Rebekah’s First Birthday – Baby Elephant Theme

It was so wonderful to be able to celebrate my daughters first birthday and now to finally be able to share the pictures and give credit to some lovely vendors on this blog! It’s also very exciting to be featured on the Amy Atlas blog for the first time!

Some of you would have already seen the pictures from the party however I thought I’d use this blog post to share where I got different items from throughout this blog post and I apologise because there a lot of places to mention!! I bought items from various places…when there were sales on, or if I remembered something to get etc – hence my party items come from everywhere!

I chose a baby elephant theme for many reasons! Rebekah received lots of gifts with elephant designs when she was born and I thought it was such a cute theme for a first birthday.

I tried to incorporate different elephant theme ideas such as: peanuts, memories, elephants walking together & an elephant family walking together, elephant watering hole etc. If you were planning for this theme you could also go for a circus/carnival elephant feel as well or a jungle elephant theme.

I chose the adorable baby elephant printables from Style Me Gorgeous which Sarah made some custom changes to for me. Cake Avenue created the most perfect matching cake!

 

I used paper chains from Linkits for the backdrop and Heidi perfectly matched the right colours for me. Paper chains haven’t been used a lot in dessert table backrops although I have seen some recent ones and really liked the look of them!  The custom made bunting from Giggleberry Creations helped to emphasis the colour scheme of pink, grey and aqua blue. The wooden name sign which was made for me by Chikkimoo Designs (in record time too – great service!) was a personal touch I really liked.

How adorable is this figurine from Cake Avenue which is now in my daughters nursery under a cloche I bought from Sweet Little Birdy. The cake sat upon a ribbon cake stand from Tracey Lau Art and Soul. This was placed atop of pink nesting suitcases form Butterfly Garden Hair Accessories. When it came time to cut the cake I used an extra long candle from Sharnel Dollar Designs which is great especially for little ones so they don’t have to bend down too much to blow the candle out!

As my daughters middle name is Rose I wanted to incorporate roses onto the table, which I did in these sweet blue spanish jars from Shoppe with Lily. Another favourite feature of mine were some elephant prints I purchased from Etsy store Oh Hello Dear which I had custom colour matched to the colour scheme. I placed one print on this table, and 2 on the savoury food table. I’ll be hanging these up in the nursery =)

The sweet treats included these cute elephant cookies with pink ears (to match the printables) were made by Spoon and Fork Cookies and Cake, Macarons from Ma Cake (in gorgeous jars from Sweet Style) , persian fairy floss from Shoppe with Lily and lollipops and swizzle sticks from The Little Big Company displayed in a rosanna bowl from Sharnel Dollar Designs.

I made oreo pops and strawberry mousse in cups which I topped off with stamped wooden spoons (stamp and spoons from Sweet Style). I also had musk sticks and pink sugared peanuts.

I used cupcake wrappers from  Cupcake House as buffet label holders by merely turning them upside down and cutting a small slit on either side. The mini pink tongs I bought from Little Kitchen

I made a small book for guests to sign in. However rather than them sign just a wish for Rebekah I wanted them to write a memory of her from her first year, and I added a little card to explain, saying: “Elephants have long memories but mine isn’t long just yet. Please share a memory from my first year so that I’ll never forget”.

I incorporated other little rhymes as well in signs for the dessert table and favour table. I enjoy writing poetry so this was a way to just add another fun personal touch.

This photo also shows the Sambellina plates I used for the dessert table which I purchased from The Party Studio.

My lovely sister in law created this “My First Year” canvas showcasing a picture for each of the months of Rebekah’s first year. It is something really special that we will also be putting in her nursery.

For take home gifts my sister in law made delicious cupcakes which were presented in sweet Candy Soiree boxes (purchased from Occasion by Design) and topped off with twine (from The Party Studio) and a thank you note. I also had the Golden Book “The Saggy Baggy Elephant” to give as a take home gift as I love the idea of giving books to children!

For the drinks table (which I labeled “Elephant Watering Hole”) glass bottles from The Inspired Occasion (250ml) were wrapped with Cupcake wrappers ( Cupcake House) and topped with party flags. I displayed them in this gorgeous grey wire tray from Sweet Little Birdy which not only looked pretty but also was practical too in keeping them safe from straying little hands.

Since elephants all gathering together at a watering hole I wanted to incorporate the idea of elephants walking along together into this table. So I used an elephant garland made by Etsy store Bugaboo as well as this sweet elephant family by Sweet Tashie  (which I also wanted as a memento of this day for Rebekah). The Drink Dispenser was hired from Tiny Tots Toy Hire. Cups were from {P} is for party, straws were from Occasion by Design, Sweet Style and Mon Tresor (see what I mean about buying things from everywhere!)

