My girlie recently turned eight and while I don’t usually do big parties (yes, I am lame and I totally admit it) I did do a family luncheon for her baptism day for family and some friends.
The first thing you all need to know is that when we just invite family over….it’s still a big group (think 7 siblings that live close plus spouses and kids)….so I think we planned for close to 50 people.
And since it was August and over 100 degrees outside we decided an indoor lunch party was the best idea. Yeah, I didn’t want to sweat bullets either.
Hannie chose the color scheme….hot pink and orange….perfect for an 8 year old. And so we went with it.
I convinced my husband to help me move all the furniture out of our family room (the back of our house is all family room to a kitchen/eating area) and I ended up borrowing four long tables from my parents house (they have an awesome stash of old church tables) so everyone could sit and eat together.
I did rent the chairs. I am not a big fan of eating on laps (it’s so hard with kids) and I found a great deal on a local-website that delivered them and picked them up for a screaming deal so I went with it.
(And besides then they could match 😉
The table cloths, runners and sashes I ordered online from this place (I am not an affiliate or getting paid at all—but they were the cheapest I could find—just a reference if you are in the market).
In the beginning I was just going to do the 4 tablecloths and 4 runners, but when I realized that the chair sashes were less than $25 to add all of them (great sale that day!)–I went with it. I thought that for that price it was great color and décor for little money.
You only have an 8 year old party once, right?
(My sister was making fun of me as we were prepping….and calling it a mini-wedding luncheon 😉
I did call in a few favors and pay some friends who are experts in their craft to help too.
A good friend does wedding cakes and the cake she made was not only one of the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen, it was the best homemade cake I have ever tasted. Moist with the most delicious buttercream, ever. Seriously…it was the best buttercream.
And another good friend does florals so I called and asked her if she would help too. The unlucky part for me was that she was out of town the weekend of the party, but she offered to wholesale the flowers for me so I could put the arrangements together myself.
Which scared the living day-lights out of me…I am not known in any sense of the word as a floral designer.
So, I made my sister help…and we winged it. And after we just kept sticking flowers in here and there, I don’t think they turned out so badly, do you?
(Ok if you are a floral designer please don’t answer that…think total amateur.)
We had a few other details that were requested. My daughter is a girl after my own heart and loves straws. I do too. I think I drink every drink, even water, through a straw.
(And now after re-reading what I just wrote, I have the “sippin’ cider through a straw” song stuck in my head now and probably yours too….so SORRY!)
For the food I did meat and cheese trays and mini-croissants from our local market with a variety of salads (that people helped bring), veggie trays, chips and sparkling lemonade. Simple but good lunch food.
And here is one last photo of a big girl and her famous birthday cake. Which I politely reminded her would NOT be happening every year.
And afterwards I was seriously exhausted. I don’t know how people do big parties for every kid, every year. I just don’t have it in me. Maybe you need a party-planning gene to do it?
So, my big question for you today is how do you do birthday parties? Big or simple?
I seriously would love to know….(and might need to bargain hire some of you big party-planners…)
~Elizabeth
What a gorgeous party, I love the simple beauty of the cake. I’m no floral designer, but I think you did a great job with the flowers. Growing up we only got friend parties on the “big birthdays” – 5, 8, 12 and 16. There were 5 of us, so I guess my mom figured that was the best way to limit how many parties she had to plan. And of course, before Pinterest, so they were all pretty low key, anyway.
We had the same plan growing up for birthdays!
I can’t handle a huge group of people in my house at once–so no birthday parties at home. We are away from all grandparents but about every other year one happens to visit for that time. Otherwise, we celebrate as a family of four. Their choice of dinner, cake, homemade ice cream, colors for decor (on table, my gift wrapping paper, and balloons). It is simple but what they know and love. If a grandparent is there then great! Each had one party when they were younger outside of the home (a gymnastics one and a jewelry making one–smaller group for the jewelry one). They will probably have a friend sleep over now around their birthday and make it a little extra special but not the night of–family only. I plan on something more special for their 16th. Nothing huge but friends, outing…something bigger…again not on the family day:)
I LOVE the colors your daughter chose, the cake, flowers, and the chairs WITH the sashes made a huge impact!
Beautiful, and great pictures!
Gorgeous party! You did a fantastic job, the flower arrangements are perfect!
Small parties at home on the birthday. And I mean small, as in the big event is that the kid gets to pick out what to eat for dinner, and not to dishes, and maybe cupcakes. We do three or four larger parties as a family (11 grandkids) to celebrate a number of birthdays (e.g. all the spring birthdays) at once.
I did something like this for my kids baptism also!!!! These are my favorite colors!!! You did a fantastic job!!!
What a nice party! Your post reminded me of some of the parties for my group. I soon learned that the path of least resistance (and the easiest clean up) for a group of boys was to have the party at a park. They got to run around with each other which is what they liked best and then eat cake (which is what they liked second best) And when the cake was done the crumbs just got swept onto the grass (Wich is what I liked best!)
Wowzers! When you decide to do something you really do it — and with style!
What a perfect party!!! 🙂 We haven’t had any parties yet- I figure I can always go up from here. HAHA. Maybe when (and if!) we move, we’ll have enough space to have a few people over at the same time. And thanks a lot for getting that song stuck in my head. . . . .