Miss Elizabeth's Garden Party

A garden party seemed to be the perfect theme for Ellie's third birthday party. After all, what is cuter than little girls sipping tea (pink lemonade) and nibbling on little treats. Since we live in Miami, the end of December turned out to be the perfect timing as far as the weather was concerned. It was fun being able to have a summer-themed birthday for my little winter baby.

Loving all the colors.

The pink creme puffs (you can kind of see them here) were just from Costco and then I dipped them in pink Wilton candy melts to match the theme.

These fun paper flowers announce the theme of the party perfectly and the guests excited for a garden party. The template for the invitations can be found here.

The pinata template was from the Pottery Barn Kids tutorial.

The burlap banner was really simple to make. Just a variety of ribbons and lace from my mom and grandma's old stock plus a few coordinating ribbons from the party.

I wasn't quite sure how to hang the instagrams since I didn't have two trees where I needed them. So you'd better believe I had my husband dismantling our bed the morning of the party so I could use the foot board. He's a good sport.

Little party guests chatting and sipping tea (okay, it was pink lemonade).

I saw a cake very similar to this on Pinterest a while back and basically recreated it to the best of my memory. It was definitely my favorite party of the party.

Easy no sew tutus. Each tutu took 2 rolls of the 25 yd 6" wide tulle. I cut each strip to 24" and just used safety pins to size them to each girl.

This overhanging canopy was really fun and simple to make. I think it turned out better than the one I used as inspiration from Pottery Barn Kids. I bought the top wreath on clearance at Joanne's for less than $10. The sheer white is actually a curtain set from Ikea for $5. I just hot glued the curtains as I gathered them tightly around the wreath. I strung three ribbons through the top and gathered them in the center to hang it from.

The lace on the tables are vintage pieces from my grandmother's collection when she was younger.

I used the extra tulle from the tutus to decorate the back of the chairs.

White gloves add an extra dainty touch.

The birthday girl happily modeling her tiara. I mostly used the Bleu Bird tutorial for the tiaras and then attached coordinating ribbons to the back.

Another Pinterest find. I had seen these cake pops somewhere before and recreated them as best as I could remember. The butterflies were made with fondant and little butterfly fondant cutters I found on ebay.

These perfect little wildflower teacups are from Distinctive Decor.

The presents decorated to match the theme made a fun party of the display.

Chocolate covered Oreos are becoming a staple at my party as guests love the taste and are always  in awe over how fancy they look. I used the Oreo molds and a lace chocolate transfer sheet for these ones. I always make these a couple weeks before the party since the last so well so I can focus on other details closer to the party.

The fruit kabobs were one of the biggest hits with the kids. I used the Wilton star fondant cutters for the watermelon.

Pinata time!

Twirling around the pinata with their ribbon wands. The ribbon wands I made with wand sticks and coordinating party ribbon.

More sugar and of course necklaces for the little ladies.

This cute little pink ruffle cake was SO simple to make. Check out this quick youtube tutorial for simple instructions on the ruffle cake. One thing I did before adding the ruffles was marked vertical lines every inch around the whole cake as a guide for the ribbons. I would guess I ended up using  4-5 pounds of buttercream frosting to decorate it!

I made all the treats for the party with the exception of the macaroons and petite fours which were ordered from a little French bakery near our house, Chocolate Fashion.

We used some of the flowers from the arrangements we made to decorate the cake.

The birthday girl pleased to be the center of attention.

The kids all had fun twirling their ribbon wands in their tutus.

Lace tablecloth from my grandmother as well as the two vases on this table.

 I scooped up the ice cream cups in advance with the cuisipro scoop.

I topped each scoop of ice cream with a raspberry and mint leaf.

 

 

We waited until the party guests (with the exception of cousins who flew in for the party) had left to open presents.

 

These little party poppers were made out of tissue paper and and old wrapping paper roll cut down to about 3" segments. I tied off one end, stuffed it with little strawberry puffs and then tied off the other end with twine. We layed one out with each place setting.

Instagrams hung with twine and small clothes pins as a back drop to the treats table.

I kept the 'Thank You' bags super simple. The tags were just something I had in my scrapbooking collection that I stamped the letters onto and then tied them up with twine.