gracie chose a pink party as the theme for this year’s birthday party, with a little inspiration from here. all things pink was the only requirement. and no boys allowed, of course.
boy did this party take a few turns! i’d say wrong turns, but in the end it all worked out. if you follow my tweets, you’d know i had a very late, very frustrating night baking. nothing went right. more on that in a minute…
the chandelier was draped in dark pink christmas garland (left over from nicole’s daughter’s jewelery party – thank you!), and also two colors of curling ribbon. perfectly girly, and cheap to boot!
hovering over the table, along with the chandelier, were a handful of pink paper lanterns and lots of pink balloons. since the majority of the party would be spent at the table, i focused the majority of the decorations there.
the table was covered in a white queen size coverlet, a square of pink polka dot fabric, and pink floral runners resurrected from a couple past showers. the plates are a thrifted floral assortment (2 from last weekend), and the bowls were holding beads waiting to be strung.
do the hydrangeas look familiar? they were from the twin shower a couple weeks ago when they were still on the bush, not quite ready for cutting. they gladly made their debut today, placed in simple mason jars.
my standard brownie cake. because i’m not a huge fan of standard cake, and i love brownies, i make brownie cakes. take 3 boxes of brownie mix (i like to do 3 different ones) and bake each on a round cake pan. place them on top of each other with frosting in between, then top with a crumb coat, then a final coat. i had a huge box of double chocolate brownies from costco so i used 3 packs from that. another baking mistake. the chocolate chips in the mix made them a bit too mushy and the cake didn’t hold firm enough. the top layer’s edges all came off due to crumbling, so the cake became a dome instead of a 3 tiered round cake. oh, and all 3 brownie cakes stuck to their pans. all 3. very frustrating. and i ran out of frosting. then i wanted to add some cute pink royal icing dots, like the inchmark chick did. i found a royal icing recipe, sent my mom to the grocery store (for the 3rd time) for powdered sugar, and attempted to make the dots. after being distracted by 3 “helpers”, i lost count on how many cups of powdered sugar i had put in. so i put in one more, and it turned out to be one too many. what more could go not according to plan? we ended up with this thick, stiff, pink fluff resembling marshamllows. my ingenious mom decided to try rolling the fluff into little balls and smashing them with a spatula sprayed with pam. it formed these somewhat circular blobs that, in the end, i was quite pleased with. not what i had envisioned, but good still.
a pink polka dot vase with the never-endingly useful cherry blossom branches graced the entry table.
the cake pops. oh, those stinkin’ cake pops! you are my nemesis, you sweet mushy frustrating things! they looked so perfectly round and simple to make on bakerella’s site. her instructions seemed so easy to follow. but mishap after mishap lead me to quit until re-attempting this morning. ok, my mom actually did them this morning, and they turned out ok. tip for next time: make the cake balls dryer, not so much frosting. the balls were so heavy and mushy on top of the stick that they kept falling off! so we disguised them as favors and covered them with treat bags and tied them shut with ribbons. the ribbons and bag actually helped keep the ball on.
there was also a pink treat table, just to guarantee the sugar high. pink wafer cookies, pink whoppers (still gross, but pink), cake balls that didn’t make the cut as stick-worthy so they were rolled in pink sugar, and pink circus cookies. a bead covered silver tray held teeny tiny vintage glasses with pink straws, cut short to the perfect fit.
all the guests came dressed in their prettiest pink. the activity for the party was beading. the girls all made bracelets and necklaces. and that was it! no games or other crafts, just beading, and it was perfect.
lily may sipping on some sparkling pink lemonade from trader joe’s.
do you see a trend with these girls? they are all wearing pink posy clips! that was their little favor. it was so cute seeing them all wear them.
ahhh, the big girl in all her glory!
ps – happy mother’s day to my partner in crime.
This is absolutely gorgeous in so many ways! Love it all!!!
Ashley
Incredible, Lindsey! Remind me to have you do a BLUE party for me someday. :) Great ideas.
ok seriously, i LOVE it! the party turned out adorable! and the fact that this is the same house you posted picture of a few days ago is quite impressive. it looked fantastic and perfectly pink! i may steal a few ideas for my little princess’ 5th birthday tea party. i love those posie clips!! you are so so so talented lindsey!
That is so AWESOME!! I am going to have to do some of that stuff in a couple of weeks for my daughters 7th birthday. :) You know the date, right? ha ha! 20th!!! I made the cake balls last year for my oldest’s birthday.
