We love to celebrate. Like reallllly love to celebrate. Appies, decorations, buffet style foodies, balloons, favors, outfits, cakes {regular, tiered, layered, cup, mini or pop form - whatevs!}, BRING IT! Love hosting. Love attending.
Since T-1 and T-2 have to share a birthday, we like to go, oh...a wee wittle bit overboard to make them feel special. The first reason is because we're ridiculously head over heels for them and would love nothing more than to shout that to the everyone from the highest mountaintop. {And, since we don't live near any Riccola-style cliffs, we show the world our adoration by raiding Party City, dog-earring pages in Oriental Trading Company catalogs, picking a theme that's full 'o puns, and rockin' out with our closest fam and friends in the beautifully blazing mid-July sun}.
The second reason is because we're just nuts.
So, here is the first installment of {Pardee, Pardee}. I hope you like some of the things we did for this ode to Ms. Shortcake. With each "parDee" that's posted, I hope you'll share your own fave tips and tricks with the CoCoNuts Family {psst...that's you guys!}. Looking forward to the fun!
{A Strawberry Shortcake Party}
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| Festive fruit. |
The gals were in a Strawberry Shortcake phase around year 3, and I couldn't have been more proud than to throw a big 'ol strawb soiree in their honor. My sis {SheShe} and I had such a blast playing with the S.S. Dollhouse growing up, and every single idea for this party had me swoonin'. {I tend to reminisce. We still good?} Each thought reminded me of that 3-story abode and the mems practically perfumed the air with amazing 80s signature scents {lovely lemon meringue, bold blueberry, out-of-this world orange, etc.} Strawberries just so happen to be symbolic to my beloved sorority. {ZLAM, Zetas!....yes, you were just zlam'd online.}, so their fate was sealed. Mama got plannin'.
{Activities}
Our little guests were invited to play...
{Pin-the-seed on the Strawberry}
- red poster board outlined in thick black magic marker for the base
- green poster board outlined in thick black magic marker for the stem
- black circle stickers for dots {easy for lil hands to grab}
- an art easel to hold it
- a few magic marker outlined "seeds" to target
- a blindfold {although 3 year olds and their friends would just rather leave it on the table!}
{Blueberry's Bowling}
- 6 or 8 inch table laid flat on the ground
- oversized bowling pins
{Pinata}
Party City to the rescue, as always! This was our first time using the "pull string" pinata method. Pretty cute! We made sure to have extra goodie bags of candy on hand {already filled} just in case a little guest wasn't able to grab that much candy. {Look, Ma! No tears!} We also had a few extra bags of loose candy on hand and tossed handfuls around the outside of the circle to decrease the pile-up!
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{Crepe Suzette's Craft Corner}
We had a few kid-size picnic tables set up so tiny guests could make a glittery picture frame to take home. But, it was a little windy, I'm not sure where the sign flew off to, the area was sort of too far away from the fun, and I forgot to take a pic {Ohhh..the utter horror! haha}.
{Decor}
Red/Green/Pink/White...and lots of it! Tables were draped in hot pink and I used shiny red chargers for centerpieces. Green strawberry pint holders acted as a vase for white tissue poms.We scattered Welch's strawberry fruit snacks around to act as a runner.
Utensils, plates, napkins, etc!...all placed atop a table dressed to look like a strawb. I took a red plastic table skirt {the kind with the frills at the top/sticky back} and lined around the edges. I cut off excess to make everything line up nicely with the ground. I added black polka dots to it to look like seeds. The final layer was a green plastic table skirt to add some "leaves"...once I stuck it around the top red edge, I cut off the excess in a zig zag form --- very jagged. We topped red heart plates {bought around Valentine's Day} with green stems {made from green poster board} and added black sharpie dots to add some seeds!
We love using plastic art easels for signage displays.
