Hostess with the Mostess®

Today’s Real Party feature is a Charming Backyard Birthday theme that Kay created for her adorable daughter – Raffaella – to celebrate her first birthday. This party has so many pretty details… from makeshift dessert platters embellished with moss to artificial butterflies and colorful tissue poms.

The party details are very appropriate for a first birthday party, but they’d actually also translate well to adult occasions & holidays like bridal showers, Easter or Mother’s Day too!

Read on for all the pretty details, as told by Kay…

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“We were so happy at how great the party turned out. Everything went according to plan. Her birthday party was one of the best days, we were surrounded by the people we love most and we have a little girl who is happy, beautiful, and healthy. Nothing could be better than that.

Centerpieces:
I bought lots of glass jars and vases from discount stores like Marshalls and TJ Maxx. They ranged from $10-20. I didn’t want to use cut flowers; I wanted them to last in the house for a while after the party, therefore, I went with plants like ferns and Orchids. I added mosses and artificial butterflies to make it more cutesy. Artificial butterflies were purchased online from Barnard Ltd.

Poms Poms:
Poms poms are all the rage these days, so I definitely had to incorporate them into her party! I bought tissue paper in various shades from Paper-Source. I made a total of 17! We literally were making them up until the very first guest arrived.

Dessert Bar:
For the dessert bar, I went with French pastries made by a local bakery, Patisserie Chantilly. We had Macarons in 7 different flavors, Eclairs and Madelienes. We used different plates/platters and propped them up with bowls and mugs for some whimsy. The canopies that draped over the table were from IKEA.

I also didn’t want to do the traditional cake or the ever-so-popular cupcakes and opted instead for cream puffs. I purchased moss from The Home Depot for the makeshift cake stand (pictured at top) that held the cream puffs.

Drinks:
We also served pitchers of Fuzzless Navel (Orange Juice & Peach Nectar) which is the non-alcoholic version of the Fuzzy Navel. Both the kids and adults loved it!

Present Table:
I made the birthday pennants myself (see banner pictured at top), using paper from Joann Fabrics that was on sale. It was a great deal at 5 sheets for $1! I stapled them to strands of green ribbon and attached printed letters with double sided tape.

I also had two types of party favors, one for the adults and one for the kids. For the kid favors, I used Chinese take-out boxes (purchased from Uline) and added some ribbon and a sticker that I stamped the word “merci”. The adult favor were Meringues purchased from Trader Joes, wrapped up and tied off with cute brown faux bois ribbon from Joann.

Cheese Platter:
The cheese platter is actually something I am the most proud of!

I picked out all French cheese, except for the chedder =), Brie, St. Agur Blue, Comte, and Bucheron. They looked beautiful set again a dark slate platter. I used broken pieces of terracotta and alphabet stamps to write out the names of the cheeses on them. (I picked this idea up from a Danny Seo book. It’s a great way to reuse broken terracotta pots!)

Sitting Area:
We created a sitting area for the kids and their parents under green and white stripe hammocks-turned-canopies, that I picked up on sale from IKEA. I put a large blanket in the center and added some square end tables to complete the area.

And of course, thanks to my friend and photographer Brian Khang for taking such awesome pictures and allowing for me to share with everyone!”

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Such a pretty party, Kay! Thanks for sharing! =)