Shhh…. don’t let the cat out the bag!!!
I had such fun designing this party collection for my client Heather. She was throwing a surprise 60th birthday party for a family friend. The birthday gal loves bling and cats and Heather knew from the get go that the color scheme had to avoid pink. We came up with a black and white classic look with a splash of aqua as an accent color and a sophisticated cat silhouette. The printable collection is both elegant and whimsical.
I was so happy when Heather sent me photos from the party (as well as some great party tips)! You can see how much love and attention to detail went into this celebration and I’m sure that Jann was completely overwhelmed!
Here are photos of the candy buffet! I especially love the rock candy which Heather ordered online from Bulk Foods. She brought the assorted color rock candy on swizzle sticks but the website also has individual colors that you can purchase if you are doing a more monochromatic party. At $13.50 for 80 sticks, these are a real bargain!
Heather also styled a gorgeous dessert buffet table. She made almost all of the food on the dessert table (very talented lady… I am impressed) but her secret weapon is Little Debbie snack cakes. These are the pretty white squares in front of the cake! They cost one dollar per box so she brought two boxes, unwrapped each treat and set them on a pretty plate. Genius!
Wanna create a decadent dessert table at your next event?
Cake pops– Heather learnt how to make these from Bakerealla. I have made cake balls before (the same thing, just simpler since there’s no lollipop stick) and they are not that easy! Patience and practice goes a long way. One day, I will share the pictures of the cake balls I made along with a tutorial! If you plan on doing these for a party, definitely make a test batch a week or so before hand.
Chocolate covered Oreos– Here’s a simple to follow tutorial. I love these and I bet they taste amazing, too.
Cake– Gloria’s Treats has a great tutorial on technique for the ombre style icing.
Here’s a party tip from Heather that I think is really sweet and special:
One thing that I started doing when my daughter had her first party is purchasing a story book that goes along with the theme of the party. That becomes the guest book and everyone writes a message in the cover. It’s become tradition in our home…every party gets a story book as the guest book. My children love it and we have awesome story books that we read all the time, we can remember what theme they had for each birthday (which is fun to look back and remember what they were into that year), and we have really lovely messages written in the inside cover. We always read the messages before the story and reminisce about their special party and talk about all of the people who love them enough to celebrate with them. I hope they will be able to pass them on to their own kids one day (I’m sentimental about stuff like that). We ended up getting a kitty themed book for Jann. She is a teacher and will love reading it to her class, I’m sure.
I love that on this table (above), Heather also include a framed copy of the party invite. Since it was a surprise party, Jann never got to see the invite so this was another thoughtful idea.
One of the nice things about keeping a very simple color scheme is that finding paperware to match is a breeze! Heather found the polka dot napkins and the paper plates at Target. She also brought aqua (with white polka dot) wrapping paper and used that as a table runner to contrast against the tablecloth. Notice how she used a black tablecloth for the dessert table and a white one for the candy buffet? This adds a touch of whimsy!
One last mention about this party’s decoration… don’t you just love the pretty flower arrangements and the paper pompoms? The pompoms add drama and are a wonderful way to decorate a large party space. In this case, she used the tissue pompoms both inside and outside, helping the party flows seamlessly from one party space to the next. I couple months back, I posted a tutorial on putting these gems together!
Thank you so much Heather for sharing these wonderful photos and giving us so many party styling ideas! Wanna see even more party pictures? Take a look at the post on Catch My Party!
a party studio 