A Berry Sweet Birthday Party {for my daughter}

This is the new home for Brenda's Wedding Blog

Now, I know this is a wedding blog, but I just had to share with you the birthday party décor I put together for my daughter's 5th birthday in later November with the help of Colleen of Bellisimo Weddings & Events. Colleen was absolutely amazing to have on the day of the event - she helped get all the food ready to serve and when it was time to open the presents we were only off the timeline by 4 minutes. Now, with kids being the star of this party - that was just amazing to me. Things would most definitely not have run so smoothly without Colleen. The theme for this party was of course, Strawberry Shortcake with the colors being primarily red, pink and bright green. Many of these ideas can easily be used for bridal showers or any other parties you may be planning. I was able to re-use many of the items I already had on hand to make this party a huge success. The girls had so much fun celebrating. {all photos were taken my myself with a Canon 60d, except for the first one taken with my iphone. I LOVE this Canon camera. HUGE hugs to my hubby for surprising me last Christmas with it}

As guests entered the living room from the foyer they entered thru a wall of ribbons that my mom helped "rip". I bought red and pink fabric and my mom made a tiny slit every 2" inches and then ripped it all the way down. I then attached the ribbons to a tension rod - the girls loved it.

The menus did double-duty and also served as place cards. This would be super-cute for the little ones at your wedding if you have them seated at their very own special table.

The red carnations were trimmed shorter and placed in a teacup I already had {the flowers were actually from the grocery store a week prior so there was no need to purchase new florals}. The milk glass bottles were actually re-used from the Archer Farms lattes at Target and I added the paper straw flags for a little something extra.

The strawberry pillow I purchased from ArtSnack on etsy and used as an accent pillow as well as for the hot strawberry toss game. I downloaded music from the Strawberry Shortcake shows that I played during the game. When the music stopped, whichever girl was holding the pillow would receive a gift set of Strawberry Shortcake nail polish and lip glosses.

Colleen brought this tulle skirt with her which matched the party colors perfectly. We tried it around the coffee table and it fit perfectly - just the right girly touch for the necklace making table. I found the bottle cap charms on etsy from Keep Calm and Cap On and each girl strung their own necklace to wear. {And, yes, I should have pressed the red linen napkins, but I realized I had them last minute to add more color to the table - but the girls didn't even notice, they were to excited to get crafty}. The little bowls that held the beads were from my daughter's Dole fruit cups that I saved after she enjoyed the fruit - I love being able to re-use.

For the "freshly picked berry" balloons I placed their weights into paper berry baskets with shredded pink paper.

Colleen made the tissue paper flowers in 2 shades of pink and I just loved how the chairs looked with the little something on the backside. It's amazing how just one decor element can add so much extra to the party.

The cupcakes were of course strawberry with sprinkles from Realist Mermaid that were naturally colored. You would never know the difference. I also ordered all natural strawberry marshmallows from the same shop on etsy and they were delicious. The cupcake stand is from The Cupcake Tower and instead of using the colored ribbon banding you can use, I used self-adhesive paper and where the strips met, I added a strawberry cut-out.

I just loved how my daughter's cupcake looked on the single paper cupcake stand {with her strawberry shortcake doll joining her in the background for the yummy treats}.