Thankfully I had a very helpful mum, mother in law and sister to help out with the savoury items and they took care of all of this for me. Phew! One of my favourite items was another hire item from Tiny Tots Toy Hire which is a ferris wheel cupcake holder which I actually used with pink tin pails instead from Invite Me. I filled these with carrot and celery sticks and it looked really cute. This would also be a perfect item if I had taken on a circus elephant theme which is also quite popular if you are thinking of doing an elephant theme party. Plates were purchased from {P} is for Party.

I hung pretty Ah-Tissue pom poms over the food table in pink, grey and blue. We served various homemade pastry items, sausage rolls, elephant shaped fairy bread (using an elephant cookie cutter from The Princess and the Pirate), sandwiches, little skewers of pineapple, cheese and cherries (something our mum use to make at our parties when we were little). Sultanas were served in cute mini baking cups from Sweet Little Birdy. We ran out of time to put all the party flags in the food but managed to have some in there!  The blackboard is from The Carousel Boutique.

The ball pit which we hired from Tiny Tots Toy Hire was a HUGE hit! It was perfect for the kids, and my daughter loved playing in there! Due to child protection issues I don’t like displaying full face shots of other people’s children on the blog – hence the strange shots I’ve picked to display! However you can see my little angel enjoying herself in a rare moment when she wasn’t diving everywhere!

We also hired a mini rollercoaster and a play gym which the kids enjoyed as well as these cute mini chairs from Tiny Tots Toy Hire. Most of the children were too small for me to have a kids table however we did have a few kids around the 3-5yr mark who I thought might like a little “Elephant Resting Spot” where the parents could make them sit down and have a rest and a drink. I printed off some little elephant masks to pop onto the blue chairs.

This is the dress my daughter wore for her birthday. Since it was plain white, I had Cathy from Bliss Clips make a headband and matching dress brooch in pink,grey,turqouise to add to the dress – and as you can see Cathy did an amazing job! I don’t even have a headband this pretty!

Here is my little one all dressed up!

We had a little photo area set up with a giant balloon from Occasion by Design and made sure we got pictures with people as they arrived as I didn’t want to miss having photos with all the guests. It definitely helped having a photographer there so we didn’t have to worry about taking pictures, and Sha Photography did a great job for us!

It was a wonderful day and I worked hard in the leadup so I wouldn’t have to stress too much on the day of the party and during the party. I also received help from family members and outsourced items (such as the cake, cookies, macarons) to also make it less stressful (plus I am no cooking expert!). This was really helpful for me because of course in the midst of the preparing I still had a 1 yr old to look after! However I was glad I was able to make some of the food items and other things in the party (such as the memory book) since I am naturally not very crafty it was a good challenge for me =)

I learnt a lot in the process as well, being the first children’s party I had put together, and I have to say a big thank you to Dawn from Ruby May Designs who helped alot with listening to my ideas and giving me honest advice too! =)

Thanks so much for reading and sharing in some of my daughter’s celebration!

Featured Real Party: Harry Potter Party by Sweet Little Birdy

Tara who owns and runs Sweet Little Birdy organised a Harry Potter party for her son Callum’s 7th birthday and I’m delighted to show you the pictures of all the unique and creative details!

Being a huge Harry Potter fan herself and Callum loving all the Harry Potter lego this was the perfect theme for everyone to enjoy!

There was a snacks bar and the candy and dessert bar, and the children enjoyed pizza for lunch.

I love the backdrop which totally sets the scene, as well as the web tablecloth.

Great use of props such as little potion bottles and candy jars sitting atop of books:

How cute are those little bottles, and can you spot the owl in the cage?

Great idea of using snakes crawling around the table!

The cauldron cake!

Wow, love those huge lollipops (I’m sure the kids did too!).

The snacks table with decorated bowls and cute cauldron prop:

This is such a creative party! Thanks Tara for sharing and make sure you pop over and visit Sweet Little Birdy for lots of party & home decor items as well as dessert table styling services in the Hunter Valley, Newcastle and Central Coast regions of NSW.

Credits:

Photography: Red Door Photography

Custom bunting: Giggleberry Creations

Cupcake toppers and wraps: Simply Incraftible

Buffet labels: Creative Little Stars

Chocolate wrappers: Style Me Gorgeous

Swizzle sticks, lollipops and cake stand (that the cauldron cake is on): The Little Big Company

Bags for Bertie Botts beans: Sharnel Dollar Designs

Favour Packaging: Candy Soiree gelato stripe boxes availble from Sweet Little Birdy

Winter Wonderland Christmas Theme

With Christmas fast approaching (almost too fast!) I know many of you are planning various Christmas gatherings – whether it’s for your family, your friends or the kids! So here is some Christmas inspiration based around a Winter wonderland theme based around white of course, with some blue and silver mixed in as possible options. Red is another possible colour to work into this theme as it looks lovely with white and ice blue. You could also incorporate gold instead of silver into this theme.

