Finally a chance to write up Peanut's Lilly Pulitzer inspired party! I absolutely loved the pink and green palette for this party, inspired by the Desert Tortoise party invitation that caught Peanut's eye one day while I was shopping our local Lilly store. You can see the desert tortoise design featured on these awesome oversized pinwheels that were a must-have for party decor. They also served as the perfect favor for the birthday girl and her best friend and cousin of the same age.
You know that no party is complete without a Happy Birthday banner or two!
Special edition Lilly Pulitzer animal crackers found at the local grocer along with Izze soda, pink lemonade and fruit punch and apple juice boxes (chosen for the color or the cartons, of course!) made for a fun and delicious display at the dessert table.
(I apologize for this poorly-lit shot. I obviously have yet to master backlit photos!)Here is a wider shot of the dessert area. This shot is taken before the actual desserts were added, which is sad because they looked delicious! Above the dessert area, I used wrapping paper in the dessert tortoise pattern to make a pennant banner. (note: after I measured and cut the wrapping paper into triangles, I reinforced them with cardstock to make them sturdy enough to hang properly without rolling.)
After running around like a crazy person getting ready for the party, I realized that I had forgotten to pick up the pink flowers that I had planned for these cute white vases (vases courtesy of a Martha Stewart flower surprise delivery from my "boss"). With no time left to run another errand, I went out to my garden and cut bunches of bright green autumn sedum just before they turned color for fall. Add some pink ribbon and I saved myself the cost of flowers. (sure, they weren't the pretty pink bouquets that I envisioned, but they worked in a pinch!)
Like the Happy Birthday banner, no party is complete without tissue poms and the birthday girl insisted on balloons!
After the enormous Paris print that we had for Petunia's party, I felt the need to have a party-themed wall hanging for Peanut's party as well. Although I have to admit, I wasn't willing to be as extravagant this time around. So for this wall hanging, I simply wrapped a lightweight piece of foam core with wrapping paper and decorated it with a printout honoring the party girl and a couple of tissue flowers that Petunia and I whipped up last minute. Then I glued a long length of ribbon to each end for hanging.
Unfortunately, I did not get many shots of the food all wrapped up pretty and labeled in pink and green (was I too busy serving or eating?), but luckily I did get a shot of these delicious cheese balls from Tastefully Simple. Chosen for their colors (green key lime dip and pink strawberry), I had never tried them before. They were amazing and were gobbled up in a flash!!! A definite must for all future parties no matter the color scheme (although I wonder if food coloring could help "adjust" the colors...).
And of course, the food and the decorations are lovely, but isn't this huge grin what these parties are all about?
Happy Birthday to my little Peanut. Thank you for choosing such a cute little theme so Mommy could have soooooo much fun putting it all together for you.
I'm pretty sure she thoroughly enjoyed it!
