Shark & Scuba Theme

With summer upon us, this theme is fantastic for any kids who love the beach or ocean and especially great for a pool party where you want more of a theme besides just a pool party!

You could base this party around blues and greens, along with another colour such as grey or something bright to go with a tropical feel such as red or yellow.

I have kept this post to mainly shark/scuba ideas although if you look into “Under the sea” parties online there are many more ideas out there which I’ll have to keep for another blog post!

Invitations/Printables

There are some great options available for this theme:

 

 

 

 

Decorations

Being an ocean inspired theme there are many ways you could decorate for this party.

A ribbon backdrop would work well for a dessert table to give an ocean/seaweed feel in shades of blue/green ribbons. Or you could use streamers to create a seaweed effect as well. Include fish cut outs and other ocean inspired shapes hanging from the ceiling (jellyfish, seahorses etc)create the underwater feel.

 

 

A backdrop such as this one could also be used for the table or other area in the party:

 

 

The soft floaty look of pom poms would also work well into the decor for this theme:

 

These garlands remind me of an underwater world…

For something a little different (and lovely to hang up after the party) these shell swags look great and could be something you could make yourself:

 

Or use wall decals to set the scene and then easily transfer them to your child’s room after the party:

 

Tableware

Love the colour of this tablerunner for an crystal clear water look:

Or if you want to create the feel of a sandy ocean floor then you could use this Hessian tablecloth:

 

These paper eskimo plates come in the perfect colours for this theme:

 

A mix of aqua blue and green stripes make these straws perfect for an ocean inspired theme!

 

The little ones will love to drink anything which have these shark fins floating in them!

 

Sweet Treats

Shark fins are an easy shape to add onto any treats on your table – whether it be as cupcake toppers, or food flags. Here are some other items you could use for this theme:

 

 

Little blue jelly cups would work really well on your dessert table and I love these mousse pots to serve the jelly in which can be reused for many parties:

A gorgeous teal colour cake stand (which comes in different sizes) is perfect for this theme!

Themed items

Let the kids have some fun in a photo corner using a prop board such as this – perfect for a shark and scuba theme!

 

 

Instead of party hats, these Shark hats would be fun to have all the little ones running around in!

Some ocean inspired/theme inspired toys are fantastic to keep the kids entertained. If you’re in Sydney these toys (and more ocean themed toys) are available to hire form Tiny Tots Toy Hire:

 

 

Or outside of Sydney you can buy some of these items which would be fun for any summer party in future anyway!

 

 

Create the look of the ocean floor for all the little divers with shells, corals, sea urchins, star fish and more!

Or simple ocean bath toys could be used for fun kid friendly decorations (or party favours)

Use these shell placecard holders to hold your food labels! You can’t even tell they are placecard holders so you could display them in a nice vase after the party too:

 

Use props around the party which double as birthday gifts for the shark and scuba loving birthday boy or girl. Using 2 water bottles you could create a scuba tank prop as well.

 

 

 

 

Hang a sign such as this (which you could also make yourself) around the party area:

 

Another item which could help work with an underwater theme such as this, is a Bubble Machine. This one is available for hire in Sydney from Tiny Tots Toy Hire, or outside of Sydney you can find them online and in most department stores:

 

Favours

A few cute favour ideas for this party:

 

These snorkel kits are quite affordable and could be given to the kids to use if you were having a pool party as part of this theme, to use during the party as well:

 

Or perhaps some swimming goggles which they can reuse many times:

 

 

 

For packaging I love the wave effect on these lovely scallop boxes:

For a beach/sandy feel these 2 options would work well filled with something delicious:

 

 

Real Parties

Lots of fantastic ideas in this Shark and Scuba party featured on Hostess with the Mostess

This Shark party is filled with DIY ideas, featured on the Celebrations at Home blog

Lots of under the sea ideas in this party and the backdrop demonstrates a great way of creating an ocean feel. Featured on the Celebrations at Home blog

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I hope that has given you ideas if you are planning a party for this theme, or generally a pool party or ocean inspired party! There is so many things you can do and I am sure all the little ones will love feeling like they are under the ocean at this party!

 

 

 

 

 

Golden Christmas (with a touch of pink!)

Gold is one of those colours I love seeing as part of Christmas decor. A colour of royalty and one that depicts something grand and special – it definitely suits the season of Christmas!

Inspired by this glittery Christmas dessert table by the talented Vesna of My Little Jedi  (make sure you have a look for loads of inspiration!) I have based this post around a golden Christmas with hints of pink for a glamorous setting.

I apologise for the long delay in my blog posts lately – so much is going on and I’m finding it a little harder to keep up! My little one is a lot more active during the day and I hardly find time to get onto the computer as much as I use to until evening (I’m sure you all can relate!)

Invitations/Printables

A bit of sparkle for your printables! If you know of any other lovely gold and/or pink Christmas collections, feel free to let me know!

 

 

 

Decorations

These decoration options in bold golds and pinks will add a touch of festive glam to your Christmas!

