{Real Parties} A Singing Party to Celebrate a First Birthday

My good friend, Kristen White of Frills Consulting, styled an adorable Sing-a-Long Party for a little boy who recently turned one. Kristen was inspired by my son's sing-a-long party last year and Kovidh's mommy thought it was fitting for the birthday boy since he loves his music class and their last name is "Singh"!

Stacy Gray Music was hired to entertain the children in songs. She brought small handmade instruments made of white mailing tubes which were filled with dry beans and rice. For the first half of the party, the children decorated their instruments and then they gathered around and sand with Stacy using their new instruments.

Kristen is extremely talented and crafty and made the invitation, paper goods and party hat!

The menu was prepared by Pink Avocado and was perfect for both adults and kids. The group feasted on tomato bisque shooters with grilled cheese squares, french fries with parmesan truffle oil, spinach and feta spanokopita, veggie cups, chicken fingers, mini ham and cheese sandwiches and mini mac n' cheese balls. They chose to serve cake balls instead of the traditional cake to give guests a variety of flavor options. I love that idea!

The music note cookies were the perfect favor as well as the personalized chalkboards that Kristen created!

The birthday boy, Kovidh, looking as happy as ever!

Thank you Kristen for sharing this perfectly planned party with us!

Sources

Photography - Cat Hornberger of Peacock Photography

Children's Entertainment - Stacy Gray Music

Catering - Pink Avocado

Invitations, party hats & paper goods - Frills

Chalk Mats - Kathryn Saeger

Smash Cake - Hill Country Cakes

Cake Balls - Austin Cake Ball

Four Sweet and Unique Party Themes for Your Little Ones

I just love all of the parties that are popping up that are based on a favorite saying or song. Here are four of my favorites lately...

Cute as a Button

Lili of Swanky::Chic::Fete recently showed the most adorable Cute as a Button birthday party in a gray and pink color scheme. We all know I am a fan of gray, so I was smitten with this party from the beginning. This is a perfect theme for a first birthday or baby shower! Joy of Cobblestone Rue did a wonderful job with this sweet party.

Sweet as Pie

This is another favorite theme of mine and the versatile theme can be used for little boys or girls as well as a baby shower. Courtney of Pizzazerie delighted us all when she recently debuted this precious first birthday on her site.

You are My Sunshine

Who doesn't love the old song, "You are My Sunshine"?! I have sung this sweet song to my boys ever since they arrived. Using a song as your theme is a unique idea and this is one of the best songs for a child's birthday. This chic party was shown on Hostess with the Mostess and was styled by Aimee of Lulu Pink Parties.

Let's Have a Ball

Do you remember the Let's Have a Ball party in the Martha Stewart Kids Magazine years ago?? I have saved several copies of that treasured magazine and I have always loved the sports party the Martha Stewart team dreamed up.

Recently, two amazing party stylists have used similar themes and transformed party spaces into amazing settings which were shown on Hostess with the Mostess. Amy Nichols of Amy Nichols Special Events designed a colorful Bouncy Ball party for a friend's son and Jessica Kirkland of Pen n' Paper Flowers styled the most creative Classic Red Ball party for her daughter.

I have just shown you a snippet of these adorable parties. Be sure to click on each party link to see the full details!

{Real Parties} A Bowling Party!

My friend, Lili of Swanky Chic Fete, did a fantastic job of styling this bowling party! Lucky for her (and us Houstonians!), 300 is a chic bowling alley that lends a trendy palette to begin with. But for those who are not blessed with a stylish bowling alley, Lili shows you how you can make this theme one to remember!

Kelly of WH Hostess and The Party Dress created the perfect paper goods for the party! She designed the centerpiece sticks, favor bag toppers, trophy labels and trophy cup stickers which all stemmed from her Rugby Collection. I am a lover of paper goods because they create a cohesive feel at any event.

The cake is ADORABLE and I love how Lilli used polka dot cupcake liners (perfect for this theme!) to dress up simple cupcakes!

The polka dot balloons from Blooming Babies Market was another perfect addition!

Centerpiece sticks are the perfect solution to centerpieces for children's parties. Here Lili placed the sticks in white ceramic pots from Ikea and filled them with crinkle paper.

Inexpensive flowers like these gerber daisies and carnations add the perfect punch and when placed in modern containers such as these, look like they are worth so much more.

Here is another simple way to add a inexpensive, yet custom touch to your party...cup stickers! Kelly's circle labels were placed on plain white cups to dress them up. And who doesn't love paper straws?!

Red gumballs were the take home favors! Such a cute idea since they resemble bowling balls!

If you do not know Swanky Chic Fete, head over to Lili's blog right now! She styles great parties, pays close attention to detail and I love all of her creative posts!

Sources:

Photography - Loven, the birthday girl's Dad!

Bowling alley - 300 Houston

Centerpiece sticks, favor bag toppers, trophy labels and stickers - WH Hostess

Polka dot ballons - Blooming Babies Market {Etsy}

Striped straws - Pebbles in My Pocket {Etsy}

Cupcake toppers and dotted cups - Little Monster Hugs {Etsy}

Gumballs in dotted bags - Polka Dot Market

Red dotted scrap book paper - Michael's

Mini trophies - Oriental Trading

Mini vases and white pots - Ikea

{Real Parties} Come Heart With Me

I am head over heels for this party! Completely smitten! The theme, the details, the colors and the photography are stunning! Catherine Clay is a fantastic photographer in the Dallas area and she recently hosted a stylish birthday party for her daughter, Annabelle.

The party took place in Catherine's studio which provided a perfectly clean palette for the decor. 20 little girls were invited to the studio for a Valentine's themed art party to celebrate Annabelle's 5th birthday.

After working on their project - making hearts out of clay and then placing the clay on a canvas that they painted with pastels - they headed upstairs for snacks and cake.

Catherine and a friend made most of the decor which included personalized aprons and a take home art kid for the girls!

Do you see what I mean?! This party is beautiful on so many levels...simple, sweet, stylish and kiddish!

Sources:

Invitation, penants, birthday hats, aprons & art kits - Catherine Clay

Art kit containers - The Container Store

Cake & Cookies - Sweet Bakes

Annabelle's chevron dress - The Measure (Etsy)

{Real Parties} POP Baby Shower

Here is another creative baby shower by one of the ladies from Lullaby Lubbock! {Do you remember the adorable princess party I showed last week?!} Allison and the hostesses went with a "Pop" theme and the shower turned out amazing!

Allison is lucky to be friends with Jordan of Kojo Designs who happened to be a hostess as well! Jordan whipped up a whimsical invitation and other coordinating paper goods such as the signs, labels and banners. She even taught the girls how to make pom pom balls which they hung throughout the party space.

The POPcorn bar was amazing! Allison ordered numerous flavors from Candy Corns in Dallas. They have every flavor and color of popcorn that you can imagine! They served Jalepeno Ranch, Apple, Butter, Coconut and Parmesan!

The hostesses made cones out of cardstock to hold the popcorn. This was such a fun detail!

All of the food consisted of things that POP...mini pop tarts, cake pops, pop rocks, blow pops, jalepeno poppers, rice krispy treats and so on. Absolutely love this idea!

I think it's always tricky to come up with an original sign in idea. I love what the girls came up with! Each card had something different written on them and the guests were asked to fill in the blank. "I hope you love...", "I hope you are not afraid of...", "I hope you laugh...".

As always, Allison and her creative group of friends put together an amazing party with thought out details and so many creative touches! I love reading Lullaby Lubbock and hearing about their creative endeavors and I know you will too!