Vintage Teddy Bear Tea Party

Today I am featuring this precious VINTAGE TEDDY BEAR TEA PARTY submitted by Katie Nguyen Wells of Petite Social.

Here is what Katie said about her party- "This party was to celebrate my daughter Lila's 3rd birthday. Playing dress up and having tea parties are two of Lila's favorite activities so it was pretty easy to come up with a Teddy Bear Tea Party and hire The Bear Bus, aka, "Build-A-Bear" on wheels that comes directly to your house!

DECOR ELEMENTS:
I wanted vintage and romantic, but since this was a 3 year old party, it needed to have some whimsy. I envisioned soft palettes of pink, blue, yellow and cream with lots of lace, ruffles, fabric, doilies, pearls,
florals, and of course, incorporate teddy bear.

I partnered with Lindi from Love The Day, who was able to take my vision and create the perfect 'Frilly Tea Party' collection.

PARTY DETAILS - I created a dessert table, food table, and children's
tablescape for this event.
1) Dessert table
I knew I wanted to make use of a distressed dresser that I had found on Craigslist (for $5) as my focal point. It was a shabby and distressed piece of furniture that was absolutely perfect for what I envisioned. To get a soft, romantic and vintage feel, I created a fabric backdrop mixing
in lace, floral pattern, and chiffon. I also wanted to incorporate the DIY doily lanterns and globes I had made. The plan was to hang them, but due to time constraints, I ended up scattering on the floor and actually liked it even better than my original plan!

2) Food table
Since the dessert table was mostly lace and doily, I chose to create a ruffled food table and had a tablecloth custom-made (luckily my mom is a tailor!) to get the look and also created a ruffled crepe backdrop to cover the windows.

3) Children's Tablescape
I put two kids tables together to create one large square table for 14 little girls. Each setting included a doily wrapped tea cup, lace trimmed party hat, and pom attached to their chair.

PARTY FOOD:
I got to work with my favorite sweets designers on this party, Sugar High for Cake, JP Creatibles for custom-designed cookies, and Edible Details for cupcake toppers. Using the printable collection, all 3 designers came up with their creations.

Cake -- This was my 3rd time working with Brenda of Sugar High and another slam dunk. Going with my direction of incorporating a teddy bear wearing pearls and sitting in a tea cup, Brenda created the perfect centerpiece cake and sweetest looking teddy bear cake topper.

Custom Designed Cookies -- Jen of JP Creatibles is amazing and I was so lucky to partner with her on my 2nd project. Using the printables as the inspiration, she created 4 different cookie designs that matched the printables to a tee. The colors, the florals, and the lace and ruffles were the perfect addition to the dessert table and truly a sin to eat!

Cupcake Toppers -- Brittany of Edible Details is also a favorite of mine. She created both flat fondant toppers in the shape of a doily to match our invitation and 3D tea pot and tea cups. All the kids were fighting over the little tea set!

Menu-- A simple tea party menu was created to include 3 different types of tea sandwiches, mini quiche, tea cakes and cookies, vanilla meringues, fresh strawberries and cream, and green salad.

DIY and the little details:
There was a lot of DIY for this party! Following tutorials found online,
I created:
1) Ruffled backdrop using crepe streamers
2) Textured Fabric Backdrop mixing various textured and patterned fabric,
dowel, and commands
3) Paper Doily Lantern using paper doilies and lanterns
4) Fabric Doily Globes using old fabric doilies, balloon, and fabric
stiffener

ACTIVITY:
The Bear Bus came directly to our house and provided a very fitting activity for this party. For a full hour, each child got to pick out their own bear, stuff it with love, dress it up, and name it. The girls
had so much fun using their creativity. All compared names and outfits and then proceeded inside for a teddy bear tea party with their new friends.

PARTY FAVORS:
The bears served as the party favors, but each child also got to take home a custom-designed cookie from JP Creatibles.

VENDOR CREDITS & RESOURCES:

Event Styling: Petite Social
Event Photography: MoxieSox Photography
Custom Designed Party Printables: Love The Day
Custom Designed Cake: Sugar High, Inc.
Custom Designed Cookies: JP Creatibles
Fondant Cupcake Toppers: Edible Details
Entertainment: The Bear Bus
Dresser: Craigslist
Doily Lanterns/Globes, Lace and Fabric Doilies, Crepe and Fabric
Backdrops, Vintage China Set: Goodwill, Dollar Store, Hancock Fabrics: Goodwill

Vintage Ballerina 3rd Birthday Party

This next party feature is absolutely stunning- A VINTAGE BALLERINA 3RD BIRTHDAY PARTY submitted by Jennifer Schattle of Jennifer Schattle Photography. The best part- only around $150 was spent to create it all!

Jennifer Wrote:

“Recently I worked with Jenifer Hill, owner of hello love designs, on a styled shoot for her son Ethan’s 9th birthday. And if that wasn’t fabulous enough … I was invited back to capture all of the amazing details for her daughter Ellah’s vintage ballerina themed 3rd birthday party.

I was completely smitten when Ellah greeted me at the door dressed in the cutest pink frilly tutu, accessorized with a vintage blingy brooch, sparkly top, ballerina shoes and a darling rosette headband. And not certain how Jen could possibly outdo the movie party … she blew me away with the attention to detail to make her little ballerina’s third birthday amazing!

Guests dined on oven baked ham and cheese sliders, chicken salad croissant sandwiches and homemade pig in the blankets. For dessert … Ellah’s dad Buster made her the most perfect ribbon birthday cake. It was GORGEOUS. There were also yummy powdered donuts, homemade raspberry muffins and vintage glass bowls filled with candy treats. I’m definitely having Jen and Buster plan my next birthday!”

