It's Luau Time

It's always interesting that themes seem to come in waves and the wave that appears to be riding in to this summer is the Hawaian theme. Having never done a Hawaaian party before we had a sudden influx in enquiries and requests. One such request turned into this fun and colorful birthday party luau.





The guests were given their first taste of the Hawaiian tropics with palm trees and surfboards ushering them inside.

 The table setup was designed to somewhat resemble a tiki bar. Flanking the table on either side were two large tiki torches. We used grass skirts to line the front go the table with the added touch of cerise pink to bring in the flamboyant colors associated with Hawaii. 

As usual the child's name adorned the table as a centre piece this time in pink and lime the chosen theme colors for this event.

To add to the centre piece the pots that held the letters were turned upside down and each one received a grass skirt. The middle one was converted into a dancing hula girl. We also added pineapples onto the sticks of the letters and then my favorite aspect were the mini palm trees which I made from carlton roll innards and bright green paper for the leaves. Above the name hung a 'tiki bar' sign that I painted to look like wood and then rolled foam into tubes to look like bamboo and form the letters. I also embellished it with some palm trees and a hibiscus flower for color.

 

With the influx of Hawaiian parties I had already done two Hawaiian themed cakes before this party. This cake therefore became a combination of two previous cakes  with elements of each. It did however have one never before done aspect with the grass hula skirt wrapped around the bottom tier. 

For the themed food we provided some gorgeous brightly colored macaroons which we packed into a glass jar for aesthetics. Then we made some marie biscuit beaches. I love these multicolored paper umbrellas. The biscuits were in the shape of surf boards this time and I stuck to the to main theme colors. I went wild with the piping bag and simply added onto the boards whatever fun patterns came to mind. We also provided marshmallow fish on request of the client, which I think is such a cute addition to a Hawaiian theme party.

Each child also received a lei to place around their necks and get into the spirit of Hawaii. An entertainer was also provided to play games with a Hawaaian theme and to teach the kids a bit of hula. 

A summer's day is the perfect backdrop for this theme. It's great to get the kids outdoors and to be able to redefine surfing for them so that it no longer simply involves a computer screen and some square eyes.

A Dora ble

Dora has been exploring her way into party themes for a while now and yet she's still well loved amongst the youngsters. She's ideal for 3-5year olds who want a say in their party themes and to have their favorite fictional characters to be present. 

For this party a friendly Dora waved the guests into the party room, where the food table was decked with Dora. 

For the table we mainly stuck with the girly lilac and pink colors of Dora leaving out the bright orange. As usual we had the child's name on the table which actually proved slightly more tricky than normal as Francesca is a rather long name and the coffee table we were using was not. However after a bit of maneuvering I eventually somehow managed to squish her name so that it was still readable. To bring in the theme to the centre piece were Dora and Boots flanking the name.

                            

For the themed food I made Dora cookies on sticks. For these I used royal icing, but made the eyes from fondant as I found this easier. Then we made some marshmallows dipped in chocolate with hundreds and thousands, which are actually one of our most popular food items. We also had themed popcorn cones and lollipops as well as cutting the sandwiches into heart and star shapes. 

For the cake we had Dora and some of her friends sitting on top under some trees. The rest of the cake was decorated in a way to look cute and girly with flower cutouts and butterflies.

 My favorite item that I made for this Dora party were these party packs made to look like Dora's backpack. We used purple packets and I simply cut out all the facial features and added some wiggly eyes. And of course the map had to also be added because what's an explorer without a map. I hope this blog can act like a map for you guiding you to create a great Dora party or simply leading you to our doorstep.

A Monster of a Party

Admittedly when a client asked us to organize a Monster High Party for her daughter I had absolutely no idea what she was referring to. Because our job is so closely related to what is trending with the kids I do try and stay up to date with what is popular, but there is such a vast amount of content out there these days and with little time and no kids of my own to keep me up to date I sometimes find myself falling behind on what's cool with the kids. I'm not sure how Monster High slipped through my fingers, but it seems to be growing in popularity. Everywhere I look now some new promotional item seems to be Monster High themed. Maybe I didn't completely miss the memo on this theme though, maybe this is only the beginning.

