So it has been a whole year since Miss Chloe was born and we wanted to celebrate her birthday in a big way! We settled on a flamingo themed pool party with 38 adults, 21 children, sweet treats, a pool full of inflatables, and a whole lot of fun… Let’s Flamingle!!
Location
The rental which we are currently living in has a decent sized pool so it made for the perfect location. We left all of our furniture in their usual place but set up a white gazebo to house the food tables. Being that the party was at home I was able to set up most things up the night before when the babies were in bed and then really enjoy the morning with them.
Invitations
Jess from Little J Design creates all of our invitations, I simply tell her our party theme and she always comes back with something incredible. The invitations are then sent to my door with envelopes provided so no running around for Mama! For this party we went with tropical florals, gold and of course flamingos.
Decorations
You can’t go wrong with a Flamingo theme… and I had an absolutely ball putting the party decorations together! You can pick up tropical pieces from pretty much anywhere at the moment, but the best place I found for those statement items was Parties Made Pretty. Their website has the most incredible selection of party decorations, and it is all saved under themed tabs so that made my selections super easy. I chose an assortment of balloons (three giant balloons, a flamingo and a large 1) and their Mumbo Streamer Set which I set up as a back drop for the cake table. Big W are my go to for blowing up balloons I had them add gold tassel to the large orb balloons for extra sparkle. I then found a lot of cheap bits and pieces from Kmart which I added to the tables, my favourite finds were some flamingo shaped fairy lights. I hollowed out pineapples and added fresh blooms from Aldi (thanks for the idea Pinterest!) Zoe’s Pic n Pieces created a custom 1 artwork piece which I framed and will now keep in Chloe’s room, and I also framed a gorgeous picture from her cake smash (photographed by Little Lotus Photography.) To decorate the gazebo I visited my local Dollar Store and picked up some fake flowers and foliage then wired them together to create something special to hang from the roof.
Food
I like to do as minimal cooking on the day as possible so decided on mainly cold dishes. To lighten the load I also gave a platter plate to my Mother, Mother in Law and Sister in Law to fill. The menu consisted of quiche, fritters, sushi, chopped vegetables and dip. I put popcorn, chips and pretzels in little cups for the busy children to grab, and I heated up sausage rolls and mini quiches. Sweets treats were rocky road slice, chocolate covered marsh mellows on sticks, cupcakes, fruit cups (because you have balance right?) and of course the birthday cake!
Cake
Oh my gosh… so I had so many compliments about the look and taste of this cake!! Ang’s Cakes made an absolute masterpiece consisting of alternating layers of chocolate and white chocolate with a raspberry filling. It was fully iced and a pink drip was added to the side. Ang arranged fresh blooms on the top and added our flamingo cake topper which was from Parties Made Pretty. Pretty, pink, perfection! Ang also made two dozen delicious cupcakes with a pink butter frosting and topped them with pink flamingo cut outs which I had purchased on Ebay. The flavours were Nutella and vanilla passionfruit/pineapple… yummo!
Tableware
Most of the tableware was purchased from ether Kmart, Ebay or cheap shops. I went for as much flamingo stuff as I could find… plates, straws, toothpicks used as decorations, serviettes and paper cups used as popcorn bowls for the children. You can’t go past cheap shops to keep your budget down. I dressed up the table with gold sequin material which covered my cheap calico table cloths that I made years ago.
Party Favours
For the kiddies party bags I hit my local Big W were you can buy bags full of little goodies perfect for this! The children went home with a mix of lollies, slinkys, toy cars, mini skateboards, plastic bracelets, bouncy balls and a little water gun.
Keepsake
I wanted to have a special keepsake for Chloe’s baby box so decided on a finger print memento. Zoe’s Pics n Pieces designed and hand drew a gorgeous piece which I had at the entry of the party for guests to mark their finger print using ink.
Chloe’s Outfit
I purchased the most perfect Flamingo swimwear from Cheeky Chickadee Store and it even came with a gorgeous matching headband!
Photographer
Nicola Holland Photography is a beautiful friend to our family and captures all of our most special occasions. I think it is so important to have an additional person on hand to take photos of these important days.
Supplier recap:
INVITATIONS – https://www.littlejdesign.com/
BULK OF THE DECORATIONS – https://www.partiesmadepretty.com.au/
PARTY BAGS & MISC DECORATION – mix of Big W, Kmart & cheap shops
CAKE & CUPCAKES – https://www.instagram.com/angescakes/
CAKE TOPPER – https://www.partiesmadepretty.com.au/
ARTWORK & KEEPSAKE – https://www.instagram.com/zoes_pics_n_pieces/
PHOTOGRAPHER – https://www.partiesmadepretty.com.au/
TOP TIPS FOR PLANNING A STRESS FREE CHILDREN’S PARTY
- If you are doing the catering yourself give family members a platter to fill.
- Set up decorations the day prior if possible.
- If someone offers their help say yes.
- Delegate tasks in advance instead of leaving it to the day, including someone in charge of taking photos (even on their Iphone.)
- Before to go buying anything check your house for items that will suit your theme.
- Shop around for decorations. Find your key statement pieces and then fill in the rest with bits and pieces from cheap shops.
- Be budget wary. You don’t want to break the bank and regret it later… nothing but happy memories oft his day please.
- Make your own table cloths which can be used for years by cutting calico or other cheap material.
- Children’s birthdays aren’t just for the kids… you are also celebrating the fact that you have just survived another year of parenting.. make sure you enjoy yourself as well.
- Take a few minutes to stop and soak in this special day!
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