 

 

 

 

Tableware

Love this tablerunner if you are after a bold print for your table:

This gold mesh tablerunner is lovely for a softer look:

I haven’t included plates/cups as most of you will not use disposable plates etc for your Christmas day lunch etc however here are some other items to provide a special feel to your Christmas table and bring in touches of pink and gold:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although these aren’t in gold, they would definitely look gorgeous on your Christmas table!

 

 

Sweet Treats

Dress up some special Christmas cupcakes with these wrappers and sit them atop of a cute pedestal to give them extra effect!

 

 

Love this colour combination for this golden/pink Christmas theme:

 

These lovely stands would be perfect to serve all sorts of cakes and scrumptious items in this colour scheme:

 

 

You can’t get more gorgeous and glamorous on your table than a beautiful drinks dispenser such as this one:

 

Special Themed Items

To add some special glam touches to your Christmas decor or table, have a browse of some of these items! Disappointed I couldn’t find more lovely pink Christmas items though

 

Love these crystal trees (bit of a splurge though!)

 

 

 

 

 

Bird cages are often found in Christmas decor, and this beautiful gold-toned one from dusk would look beautiful anywhere!

 

 

 

Love this gorgeous wreath which has sold out for this year, but I still thought I’d share it with you so if you love it, you can bookmark it for next year =)

 

These lovely ribbon boards are a great unique way to display your Christmas cards during this season, and of course can be used year round for photos, notes etc! With diamante detailing it is gorgeous!

 

Favours

Package up your favours in a lovely gold item:

 

You could fill an elegant pink perfume bottle with some beautiful scented oils for your guests to take home:

Or keep it classic and simple in a clear jar which you can embellish:

 

Add something special to your Christmas gifts or favours with these embellishments:

 

 

 

Real Inspiration

Pink and gold winter glittery houses from The Sweetest Occasion blog

Pretty pink and gold christmas decor inspiration from the Citrus and Orange blog

Christmas nutcracker suite ballet party by Kate Landers featured on the Hostess with the Mostess blog

A gorgeous pink and gold dessert table by Sharnel Dollar Designs

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I hope you’ve found some Christmas inspiration here, and as we hurtle towards Christmas at lightening speed – remember to try and not get too stressed and flustered with all the Christmas shopping, and enjoy this magical time of the year with your little ones =)

 

 

 

 

Party Directory page is launched!

Our new Party Directory page on the Life’s Little Celebrations blog has launched – check it out here!

This aims to be an easy point of reference for you in the midst of your party planning to help you find some great party suppliers!

Sometimes it is just too difficult to find really lovely products/services online or via facebook by just searching yourself and I know as a mum I would find it a lot easier to compare different products/services if I had a party directory resource to go to!

Since there is a fee involved in listing in the Party Directory, you won’t get lost in tens or hundreds of supplier names, but presented with a list of quality suppliers who want to help mum’s like you in your celebration!

Any business logo you click on in the Party Directory will take you directly to the website or facebook page of that business.

I hope you find this resource of assistance to you in your party planning. I do have future plans for this Party Directory to make it even easier for you to search for what you are after…but all this must wait until 2012!

If you wish to advertise in the Party Directory please contact me on lifeslittlec@gmail.com for more information.

Thank you

An Eventful Week!

It has been a very eventful week!

Firstly THANK YOU to all of you for your lovely comments about my daughter’s birthday party! I really appreciate it! =)

Today two amazing magazines came out that I am so grateful to be able to contribute to!

The first being Tickle The Imagination magazine which showcases all the wonderful talent in the handmade community. I coordinated a photoshoot inspired by a Mermaid theme party – however it was all the amazing contributors who really made this shoot gorgeous! Make sure you check out the article as well as the photo album on facebook for all the details & credits! Thank you to Tickle The Imagination for featuring this shoot – make sure you have a look through this inspiring magazine!

The second magazine is the amazing My Little Jedi magazine – Christmas edition! This stunning edition showcases a lot of beautiful Christmas designs and styling by many talented stylists and credit to Vesna for putting together this gorgeous edition!

My contribution was as a mum/blogger – a Milk & Cookies table which any one could put together for the kids (& Santa) to enjoy on Christmas eve/Christmas day based on my Christmas Eve experience growing up.

The idea behind this table was to give you ideas for something simple you could prepare involving your children and on a limited budget. All the images and credits are in the magazine article =)

You’ll also find my daughter’s birthday featured in the magazine as well. Thank you to My Little Jedi for the opportunity to contribute! Make sure you don’t miss having a browse of this fabulous magazine!

I had really wanted to put up another Christmas inspired blog post this week but had to battle a bad cold/cough (and as you know,mums don’t get a “sick day” so resting & getting better takes longer!).

I’m also working on putting together the Party Directory page on this blog which will be an easy place on the blog to find a variety of different suppliers so that your party planning can become even easier and faster =) Look out for this on Sunday! Then I promise to get a new blog post to you soon =) 

Thanks all for reading!

 

 

 

 

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!