Our main color scheme for the party was black, white and cerise working off the logo and of course no glamorous fashionista's party is complete without a little zebra stripe.  

The main table housed all the food as well as seating for each of the girls. Because the girls were slightly older and too big for kiddie's chairs we opted for these gorgeous cushions in the theme colors instead.

Each girl was given a cerise pink plastic plate and a zebra striped serviette as well as a martini glass filled with candy floss. Now that's my kind of martini. And because candy floss cannot really be used as a liquid replacement they were also each given an apple juice disguised as an iPhone.

There was also plenty of party food.

                                                                                                                    

Our shaped cookies all stuck with the theme and colors with handbags, martini glasses, high heel shoes and the skull from the logo. As usual we had our "oh so easy and effective" decorated lollipops as well as a jar filled with pop rocks which are quite possibly the coolest invention ever. You may have noticed the tags on all the food items. The client requested these and whenever I need to make these I can't help my slightly lame (or what I prefer to call quirky) sense of humor coming into play. My favorite one of the day which I actually didn't get a pic of was the tag for the hamburgers, it read "hambaggers" which made me giggle maybe a little more than it should have.

We also made some themed cupcakes. Some were just in the colors with some sprinkles and the others had fondant edibles on them. I stuck with three simple designs; the logo skull, the logo of the school and some big pink lips with vampire teeth.

I also made the cake with the logo skull and of course copious amounts of edible glitter.

 Although the skull itself I cut out as a flat image I added some pop with the 3 dimensional pink bow. The sides of the cake were inspired by the pattern of the school uniform from the show and the white balls around the bottom were there to mimic a pearl necklace.

It's not always a bad thing not having heard of a theme. It allows for new ideas and concepts that you haven't done before and the end result is a party fit for a glamorous, bling'ed out little monster.

The Circus is in Town

Last year for us was all about the princess, just about every second party we did was princess or fairy themed. This year people have seemed to break that mould, but there are definitely a couple of recurring themes this year, the circus being a big one. Perhaps it's because Madagascar 3 came out with it's circus vibe or maybe it's just because parents remembered there's nothing better than popcorn and cotton candy, hot dogs and prizes to make a kid's party a great success. 

The big top tent is an icon of the circus and is a really convenient one when it comes to party goods. It has many uses, the first being to be a cake. It's such a quick and easy cake to make and all you need is a giant cupcake tin. You use the bottom part upside down as the base and then simply place the top of the cupcake on top as the roof. I use fondant to cover my cakes as a prefer the smooth effect, but you could use butter icing if you prefer. Once covered all you need to do is add stripes, an entrance and a flag. A helpful tip is to remember to either ice or fold your fondant under the roof as it overhangs the base and you don't want to see exposed cake underneath. The other circus inspired cake I have made was for a Madagascar circus party. That's Marty as a clown in the front there, hence the zebra stripped middle tier. 

The big top tent can also be used successfully as a centre piece. I made this one fairly easily with the centre of a material roll some paint and cardboard.We put the number 5 (the birthday girl's age) in the middle as the flag and then had her name surrounding this. 

                                              

   

We also further decorated the table with rolls of tickets to create the carnival feeling and a red and white stripped runner down the centre of the table to tie it all together. Each child was given a bright blue plate and a red nose as well as a party hat personalizd for the birthday girl and a glass jar elixir.

The last items added to the the table placings were red serviettes with blue forks, a fun windmill and all held together with carnival ticket serviette rings.

Sticking with making use of the big top, for another party we made the big top party packs. 

We also found these fun popcorn buckets, which really were quite cute for a circus theme.

 

Carnival or circus themes are so much fun for everyone and I still really look forward to being giving the opportunity to go all out on a carnival theme with ticket booths, and popcorn sellers, candy floss stalls and prize winners. A girl can but dream;)