Pink Peppermint Blogger

My friend, Lesley, touched base with me several months back. She was throwing an art party for her daughter’s upcoming birthday. None of the invitations she had seen were doing anything for her so she asked me to do a custom job. I worked up several options, and here’s a sample of the invitation she chose.

The party was at a local art studio. What a fun idea! And perfect because they can get all messy and you don’t have to clean it up. Awesome.

There was painting,

and sand art.

They strung beads and enjoyed all sorts of other fabulously messy creativity. There’s the birthday girl in deep concentration over her masterpiece. (Either of mine would be sticking their tongues out just so. It’s a genetic marker on my dad’s side.)

Drumroooooolllllll please…

Magnificent! And speaking of which, what a super colorful spread! I love the use of different colored solid plates for this.

Check out this artful display of cupcakes!

Can you stand it? She used an assortment of these tilt-a-whirl baking cups. So festive!

I love these super colorful homemade crayons too. Lesley said she and her sister did this a lot as kids. My mom was pretty stinkin’ crafty, but we never did this that I recall. The only thing I was melting crayons into was the floor mat of our car.

I hope some of theoe cutie crayons were included in the party favor pails. Take a look. What else but paint buckets?

Man, oh man. Look at all that good arty loot. And how about these sweet favor tags? Paint swatches. Love it!

And finally, here are the thank you notes I did for them.

Looks like much fun was had at Ella’s 6th birthday party! What a cute party theme too. I love the idea of getting back to basic fun with art! Thanks to Lesley for letting us share in the fun.

My college roommate, Gina, and her family just celebrated her daughter’s first birthday. It seem like just yesterday that we were throwing her a baby shower. Wait. Maybe that’s because I just blogged about it a few weeks ago. Either way, I can’t believe it’s been a year! Gina had a birthday carnival on the brain. That’s the ticket! So I whipped up some custom invitation options, and here’s the one she chose.

We batted around some other sweet ideas for the party, and I think you’ll agree that Gina did not disappoint. Enjoy these photos from Ava’s First Birthday–an adorable Backyard Carnival Party!

Here’s the birthday girl doing a little pre-party horsing around with the carnival games!

Gina’s husband, Matt, built this awesome ticket booth. Dibs!

Rain, rain go away! Bad weather caused them to go to Party Plan B. They hustled to move what they could inside, but no worries! Things were lookin’ mighty festive in there!

Look at this sweet personalized birthday banner done carnival style! It framed the window near this adorable table.

Pinwheels, animal crackers, cotton candy. Yum! I love that adorable striped fabric and LOVE LOVE LOVE what they did with it on the ceiling!

I hope they left it up. So festive! And speaking of festive, how super sweet is the birthday girl in this smocked carnival-themed party dress? Perfect.

Check out this popcorn machine. I would so love to have one at my house!

And of course, something to wash it down with–Colonel Smith’s Magic Elixir.

And look at this adorable cookie bouquet. How fun!

The cupcakes picked up on the colors and the polka dots from the party invitation. The design is so simple, but so joyful! Seriously. Don’t these cupcakes just epitomize a party mood?

Everyone had a BIG time despite the rain, and when the little guests left they got these happy treats! Adorable.

Here’s a closeup of the favor tags.

Once the guests had all gone home, Gina sent out thank you notes on these matching folding note cards.

What a charming first birthday carnival! Thanks G, for sharing and to Matt for playing along. Happy 1st Birthday Ava!

So here’s another peek at some custom work I’ve done. This was for a friend of my son’s who is all about some dirt bikes. His mom, also a friend of mine, told me she wanted something special for a Motorcross 4th birthday. I designed this piece with a 3D dirt bike handle bar, real foam grips and a racing number to coordinate with the birthday boy’s BIG day. She provided the sweet little rhyme, which was just right since the party was some time after the actual birthday.

We did a matching checkered flag motif to line the envelopes.

And what else but muddy tracks on the outside! I made these using toy tractor tires and a brown ink pad.

As part of our gift, we gave him some matching thank you notes.

And if I remember correctly, some motorcross-themed gift enclosures for him to use. Here’s how I’d have done them in favor tag form.

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Lucky me! I got to help a good friend and all-around creative gal with her son Wright’s first birthday celebration. Lucky you! She agreed to share. Enjoy these sweet ideas from Lauren’s Carousel First Birthday then leave a comment above to let us know what you think! You can browse our carousel paper wares at our online paper store.

Step Wright up for some fun. Our little boy is one!

It was a big top full of fun for Wright’s first birthday at the carousel.

’round and ’round they go…the birthday boy and his guests had a great time riding the carousel.

Check out our invitations. My favorite!

Pink Peppermint Paper did the most amazing job on the design. I love their work! So custom and personal. I was sent several options to choose from but that wasn’t nearly all they did for me. Eleanor, the lead designer brainstormed with me on details from banners and games to favors. And her ideas for the overall party were just as amazing as the final invitations, favor tags and thank you notes.

Here is the favor tag on one of the favors. Speaking of favors, they were filled with carnival things like cracker jacks, candy and circus tattoos but also with bouncy balls and squirt rings for the boys, while the girls had lip gloss and fun jewelry. The guests also got a personalized big top sippy cup.

I love the cake! The designer was able to match it to the invitation just perfectly.

She also created a personal “smash cake” for Wright. What a hit!

And let’s not forget the food!! We had “Incredible shrinking corn dogs,” “Fat lady dip” with apple slices, “Merry-Go-PBJ” and “Say Cheese” sandwiches (shaped like carousel horses), “Cirque de Chick-fil-a” nuggets, “Carnival Krispies,” “Fruit-On-A-Stick” and “Big Top Chicken Salad” (for the adults). Of course, there was also popcorn, animal cookies, goldfish (in goldfish bowls), peanuts, cake and ice cream.

The tables were decorated with balloon bouquets anchored in popcorn containers (another fun idea from Pink Peppermint Paper).

And since the carousel is a bit tricky to find, we did some themed directional signs.

What an absolutely wonderful day! Happy First Birthday Wright!

This fabulous party predates my blog and was first featured for us on what is now the Creative Party Place site. Visit http://creativepartyplace.com/?p=217 to read all the ooohs and ahhhs over Lauren’s party!

Source List

Popcorn Holders: Target
Large Popcorn Holders (like bowls, held popcorn and animal crackers): Dollar Tree
Fish Bowls for Goldfish crackers: Pet Smart
Paper Bowls (Red/White stripes): Hobby Lobby
Napkins/Plates: Hobby Lobby
Favors: mix of Oriental Trading, Target, Michaels, Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree
Sippy Cups: Oriental Trading
Banner: Etsy