Tuesday, April 30

Monogram Birthday Party - Madison's 14th!


Over the last weekend we celebrated my oldest daughter's 14th birthday. What a fun party we had! Madison and her best friend, Lexie, are born only days apart and the girls wanted to throw a big bash at the neighborhood pool pavilion with all of their friends. And get this..... SIXTY 14 year olds were invited! You only turn 14 once, right??

Not wanting a "themed" party, I quickly decided that a MONOGRAM PARTY was the way to go. The girls liked the idea of a turquoise/sky blue and I liked the idea of black with white. It's a great color combination to find party supplies and is graphic, bold and perfect for any age. I soon got to work pulling it all together, designing a set of MONOGRAM PARTY PRINTABLES and coming up with a styled dessert table, table place settings, centerpieces, and other decor.

More party information can be found below......























































The FLOWER TISSUE PAPER BACKDROP was so much fun and a great starting place for the decor. I wanted something dramatic but cost effective, too. I decided on a backdrop of white tissue paper flowers in various sizes and varieties to add texture and to help the desserts "pop" against the white background. This is a great project but a bit time consuming. The only materials required were two large white foam core boards from Hobby Lobby, one large ($3.99) bag of white tissue paper and a bag of glue sticks. How easy! It was absolutely beautiful in person and I was so happy with the results. If you would like to make your own, here are some tutorials to help with the flowers HERE and HERE.

The DESSERTS were super simple. With all of the other party decorations to make, I decided that a quick trip to local stores would help speed things along. I purchased white powdered donuts and brownie bites from Sams, white cheddar popcorn from the Dollar Tree and chocolate pudding and Oreos from Walmart to make the pudding parfaits. That only left cake pops and the cakes to make which greatly reduced my time in the kitchen --always a plus when planning a party! 

CENTERPIECES were made by covering large cereal boxes with black/white dot wrapping paper. The fans behind the 5" printable centerpiece circles were also made using dot wrapping paper. How easy and economical and what a fun centerpiece! A black tulle bow was added to each wood dowel and the box was stuffed with black tissue paper to complete the design.

OTHER PARTY DECOR such as the "Lexie" and "Madison" patterned letters were made by printing the COORDINATING PAPERS from the MONOGRAM PRINTABLES SET and using them to cover chipboard letters from Hobby Lobby. The "chandelier" hanging over the party tables was made with paper lanterns and black tissue paper poms strung together with ribbon and tulle.

PLACE SETTINGS were simple as well using black and white square paper plates from Party City and white/black dot wrapping paper was used to make placemats. I love the simplicity of using wrapping paper for designs elements like table runners, back drops and placemats. I stock up all year long when I see rolls that I know would be versatile and perfect for party decor. Each place setting also included a monogrammed napkin wrap and a personalized place card frame with each guests name.

PARTY FAVORS were "It's a Boy" turquoise/white swirled lollipops found at Party City. I removed the "It's a Boy" stickers and applied the "Happy Birthday" and "Thank You" printables from the MONOGRAM PRINTABLES SET

The kids had a blast socializing and the DJ and his music was a sure-fire hit. My favorite was when the whole crowd got up and line danced together. There wasn't a single kid on the sidelines! The girls had such a fun night and it was a wonderful way to celebrate the "BIG 1-4" with their friends.
_______________________________________________________

VENDORS:
Amanda's Parties To Go: Monogram Party Printables Set
Amanda's Parties To Go: Monogram Party Invitation
Amanda Parker: Party styling, photography, cake pops and all crafting
Online Labels: Adhesive paper for printable labels
Party City: plates, napkins, cups, tablecloths, balloons, black white stripe popcorn boxes, gum balls, solid turquoise wrapping paper for boxes
IKEA: blue/white dot fabric for dessert table tablecloth
TJ MAXX: White ornate party favor frame
Pier One: White ruffled cake plates 
Hobby Lobby: Wrapping paper in dots for fans, centerpiece boxes and placemats, chipboard letters, black/white stripe hat box and other paper mache' boxes, black ostrich feathers, paper lanterns