But, for now, you can see some highlights from Anna's party below! But, beware! It will make you want to pack your bags and head off to Paris! Ooh La La!!
This is one of my favorite photos from the party. This is the table that Anna and her guests sat at to eat lunch. I love how elegant it came out looking. The table covering is a piece of pink glitter fabric from the cheap section at the fabric store. No hemming or sewing required. It cost about 8 bucks.. .so much cheaper than a table cloth and way prettier! The fire in the background is a fireplace video Chris downloaded. It really set a nice ambiance and it was a chilly day and even though there was no actual heat coming from it (obviously) it seemed to warm up the room!
This is the food table. This is not the best picture but, I wanted to show you how you can use fabric that is a little more expensive in a big way without it hurting your pocket book. The fabric on the wall was gorgeous! It has glittery eiffel towers, bistro scenes, & pink poodles. I fell in love with the fabric! But, at 9.99 a yard there was no way I could cover a table with it! So, I bought one yard (and used my Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon... which by the way, a lot of people don't realize you can use on fabric!) So, for about 5.99 I got an awesome backdrop for my food table and it ended up being the perfect size!
We served Pink Punch (Strawberry Lemonade mixed with Sprite) for the drink. It has a nice sparkle to it and makes the girlies feel special! We also served Eclairs, Cream Puffs, and Meringues.
A couple of birthdays ago we decided to stop doing the treat bag thing with the toys that break before the guests get home, things that annoy their mammas so bad that their mammas swear they are never coming back to my house, and fillers that are in the bag just to say we put something in the bag! And we decided to start doing a candy bar as our favor. Now, the only thing about a candy bar is that it can get expensive really fast so you have to be smart and careful! I always try to stick with the theme/colors of the party... it will make your party seem complete and like you put a ton of effort into your party if everything matches! Start at the dollar stores for your candy but, only get specialty type candies at these stores. Candies that are name brand should be bought in the bulk candy section at Walmart or your grocery store or at a membership club (like Sams). For containers, use things from around your house. I always use vases and bowls that I already have. You can purchase different size and shape vases at the dollar stores. Start simple until you build up your collection. For the containers that the kids will take their candy home in I like to use mini lunch sacks that I stamp with a coordinating stamp or paste a coordinating picture on. You can purchase these bags at Michaels or Hobby Lobby for about $3.00 a dozen. Not too shabby! The kiddos will LOVE this favor and talk about the candy bar for weeks to come. Trust me on this one, it will be much more memorable than a plastic baggie with whistle and sucker... just sayin! :)
One of the things I always put on my candy bar is White Chocolate Covered Chex. All you do is pour a box of Rice Chex and a box of Corn Chex into a big bowl. Melt 2 packages of vanilla almond bark. Stir in food coloring in that matches your theme (if you so desire! I did pink for Anna's party). Stir the melted almond bark into the Chex. Pour the Chex onto some foil or wax paper and let it dry. Once dry break it up and serve! I have a large glass vase that I always put mine in. (You can see it in the middle at the back of my candy bar). This serves ALOT! And the kiddos will LOVE it!! If you are really watching your pennies and just don't thing you can swing a candy bar, make this Chex and put it into cute bags with a topper or stamp of some sort to bring it into your theme. The kiddos will eat it right up!
Another thing we started doing is CUPCAKES! Talk about a stress saver!! No more cake cutting! You can do some super cute stuff with cupcakes plus.. they are way cheaper.. BONUS!
Since Paris is known for its artists we let the girls show us their best Picasso and decorate some flower sugar cookies! We had pink icing (of course) and a bunch of sprinkles and we let them go to town! They had a blast!!
Unfortunately, this one came out really dark but, I just had to share it because Anna looks beautiful in this photo! She had a great time and I think she will never forget turning 8 in Paris!
