my oldest daughter olivia just turned 12.
AND, she is almost as tall as me...where in the WORLD does the time go?
*sigh...
in our family, we alternate "friend" birthday parties and "family" birthday parties.
since we only have a "big" party every other year, i like to make it really special.
when olivia turned 10, we had a
"safari pool party" and invited over 20 girls. it
was a fun party, but making 20+ party favors and 20+ invitations was a little
overwhelming. this year, she opted to invite only her 6 best friends.
olivia is an animal lover through and through, and wanted the "theme" to
have something to do with animals...i searched and searched for inspiration...
i wanted something with an interesting color theme, and that was just
a
little grown up and suitable for tweens. i was shopping at michaels when i spotted
the perfect inspiration in the wedding section! for those of you that don't know, most
craft stores carry a beautiful assortment of printable wedding invitations.
i knew with a few minor additions, these invites would be perfect for her party.
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the inside of the envelope was pretty plain, so i lined them with metallic patterned paper. |
i also added the "flight itinerary"card.
we decided to have the entire party "out", which is perfect for a group of young ladies.
since i only had 6 girls (versus 20+) AND i didn't have any food or decorations to
worry about, i really went all out on the party favors.
each girl got a wooden box filled with goodies.
(the boxes were also found at michaels.)
as each girl came to the car, we gave them a cute flower to wear in their hair.
i made the flowers with a floral garland that i found at walmart and some barrettes and felt
picked up at a craft store.
each girl received:
a monogrammed bookmark (made from scrapbook paper and a letter cut with my cricut)
a stretchable mood ring
some m+m's and chocolate covered sunflower seeds in a hinged tin.
(found in the wedding section at michaels craft store)
blue nail polish,
some vanilla body spray
a homemade hair clip
and some chocolate!
for just a couple dollars more than it would have cost to buy paper bags, i was able to get these wooden boxes. i think they give a very "grown up" feel and will be something that each girl can use
for years to come.
my daughter wrote each one of her friends a poem and a note and attached it to the inside of the box.
these notes were the "response cards" that came with the wedding invitations.
a quick look at the cake...i am NOT good at making birthday cakes, so this
is something that i usually have a bakery do. i have also ordered plain cakes from
grocery stores and add somthing to dress them up. i did that
here and
here.
when ordering from a bakery, i always come armed with color swatches,
some sketches of what i want and a print out of the font that i want matched for the writing.
yeah, i'm a little crazy when it comes to things coordinating for a party...
party was a success and the party favors were a big hit!
the girls all had a great time, and so did my birthday girl.
i love you olivia!
happy 12th.
Another gorgeous day here and I'm beaming with inspiration, I just don't know which way to channel it yet, so many possibilities and ideas and this beautiful room is just inspiring with it's perfect pop of colour and it's stunningly unique chandelier, isn't it beautiful! Have a wonderfully inspiring day xx
What a delightfully gorgeous day here...oh so beautiful and crisp, so inspiring just like these beautiful images... I so want to transform my veranda into something as refreshing as this one...definately a breath of fresh air!
and is this just the most stunning display of Hydrangeas you have ever seen...so breathtaking.
Dreaming of a little something special this Mothers Day, and I think this would be ideal... 
but in the end I know it's really all about Love... and Flowers!... and this would be nice too.
