Thursday, February 2, 2012

Leila's Fashion Birthday Party

A couple weekends ago we had Leila's "Fashion Girl" birthday party....the birthday party she's been talking about around the clock for the last several months....the one she's had planned since the day after her birthday party last year. When Leila gets an idea in her head, you can't get it out of there until it comes to fruition. Just like her mama.

She was very specific about the invitations. Pink and white. NO black or gray. And she wanted "one of those things that you put clothes on at a store." Otherwise known as a dress form. My amazing friend, Jen from Top That! Designs came up with the beautiful invitations and a ton of coordinating party printables.


Leila knew that she wanted to have "hair" as an activity at her party. I asked her what she meant by that, and she said "You know, have Lindsay come and put pretty things in our hair?!" Obviously.  So, my sweet friend and hairdresser, Lindsay (visit her at Belleza Cristali in Pleasanton if you live in the Bay Area!) came and put hair tinsel in the girls hair.

We also had a coloring table set up. I found some cute La La Loopsy coloring books at the Dollar Store, so each girl got her own coloring book that she was able to take home after the party.


Another activity highlight was the nail parlor. A HUGE thank you to my friends at Julep who sent all of the nail polishes. It was such a fun treat to have those salon-quality polishes to use, and at the end of the party each girl was able to take home the nail polish she had her nails painted with.

After some nail painting, coloring and hair it was time to eat. Food was also kept simple, and germ-free thanks to individual cups.

Drinks were also kept simple - pink lemonade and water. I loved the custom water bottle wrappers!!

After lunch it was time for the main event....the fashion show! Tony built a pink catwalk, complete with a blocked off "backstage" dressing area for the girls.


Girls were dressed in their most stylish outfits, but we stocked the "backstage" area with lots of dress up options, so that they could change as many times as they wanted and keep walking the runway.

hair accessories I made a few nights before...

costumes from Leila's dress up stash

These cutie pies had a great time showing off their model walks!


After the fashion show it was time for dessert. Leila was firm on her dessert choice. Cupcakes, cake pops and a real cake. Oy.  I was planning on making a pink ombre cake, but Gianna's hospital stay totally put a wrench in my party planning, and we had to settle for a store-bought cake and cupcakes. Oh, well. I did manage to make cake pops.

Then presents. Her friends were so sweet and generous and totally stuck to the fashion-theme. 

Party favors were in a hot pink, glittered take-out box. Each girl got lots of lipgloss, chapstick, nail polish and other girly things. I'm sure some of the moms hated me for it. Ha!

Leila had a blast at her party, which I am thrilled about. 90% of the decorations that I was planning on making, and the food I was planning on baking didn't get done, but she didn't notice. When we were at the hospital I emailed everyone to say that the party was being postponed, then when I found out we were being released Friday night I re-emailed everyone to let them know that the party was still on. Leila was none the wiser :)

I want to say a huge thank you to Jen of Top That! Designs for all the amazing party printables (email her - she does custom work!), Lindsay of Belleza Cristali salon for the beautiful hair she did, Julep for sending the gorgeous nail polish we all enjoyed so much and Tara of Tara Marie Photography for taking all of the wonderful pictures. I could barely speak a full sentence that day, being on an hour and a half of sleep, let alone take any pictures. I'm so grateful she was there to do that!                                                                               I can't believe my girl is five. Time is a jerk and really needs to slow down. She already has her party idea for next year. A luau. She asked if we could get sand from Hawaii and put it all over the house. I'm thinking no.




15 comments:

Meghan said...

That is precious, and you cannot tell that you didn't have a lot of preptime!

Love the girls walking down the runway, too cute!

jaquelyn {mama thoughts} said...

Ah, I love this!! Looks like so much fun with all the prettiness. ;) Happy birthday, sweetie!

joen said...

Looks like the girls all had a great time! What a great idea! They do plan there birthday's all year don't they. I found some great blowup palm trees reasonably priced at Oritental Trading when we did a Luau-Beach party.

mel @ the larson lingo said...

Such a fun party! Kate & Claire had a blast! And now they are obsessed with nail polish...thanks a lot :)

Anonymous said...

How adorable, mama! I bet she'll remember this party for the rest of her life. So girly and so sweet!

Emily said...

Oh my goodness! I love everything about this party...so cute!

amaya said...

this is so amazing and you would never know that everything you wanted to do didnt get done. You are are a really great party planner! Lucky girls youhave!

Blanca said...

What a great party! Your so creative. :)

Happy Birthday to Leila!

Blanca

Denissa said...

How cute!!! You did an awesome job for being so sleep deprived! She looked over the moon! :)

LittleGreenThread said...

oh my gosh, this is so adorable! I love it :) How fun to have little girls to do stuff like this with!

Charla Liedahl said...

Super super cute! I have boys...so I don't get to experience this type of girliness up close!

cookie a. said...

She is the most beautiful child [both your girls are]! You are an amazing party planner, and no one would ever guess that there was a single thing missing, or that you had so much going on. Great job!

Unknown said...

That is so darn cute! I bet all those girls had an amazing day!

Vicky @ Mess For Less said...

What a super fun idea. I have 3 little girls and I will certainly keep this in mind as they get older. Great party! I am a new Twitter follower visiting from Thirty Handmade Days. Vicky from Mess For Less

Amy said...

Hello, you pulled off a first class party after spending the night/day in the hospital with your little one?? You're my hero! I've always loved the {shot glass veggie idea}! Cute, cute....and that fashion show! Their facial expressions and poses are priceless. I was waiting for this post but didn't think you had the party yet! You're amazing...that's all. ;-)

 

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