brown paper, string and princesses [party photography]

In October it was my daughter’s 3rd birthday and for months she’d been asking for a “pink princess party” (same as 75% of all 3 year old girls…!).  As I’m not a real fan of tizz and hot pink… we combined my love of “brown paper packages tied up with string” with her “pink princesses” obsession and came up with a lovely rustic princess party to share with her closest friends.
As a bit of a wanna-be party planner or stylist, I do enjoy making things pretty and fun… so I had a few key ideas for the party  – It had to be environmentally friendly (we used existing objects like a paper flower and white platters, or leftovers around home or friends to decorate, buying only some coloured paper, stickers and brown paper for the event) – It had to have a mostly healthy menu – We had ‘fruit jewels’ (cookie cutter shaped fruit on sticks), ‘ham swirls’ (ham and tortilla wraps on sticks), ‘princess popcorn’ (fresh popcorn in paper cones), ‘garlic toasties’ (garlic bread shaped like tiaras) to name a few  –  It had to have a goody bag bar with delicious and pretty sweets (where the guests could take wrapped items home to share with family rather than eating lots at the party)  –  It had to include fun activities for the girls to do (they each decorated their princess hats [made from recycled boxes and leftover paper], they had a pass-the-parcel and also spent time filling brown paper bags (with printed messages) with goodies – It had to be relatively cheap but also classy (I made all the decorations, the lollypops and cupcakes (with chocolate tiaras) myself and then to give it a finished look I chose printable stationary from Polka Dot Prints including invites, chocolate dots, personalised princess straw tags, buffet sign and buffet labels – which looked great!).
Yet most of all, my goal was for the party decorations and food to be made up of items that my daughter and I created TOGETHER – I dipped the cups in jam, she dipped them in pink jelly crystal, I made the cones, she filled them with popcorn, she counted out the musk sticks, I wrapped them up, I put the chocolates in the bags, she put the stickers on etc.  And I’ll admit I did more than her (and a bit of it at some ridiculous hour of the night before!), but it was so much fun to be creating things WITH her rather than shooing her off so she didn’t make a mess (as most creative perfectionists like me tend to do!).
It was really fun, and I’m going to put these memories into a book for her soon – added with even more pictures I took of her friends (we did a mini photo booth on the princess chair!).  It will be a wonderful memory for us to look at together and reminisce – I realise already how treasured it will be – she has changed already in the two months it took me to post! Don’t they grow too fast?

6 Comments

  1. Every detail of this party is simply breathtaking…simple, feminine and dreamy!!! Love love love!

  2. So adorable! I def have new ideas for next year when my Miss Elle turns 2.
    We had Elle’s 1st birthday part this past weekend and I just posted some pics of her party. Please stop by and take a look. I look forward to reading more on your blog,
    -Heidi

  3. Wow, this is amazing! So lovely and classy! I think you achieved a level of cuteness and you must be so happy with the result. Photos are awesome and I hope one day I can make a party like this for my little girl (she’s 6months old now).
    We celebrated her baptism last week and also shared photos in my blog, if you want to come and have a look you’re more than invited!!! Great work again!

  4. Oh absolutely beautiful Maddie!!!!!! I don’t know about wanna be I think you could swap careers at any time 🙂

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