{Food}
We had subs, pinwheels, chicken tenders, chips and pasta salads. Peanut butter sammies {2 heart shaped PB halves/placed on each side of a snack size plastic baggie/secured in the center with a clothes pin} and strawberry applesauce {turned upside down/sticker in center for zhooshing} also came to party!
{Bevvies}
I took 2 beverage dispensers {Kohls!} and labeled them according to S.S. and Ms. Lemon. The Michael's Dollar bin provided striped straws and mason jars crashed the party again. A green chevron tablecloth jumped into my cart at Hob-Lobs, and I just had to take her home to be loved. Tin pails were a fun spot to place theme-cups.
{Desserts}
We welcomed guests to enjoy The Berry Big Birthday Buffet {a dessert explosion and extreme enabler to my alliteration addiction}. I ordered the banner from Vistaprint. Check out this site if you haven't already! Sign up for their e-mail list,and keep an eye on sales. They happen almost daily. Aside from the bar code they place on the front, it's pretty nice! Good quality.You'll get free adhesive hangers for the edges...and my hubs put some grommets on the front for me so it would hang nicely. {Note: order your banner well in advance and lay it flat for a while because these normally arrive with creases due to shipping.}
I'm a food labeler. {Is that even a word?} Where my buddies at?! Should we start a Facebook group? I'm totes down! You'll see food tags all throughout {Pardee, Pardee} in frames, card tents, stickers, etc. of all shapes and sizes. For this theme, we named each dessert after the S.S. characters and added little figurines just to up the cheeseball factor.
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| Blueberry muffins, lemon jelly candy cupcakes, choco covered cherries. |
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| Red velvet is a requirement at every party. |
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| Choco dipped pretzels, apple dumpling cake, raspberry crumble tart. |
See these oranges down below? Make them, loves! Slice an orange in half and core out the centers. You'll just use the rind for this treat. Put the rinds in a cupcake pan to they can balance. They will basically be a "mold." Whip up some jello and let it cool just slightly in the pot. Pour in the liquid Jell-O juuuuuust until it reaches the top of the orange rind mold. Pop these bad boys in the fridge and when the Jell-o sets, slice these to look like orange wedges. {Encourage those kiddos to use the rinds for orange smiles! You know the kind.}
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| I heart Pinterest. |
Marshmallow pops joined the party this year. {Stick a lollipop stick into some melted chocolate and stick it halfway through a marshmallow. Let it set...top side down. When cooled, dip the top of the marshmallow in melted chocolate and dunk it into some sprinkles. Boom.
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| Yep, that looks like a watermelon mani. Don't paint your nails by the light of the t.v. at midnight. |
We thought the guests would enjoy an alternative to cake. So, we set up a Strawberry Shortcake bar and gave each birthday girl a signature recipe.
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| Heavy on the whip cream, por favor. |
Every year, each shortie gets her own cake so she can have her own little moment on her big day. We sing 1 round of Happy Birthday for T-1...and exactly 1 minute later {just like on their actual birthday}, we sing a round of Happy Birthday to T-2. For the Big Three, I bought some tiny mason jars from The Christmas Tree Shop and made a lopsided ombre cake for each chica. {Take a white cake mix, separate it into a few bowls, add different food coloring to each bowl and bake cupcakes. When the cupcakes are done, cut off the top and bottom and trim around the edges to make a nice little circle shape. Toss each layer into the small mason jar and separate each layer with a smidge of frosting.}
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| I still heart Pinterest. |
Paper hats! Strawberry shades! Pints filled with goodies! A Strawbubble Station! We love sending kiddos home with goodies. We encouraged everyone to open their bubbles during the party and refill them as needed. {We took a lemonade jug, filled it with water and added green dish soap for instant bubbles so no one would run out.}
Hope this brought you some rays today! Show me your S.S. party pics if you have some! I'd love to see! If you like what you've been reading {I hope you have!!}, feel free to spread the word about the Facebook page. Looking forward to the first giveaway on Jan. 31. Mark those calendars, loves!
Until next time...
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