How cute! I Love all that pink. And your desorations are perfect. They are not overboard- just the perfect touch to have a fabulous area. Wow. You did awesome, girl!
Andi
I am absolutley blow away! Everything is so pretty and just..perfect! I’m sending a link to this post t my friend that has a little girl (I live vicariously through her). Love it!
Happy Mother’s Day!
Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.
And besides your baking debacle, it all looks relatively easy and certainly inexpensive!
Beautiful! Great job, I wish I had a reason to have a pink party :(
I am SO very pleased that I am not the only one this happens to when a birthday or shower comes up. I can bake and work everything out perfectly if it isn’t for some kind of party, but the night before the party comes and everything gets wonky! It turned out beautifully, though, and kudos to you! :)
I love how you did this without spending an absolute ton…the girls in the pink dresses…so cute.
By the way…not as creative, but great emergency polka dots…necco wafers…I’ve bought packs just to pick out a certain color.
LOVE the pink party!!!!
wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!!! I had a pink party in November for my 3 year old. It’s so neat seeing different things to do with pink!
I love this idea!!! My daughter’s birthday just passed though (her party was actual yesterday). I wonder if I could talk my 15 year old into having one of these for her sweet 16 in October. Haha! Everything is wonderful!
cute cute and more cute…
one word. . . FANTABULOUS!!!!!
fun pink party!
(you know i’m gonna comment on how great those chairs look).
happy mother’s day.
Super duper cute!
What an adorable birthday! I LOVE all of the pink ideas, some of which may show up at my house in a different color! :)
How cute! Everything looks adorable! The pink party looks like it was a hit and the birthday girl – a princess. :)
So pretty and girly!
You have so many amazing ideas!!! I look at your blog often for inspiration! I was wondering where you got your square table for 8 that you have pictured? I would love one just like it….
thanks!
candice – we got our table from pottery barn on sale a couple years ago. it extends to seat 12 easily!
I am with you on the cake pops! I almost lost my SALVATION over trying to make them for teacher appreciation day!
Adorable party, and even more adorable birthday girl!
Thanks dor sharing!
Your lucky little girls and boy to have a mommy who can make a party like this!! Just beautiful from top to bottom, and the cake, you cannot even tell it was a problem for you!
Okay, I am not a cake pop expert…but, I think you might be able to solve your problem if you pop your cake balls in the freezer for a bit. That will firm them up. I made the mistake of putting too little icing in one of my batches, and they were too crumbly to coat w/ the almond bark/candy coating, without loosing half my pop! I am still trying to make them round and smooth…but I am determined to get it!!!!
Love your blog, btw. I’m a new regular.
You are giving me all kinds of ideas for my girls birthday parties. I love love the cake. And having the girls all dress in pink, so cute!!
Oh what a beautiful party for a beautiful little girl! This looks like every 6 year old's DREAM. I guess i am feeling a bit emotional today, because i just got sad thinking about all the little girls who will never know a birthday party, let alone something this lovely & thought out. I hope your family appreciates it…i bet they do!
I just did a pink party for my daughter’s 3rd birthday. Isn’t it a fun theme?
You can see mine here if you want:
http://partynpink.blogspot.com/2009/04/polka-dots-everywhere.html
I so enjoy your site. What fun and economical ideas for a beautiful product! Such a pretty party!
I am so ‘feeling your pain’ when baking goes awry . . . it seems that is my lot in life as well. I does make me feel somewhat better that I am not alone. Just this weekend I baked a lemon blueberry bread – couldn’t find a single bread pan (despite that I own 4!) and so put it in a round cake pan and called it “cakebread”. It turned out like a giant scone. Whatevea’. You do a great job!
Wow! I just found your blog. You are so talented. I love the pink party, so gorgeous and just perfect looking.
Oh my goodness! I have the exact SAME bird, iron dish that you have on your entry table! I got it years ago…how funny that we have the same thing!
so cute! and I love that it’s a simple intimate party.
SO fun and fabulous! Thanks for sharing :)
i just came to your blog from "whatever" and am in complete and utter AWE of this pink party. my little girl just turned 4 two weeks ago and i'm already looking forward to her next birthday just to incorporate some of these adorable ideas.
what did the invitations look like? and did you request that everyone wear pink? so, so cute.
i made those cakeballs, too. i did the cupcake bites from the bakerella website to go with our cupcake theme. i think i'm still recovering.
thanks for the great ideas! i'm sure your little girl and her friends will remember this party forever. what a gift.
oh, carly – you had to go and ask me what the invites looked like, didn't you?! this was on of the first parties i just sent out an evite. ugh. i love doing the invites and just ran out of time. it totally made me feel like a loser mom.
