions produced a hot pink wall decal that read, "Ava", which was placed on the large window that greeted guests as they walked into the room.

Signs created by WH Hostess were present at all of the stations {son cones, cotton candy, face painting and balloon twisting}.

Guests enjoyed train rides during the party. To dress up the trackless train, I hung a pennant banner designed by WH Hostess across the middle car.

Little guests left the party with bubbles found in tin cans by WH Hostess and tied with a star bubble wand found at Hobby Lobby.

Princess Ava sitting on the pink carpet and getting love from her mommy!

Sources & Vendors

Event styling - Christi Bennett of P is for Party

Photography - Ailynne Abarado Photography

Flowers + Decor - Wedding Flowers by Lisa

Venue - Royal Oaks Country Club

Invitations + signage + favors - WH Hostess

Cake + cookies + cake pops - The Sweet Boutique

Balloon decor - Balloon Masters

Window decal - Bright Star Productions

Candy table bows + gold frames - Michael's

Pink tulle poms - Heart to Heart

Pink Carpet - Party Props

{Real Parties} Monkey Love, Part II - Inside Decor

I have so many gorgeous pictures to share with you from the Monkey Love party! Ellen Johnson did a fabulous job capturing the party and literally sent me over a thousand images! Today I’m showing you pictures of the inside décor from the table arrangements, beverage station, cake and DIY ribbon backdrop.

When my client and friend, Shannon, first started working on Alexandra’s party, she came across Kelly of The Party Dress and WH Hostess and enlisted her help to create an inspiration board and all of the paper goods. The board Kelly created was beautiful and served as a great inspiration piece for Shannon and I. One of our favorite ideas from the board was to use moss throughout the party décor. I contacted one of my favorite Houston florists, Lisa Tran of Wedding Flowers by Lisa, to turn our vision into a reality. Lisa did an AMAZING job!

As guests walked up the pathway to the front door, they were surrounded by the most gorgeous ribbon moss balls hung on shepherd hooks.

The inside tables were another focal point. Each table was draped in a pink linen and held three small arrangements. I found the daintiest ceramic vases from Heart to Heart which Lisa filled with bright yellow Billy Balls, pink roses and hydrangeas in pink and green. Lisa also designed a moss cone which she adorned with pink spray roses and yellow Calla Lilies.

Shannon’s dining room is gorgeous to begin with! But we of course wanted to add to the party décor, so Wedding Flowers by Lisa created three stunning monochromatic arrangements that were set on top of a light pink satin tablecloth that adorned the table. Shannon’s buffet piece served as the table for the adorable monkey cake made by Cakes by Gina!

To highlight the area where the birthday girl would dive into her smash cake, I created a ribbon backdrop which consisted of a mixture of satin and grosgrain ribbon in all of the party colors. I purchased ribbon in widths varying from 1” to 3”. The backdrop was stunning since the ribbons hung from Shannon’s tall ceiling. This was our labor of love since we had to be ever so careful with her draperies. You should have seen me on the tall ladder and on my tippy toes! Probably not the safest, but anything for a party, right?!

In the kitchen, we set up the beverage station. We assembled a runner out of the adorable grass mats I originally saw on HWTM. This turned out really cute! Behind the runner, I placed 3 glass beverage servers which were embellished with drink tags (and ribbon) designed by Kelly. The dispensers were filled with strawberry lemonade, regular lemonade and iced tea. Water bottles, with custom labels by Kelly, we placed here as well. September is HOT in Houston, so we needed to keep the guests cool!

For the adults, pink mojitos were offered! Cups were preset with mint and a pink striped straw from Hey Yo Yo.

As a parting gift, the kids took home a plush monkey and custom bubble tin created by WH Hostess! These were perfect and my boys still love on their monkey!

Here is a picture of the precious birthday girl, Alexandra, and her doting parents!

Stay tuned for Part III which will highlight the outside decor. Incase you missed the dessert table details, you can see Part I here!