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;)