I just fell in love with this party and had to post it over at my blog too… truly beautiful work.
http://www.birthdaygirlblog.com/2009/06/real-parties-pretty-in-pink.html
SO SO cute! I love the balloons with the lanterns! What a great idea! I love the simplicity AND possibilities or the theme being a color.
How adorable!! I love it…I bet the girls had a big time. Daisy~
Love the party it looks so fun, ansd pick is my favorite color. Good job
Love It so sweet… Love your site. Your house is oh so Pottery Barn Beautiful.. Thanks for sharing
XO,
TFF
thefabulousfinds.com
That is so cute! I love your pink party! You are very creative!
Love this monochromatic scheme! It's so cute!! Thanks for sharing. I'm totally linking this post to my blog for future reference.
This is all so wonderful…and very inspiring since I´ve my daughters 6year old day coming up!!!!
Love everything!!!!!!!!!!!
Love your pink party! My girls are getting older now, so they don't want pink anymore :( I still love it and girl parties. Miss those days! Thanks for sharing yours.
Lisa
Ok, you are an awesme Mom!! my girl is turning two in a few weeks, so I'm reading your blog and learning from you. Your daughter is just beautiful and must have been the happiest girl in the world.
A lovely party! I featured the chandellier decorations & the treats table on my blog. http://creativehostess.co.uk/2009/10/26/party-inspiration-pink-ladybug-birthday-party/
I want a pink party for my daughter but was afraid it may be too frothy. But this party looks great. Truly inspired.
This is amazing. My daughter would LOVE this decor. I also like that you told us about your difficulties in preparing. When the end result looks so perfect, it’s comforting to know that you had problems, as most of us would.
I love the pink with the black and white! Cute!
I have a Rainbow Fairy Tea Party in 4 days with rain predicted on the day off which has put a kabosh on my outdoor Fairy Canopy – love the upside down balloon decor – much easier to do on my slanted ceiling then trying to attach tulle from a chandelier to 3 walls. Love it – and THANK YOU!
Darling Party! Do you mind sharing your grey paint color on your walls? I love the color! Thanks!
so pretty-i love everything about this:)
INCREDIBLE. Someone had posted your pink party idea on pinterest and I had to check this out. It is so creative and m daghter;s birthday is in february and I’m hoping that after she sees your photos she’ll agree to a “pink party”!! I have two decor questions for you… I love your table and wall color choice. Do you mind sharing information on either of these? I’m trying to makeover my disaterour dining room which is currently our kids’ playroom :( Thanks a bunch! I love your blog & have it bookmarked :-)
Thank you so much Lindsey! I really appreciate your response & am so glad to find your inspirational blog :-)
How do you get the baloons to stick on the ceiling? Im afraid tape will ruin the paint… how did you do it?
HI! love your ideas.. Just wondering where you got the shelves in your dining room( the ones with all the pictures) I need something similar!
thanks in advance!
Ivana
Lovely. If you hadn’t described your mistakes, I would have thought every single detail was planned ahead. I started reading because I wondered how you got your cake to be shaped that way — and it turns out it was a mistake! :) Same with the dots. I wish all my mistakes turned out so beautifully.
How did you do upside down balloons?
How are you able to keep balloons hanging Down without them going to the ceiling????
Thank you for sharing your party planning story! I too have had a cake go wrong in multiple ways. So frustrating! It’s good to know I’m not the only mom who has had a crazy, stressful day of planning. Everything turned out beautiful! Great job! My twin daughters are turning 5 next week and I’m planning them a Strawberry Shortcake b-day party. Fingers crossed that my cakes and large strawberry shortcake work with me.
Where did you find the entry table?? Want it. Got to have one.
oh it was a garage sale find! it had a hutch on top as well that we used as a book case for awhile.
I am so happy that I pinned your blue table to pinterest cause then I would never have stumbled upon or been able to read up on your pink party.
My daughter who is turning 3 has requested a pink party and we don’t have much for the budget at all and you have helped me realize that we can have a small party at home with the family and not feel that it has to be this big hurrah with unnecessary expenses.
I will comply with her request and have a pink and red party cause it’s 4 days before Valentines day and just be creative with it and make the best of it.
This is a challenge that I am up for.
Thanks for sharing and helping!
Looks beautiful by the way!!
OMG! This is so cute. A pink birthday party for a little girl. Amazing idea! I love how all the guests showed up in pink as well.