lily’s 5th. {party decor}

I figured I’d better get these pictures posted before the mass amounts of new baby pictures you’ll flooded with soon. ♥

I was so excited to do her birthday this year. I had some cute mermaid ideas swirling around in my head and asked her if she wanted that as her party theme. She was very excited and wanted to make it a pool party too! Well, that worked fine for me too. (The only problem was how chilly it was on her actual birthday, so the pool was out.)

I got right to work a couple weeks before (shocked aren’t you!) I made her this super simple little outfit to wear on her special day.

I cut some pink seashells out of sparkly fabric and glued them onto a plain white t-shirt. The skirt was just a tube with 5-7 layers of tulle sewed around the bottom. Add an elastic waist band and done! She looked adorable! (but when doesn’t she)

As for decor, I wasn’t sure where to begin setting up an underwater themed party… but after doing a little brainstorming, I started with seaweed!

I bought 3 yards of a sheer green chiffon like fabric and folded it over and over again. I began cutting wavy lines up the the length of the fabric, not the width. (You want your strips as long as possible)

Once you’ve cut all of your fabric into strips, (and trust me this does not have to be perfect, in fact the less perfect the better) Make your way over to your sewing machine.

I started stitching down the center of the fabric using a long stitch length (4). Eventually my straight seams got sloppy, and I found out that it works better when you kind of wave the line anyways. Backstitch one end only!

The best part was that my machine was starting to gather the fabric for me. (Thank you!) I had planned on pulling the threads to gather it after I was done stitching anyways.

(Now I must apologize, this picture is awful. As it turns out, it’s the ONLY one I took of the seaweed hanging… can you believe it!!) I tried to keep it dark, so you can see it better… the trees in the background were competing with all that green.

So anyways, I loosely tied the green strips to my curtain rod and a funky underwater scene was set.

The little black dots you see in the picture are sparkly sequins that I hand strung onto thread and mixed them in between all the seaweed, they needed to have their picture taken at night time, so you could see them, but when you have 4 kids the inevitable is bound to happen, and Ava ripped them all down. :(

I had lofty ideas of making felt fish and stringing them up with the seaweed, but sometimes you just have to cut things from your task list, not enough hours in the day. ♥

Alright, onto the fun stuff… the TABLE!!!

We sipped fancy pink drinks with pink umbrellas and pink straws.

 

Along with our yummy drinks we had gold fish crackers, served in a tiny fish bowl…

 

And blue starfish brownie pops.

Much like Bakerella’s cake balls, but all I did was make a pan of brownies instead. I then used a cookie cutter to make the star fish shape; push on a lollypop stick and dip in blue chocolate melting wafers. Yummy!!!

I made the little white stands that the fish bowls were sitting on, out of a wooden circle disks and a candle stick holders.

Painted white and glued together. Topped with another tiny fish bowl (from the dollar store) and filled with colorful glass beads. The pink coral was an accidental score on my part. It fit perfectly. (Don’t discount the fish section of your local Wal-Mart people… treasures are waiting to be found. ☺)

Some other simple table decor was our place settings. Silver charger plates, with green, blue and white bowls. Pink napkins a sparkly blue table runner and a “puddle” of shiny blue fabric.

Draped from our light fixture was pink tulle netting that had some felt starfish “caught” in it.

I wish I could have spent more time on this, but my belly was too big to reach the center of the table, so I had Darren do it. The starfish were hand cut out of felt, stitched with pink embroidery floss and beads. I stuffed them with batting and glued them together.

Now onto the coolest part of her birthday table… the cake!!

Chocolate cupcakes frosted with (what else) butter cream frosting.

Each cake had it’s own ocean themed gum paste shape.

A starfish…

An oyster complete with shiny pearl…

 

A tiny little pink shell…

And a little blue fish blowing bubbles…

The top of the cake was covered in marshmallow fondant and topped with a special birthday cupcake (although Hunter ate that one…)

 

I love how it turned out.

After all was said and done, her party kind of didn’t end up really having anything to do with mermaids. LOL! But I think the whole concept was there, and this little Miss didn’t seem to mind at all.

Her presents and cutting of the cake will have to wait for another post. So, check back soon! xoxo!

PS. 1 more week until BABY DAY!!!

Comments

[wow gold]

wow gold maintain legs and so and so so model.

[carrie]

where did you get the cupcake toppers? the gum stamps this is beautiful!

[carla]

Your ideas and designs were beautiful and affordable, along with being age appropriate. Thanks for the ideas and pictures. Good luck with new baby

[Darcy]

Do your children only like chocolate cupcakes? Just noticed all the posts I've looked at of parties were chocolate cupcakes! I love ALL your ideas! You're an amazing mother for making each child feel special.

[Kristi McInerney]

omg you are the best mommy ever! and you sew! bless you!!!

[Tiffiny Felix]

Squeee! My youngest is turning 5 in June and she wants a mermaid party. I LOVE your seaweed!! Absolutely amazing! Thanks for such a great idea! :D

[Sandy]

Love, love, love this party decor. You are so creative! Love all the details. Just Amazing!

[jessica@MakeItLovely]

That's adorable - LOVE the cupcakes and cake. wow. thanks for the inspiration!

[Trisha]

AWE-some! It is now official...I can no longer share your blog with my poor children!

[shells]

Ok Amy...I am asking you for Janie: "Can you really, like really, I'm serious, do my sixteen b-day party, NO, like really!!"

[nikki workman]

Happy Birthday to the cutest little Canadian mermaid I've ever seen. Amy, you out styled yourself - super super cute!

[Melissa]

Amazing! I love the cake and cupcakes! Great idea about the brownie pops!

[Candy]

You seem to be Super Mum. The memories of you children's happy childhood will be with them forever. How very lucky they are.

[Holly]

Move here please;)

[Julie]

Just BRILLIANT....there's nothing more to say, except....it is every little girls dream party....so clever....the colours are lovely....the cake is gorgeous....the decorations are so imaginative. You should write a book a 'how to', really you should....I'd buy it!

[lynn Crapo]

You are simply amazing. You truly are!

[Mom]

Well, it certainly was a "sea" theme which is kinda like mermaids anyway....you are getting really good at the fondant and gum paste (something I haven't done)...I'll be taking tips from you soon...LOL
Good job though and I can see your siblings will be hiring you to do their parties one day!!