Incorporate snow flakes, white trees and reindeers, snow and lovely Christmas items which you can easily find in the shopping centres as well as online, to create a winter wonderland feel!

Hope you enjoy this selection =)

Invitations/Printables

Here are some lovely options for a printable range for a Winter Wonderland Christmas party:

 

 

 

This is a lovely collection for a winter wonderland birthday party:

A cute range for the kids:

 

Decorations

There are so many ways you can decorate for this party, and your white decorations which you purchase for this theme can easily be worked into many future themes/parties in the future.

 

The soft effect of a blue tulle pom pom would look gorgeous mixed in with white decorations:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tableware

Your table would be gorgeous with a white tablecloth alone as it’s base however if you did want to use a tablerunner this pretty white and silver one would look lovely:

These aqua and white Sambellina plates would look sweet with this theme:

Or a few other options:

 

 

 

Use white straws for a crisp look:

Some additional table decor to add as a finishing touch:

 

Sweet Treats

Fill your table with snowflakes with these items!

 

 

 

 

 

Love the gorgeous colours of this lollipop which would work so well for a Winter wonderland party:

The ice look of a rock candy stick will always suit this theme!

Use this cake wrapper around your stands to create an instant snowflake effect:

 

Special Themed items

Some other lovely options to have your party or house looking like a beautiful winter wonderland!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These white stems would make a lovely Christmas table centrepiece. Place in a vase and keep them as is, or hang lovely ornaments off the branches:

 

 

 

Favours

Love these scallop boxes – use the white and/or blue on your table and fill with sweets:

For a snowflake look these options are also lovely:

 

 

Soft and white muslin bags which could be stamped with a Christmas message:

These cute apothecary jars could be filled with some lovely sweets to match your colour scheme:

How cute is this little snowflake gift tag! Love the snowflake punched out of it:

Finish off your packaging with some lovely ribbon:

 

Real Parties

Gorgeous Snowflake ballerina party by Glorious Treats showcased on the TomKat Studio website

Absolutely beautiful winter wonderland table featured on Hostess with the Mostess

Stylish winter wonderland party bringing together lots of talented stylists, featured on the My Sweet and Saucy website

Elegant winter wonderland table by Ruby Ju featured on the Amy Atlas blog

 

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Hope you have enjoyed this dose of Winter Wonderland inspiration! More Christmas inspiration will be coming to the Life’s Little Celebrations blog soon =)

 

 

Christmas Wish List

I’ve been tagged by Leanne from Uber Simplicity to share my 5 Christmas wish list items! A great idea because I have not thought at all about what I want for Christmas….I’ve been too busy thinking about what to get my daughter!

What I really really want for Christmas is…one full night sleep…one long full night sleep!

However I can’t really foresee this happening, so here are some other ideas that I could think of… =)

I’d love a drink dispenser and I love this one from Alfresco Emporium:

I love getting a new quilt cover set to give our room a new look and I am loving the floral look of this one!

A bit of a splurge item (and I totally would never expect this for Christmas) but I’d love a piece of beautiful furniture such as this gorgeous french desk to use for a dessert table =)

Would love one of these vision boards that I could use to pin up ideas when planning a party!

Right now I am definitely craving a dinner and night out…something we don’t get to do much of since bub came along!

I love musicals so always love to receive tickets to shows as gifts too! My absolute favourite musical on stage is Phantom of the Opera so tix to Love Never Dies would go down well =)

So they are my Christmas wish list items that I could think of!

Now to pass this on to:

Kristen from K & Co Blog

Leanne from Mrs A in the Cove Blog

Vesna from My Little Jedi

Belinda from Nest Design Studio

Margarita from Party Inspirations

What are your Christmas wish list items?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introducing our newest blog sponser – Saffy & May

I’d love to introduce you to the newest blog sponser of Life’s Little Celebrations: Saffy & May who are based in Queensland (Alexandra Hills)

 

Saffy & May is a children’s party boutique, born from the love of gorgeous parties and endless inspirations from their own beautiful girls!
They have experienced first-hand, how time consuming and exhausting is to find every detail to create a gorgeous party. So they have created gorgeous themed party packs for birthday parties and special events such as baby showers, christenings, naming ceremonies and first communions. Here are 2 from their party pack range:

 

They also sell a range of party goods including:

• Lanterns
• Balloons
•  Pompoms
• Party Stationary
• Buntings
• Table clothes, including our gorgeous ruffle tablecloths
• Table runners
• Table centerpieces
• Party bags

They also hire a range of items such as cupcake stands, table clothes, table runners, children sized table, chairs, etc.

On top of this they are also available for party styling!

Their range continues to grow and they will be launching their own party stationary in the New Year.

Please email them at saffyandmay@yahoo.com.au for further information.

If you would like more information on becoming a blog sponser of Life’s Little Celebrations, please e-mail me at lifeslittlec@gmail.com