{event showcase} Party Animals 4th Birthday

I interrupt the fall cocktail party series to share a special party with you!

Earlier this month, my little girl celebrated her 4th birthday.  We hosted a party at The Little Gym and invited all of her school friends.  Originally, I planned an easy, no-fuss party - gymnastics with cupcakes and juice for 20-25 girls and boys, done in 90 minutes - but the creative person within had grand ideas for invitations and party favors and wanted to experiment with making party hats, plus the event date was moved up to avoid conflict with another friend's party.  So big ideas, little time ...her Party Animals party quickly became a 3-Ring Circus ... but it was fun and I can't wait to share it with you!

I had a lot of inspiration in planning this party - my daughter's stuffed bunny, the Everyday Paper Dolls Cricut cartridge and Paper Source's new colors, Peacock (blue) and Sunshine (yellow).

Invitations: little girl paper doll with bunny, cat and dog on A7 yellow flat card tucked inside an A7 peacock envelope with a white 2.5" white round label (not shown).

My little ... sorry, BIG girl!

Name badges: I designed name badges for the children - and made a special one for my husband (above left).  If you know my husband, you're probably laughing.  Deep within he's a Party Animal ... really!

Party Hats: party hats are popular with preschoolers so I thought I'd try making them.  Surprisingly, every tutorial said to unfold an existing paper hat and trace it to make a template.  I did.  They turned out pretty cute but this is probably one party detail I'll either leave out or buy next time.

To make, I used yellow cardstock for the hat and embellished with 18" of red ribbon on both sides, red pom at the top and Party Animal label on the front.

Decor: finding Peacock blue disposable items was challenging so I went with yellow table cloths and red plates, plates and napkins.  The Litte Gym provided the balloons.

Cupcakes: I made homemade vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with blue, yellow and red sugar sprinkles in bright yellow wrappers.  To reinforce the Party Animals theme, I embellished them with paper toppers - bunnies, cats and dogs on blue and yellow cardstock circles.  They looked so festive ... and tasted so yummy!

Goodie Bags: I prefer party favors that last longer than the car ride home.  So I made Party Animal chalkboards inspired by this great idea.  I spray painted the border and then, wrote 'Party Animal!" and traced the paper doll with an Elmers red paint pen.

The chalkboard was inserted into a plain white bag with a box of chalk and embellished with red tissue paper, 'Party Animal' thank you tag and blue and yellow ribbon.

The chalkboards took a lot of effort but it was so worth it to see the children, including my niece above, drawing right away!

My daughter celebrated her birthday two days later in school.  I extended the Party Animals theme by bringing in Animal Crackers for snack.  The kids enjoyed identifying animals and I felt good about serving a low sugar snack!

Thanks for allowing me to share my work with you.  I hope that I have inspired your next party!