Ellah's mom, Jenifer Hill (from hello love designs), wrote:

“My daughter, Ellah, has a love for ballerinas. When I was shopping at the Round Top/Warrenton Antiques Show in Round Top, Texas, I found a stash of vintage little ballerina prints. I purchased them for her room, and when she saw them, the gasp she took helped me to decide the theme of her 3rd birthday - a vintage ballerina.

The party:
I kept the party simple and the budget small. Not including the birthday girl's outfit, I spent a total of $150 on the entire party! I used alot of what I already owned and borrowed from my mom for styling. When the pint-sized party guests arrived, they were given a tutu to wear if they did not wear their own. Sorry boys, it was an all-girls party! The birthday party started out with a brunch where we served oven roasted ham and cheese sliders (as seen on Pinterest!), tiny dancer croissant sandwiches with chicken salad, pigs in the blanket, french toast, homemade raspberry muffins, powdered donuts and an assortment of fruit including watermelon, the birthday girl's favorite. We served orange juice, strawberry lemonade, and tea to drink. The 2-5 year old girls were given spill-proof cups I found on sale at Target. Those were a clean-up saver.

We took the party outside where the girls first decorated a ballerina coloring page and then made their own ballerina princess crowns with glittery foam stickers. Of course, the tutu-clad girls danced, twirled and plied across the backyard. I set up a mirror for them to watch as they danced around. Ellah had a very faded, vintage-y pink ribbon cake made by my husband. It was strawberry with a raspberry filling and oh, so delicious. Each ballerina received a favor bag and single stem rose as the party ended just like a prima ballerina receives at the end of her performance.

Ellah wore a tutu pettiskirt by Cheeky Chic Baby, top by Baby Gap, and shoes from Nordstrom. Her shoes were glittery, ballerina pink and the bow had a zipper edge - she loved them! Ellah also wore a vintage brooch on her tutu from my personal collection. Her gorgeous headband was ordered from Prim Couture Shop. The headband is as beautiful in person too!

The decor:
Pink was the obvious choice for a ballerina party, but I wanted to throw in other colors as well. I looked to the ballerina prints I'd purchased for the her room. I found turquoise in a couple of the prints. Turquoise has been a classic vintage color, looks adorable with pink, so I used it throughout the party. I spray painted unused frames I already had to frame the ballerina prints. I hung one at the cake table and the other two hung over the french doors leading into the party area. Since my daughter's name is Ellah Rose, I wanted to incorporate roses in to the decor. I fell in love with Cath Kidston's fabric which sparked the entire design for her birthday invitation and all the printable party accessories. I sell the vintage ballerina invitation and coordinating paper party accessories in my store! I asked my aunt of Kustom Kids of Kingwood to sew a pennant banner for the party, and I placed fabric flowers from Lemon Tree Studio at each end of the banner. The paper lanterns and all the paper goods were picked up at Party City. Perhaps my favorite purchase (besides the banner), was a vintage floral sheet from Eager Hands, that I used for the tablecloth. The print reminded me of my grandmother, so I snagged it for a great deal and the seller even threw in extra goodies like eyelet trim I used to trim the party hats. All of the vintage dishes I used were borrowed from my mother. The pieces displayed the candies, and I provided cupcake liners from Cupcake Social for guests to use for candy munching. All other decor were things I already owned keeping to my budget conscious party.

My favorite party moment was watching her blow out her birthday candles. I cry every birthday party thinking how much my children have grown and how fast my time with them goes. There are only so many years I will see them, as children, blowing out their candles before they're adults. I cherish it.”

Vendor Credits:

Styling, invitations & paper party accessories: Hello Love Designs
Photography: Jennifer Schattle Photography
Custom Banner: Mary Grant of Kustom Kids of Kingwood
Vintage sheet: Eager Hands
Fabric flowers: Lemon Tree Studio
Cupcake liners: Cupcake Social & Target

Tea Party 3rd Birthday Brunch

Anyone up for some afternoon tea? I hope you enjoy taking a gander at this cute TEA PARTY 3RD BIRTHDAY BRUNCH submitted by Kelsey Phillips. Sunshine, green grass, bright colors, adorable children, fun treats, dainty tea sets, beautiful flowers & yummy desserts...what more could you ask for at a tea party?!

Everyone enjoyed a game of Tea Bingo-- where the winner had to stand up, hold a mustache to their face and shout out "Bingo" in order to claim their prize.

Vendors:

Art designs- Lisa Rupp and Caroline Farmer
Photography- Hawkins Photography
Bow ties, suspenders, and birthday skirt- Sew Simply Sweet

Fairy Garden 3rd Birthday Party

Today I am featuring this magical FAIRY GARDEN 3RD BIRTHDAY PARTY submitted by Amanda Edwards of Invite Me. What a gorgeous & whimsical party! I just love all the precious desserts and food. The light pastel pink & green color scheme is perfect. And any little girl would adore all the beautiful butterflies.

Here is what Amanda said about the party- "My daughter Milla wanted Fairy Garden Party for her 3rd Birthday. The theme was inspired by Milla's love of all things "fairy" and her favourite colours pink and green. Milla loves dressing up in fairy dresses and looks for any excuse to wear wings.

The little fairy guests were entertained by Fairy Sparkle and there was lots of dancing and magical games. Fairy dust and fairy ribbon wands were some of the prizes received and they brought delight to all the children.

I used inviteme's printables range. Printables are an easy way to theme an entire party from invitations right through to take home treat bags. It takes all the pressure off trying to do it all yourself and guests will every gorgeous detail." 

Vendor Credits:

Printables & Party Styling- Invite Me
Photography- White Spark Photography