When it comes to my daughter’s birthday, i’ve always tried to take the theme of their party + make it modern. I honestly don’t like the look of too much cartoon characters and the party supplies that are sold at Party City, Walmart, etc. Doing a modern twist to the theme gives the look of the party so much more elegance.
Styling parties has always been something that I loved doing… in fact, my sister and I started a little party stylist business, however with her health issues we stopped. Maybe one day we’ll pick it up again, but until now we placed a hold on it….
So this year, we decided we weren’t going to have a big party for Melia because we have some big things we are working on this year, and didn’t want to spend A LOT of money on a birthday party.. however, I still wanted to make her little party nice.. but also fitting within my budget.
Melia has really been into Pandas lately, so she really wanted a Panda themed birthday, and when she told me this… you know I got super excited!
I decided to focus primarily on the kids seating table + the dessert table. I LOVED how the kids table turned out! The black + white chevron with accent of pink went so beautiful together.
I actually had the flower centerpieces for a couple years now, which we’ve previously used on our parties. We purchased them at Target, which unfortunately they don’t sell anymore. As far as the table clothes, I found these woven rectangular tablecloths at Target for $5 and they just look SOOO much better than using those plastic looking table covers. They are a little more in price but they really do make your tables look nicer! The dessert plates also came from Target, but are not listed online for me to link.
The wooden utensils and pandas are from amazon. I ended up just painting the ends of the wooden utensils with paint that I purchased at Walmart for like $0.50 each, and the pandas I bought as their party favor for the guest to take home. The black + white chevron plates, black + white straws, paper table runner, and cups all came from Hobby Lobby.
Now to save me money, I didn’t decorate the adults table, other than placing a white tablecloth on the table + using black plates to also tie into everything else.
When it came to the dessert table, I don’t go overboard with the table anymore, like I use too. Before it would be candy galore! Now, of course the kids would love having lots of candy to choose from, but it is costly! Also, I would find that I would have A LOT of leftover candy at the end of the day.. so it became a waste.
What I’ve been doing over the last year or 2 has been including only 3-4 candies and 1 of those would be something for the adults to enjoy, and the others are what I know the kids would LOVE. I ALWAYS include fruits, cupcakes, cake, and this time popcorn.
Let’s talk about all of the goodies on the dessert table….I love getting my cupcakes from Nothing Bundt Cake Bakery (SOO GOOD). The look of the buntinis shape and even cupcake liners just make the table more elegant + classy. This time I just got 1 dozen buntinis, but I LOVE that you can choose many different flavors. For the popcorn, I normally buy it at a popcorn store which has many flavors to choose from, but this time I just bought a large bag from Sams Club of Smartfood white cheddar popcorn. I always love adding fruit to the dessert table, and this time I added strawberries + blueberries. The kids candy + cotton candy all came from Home Goods believe it or not. I purchased 1 bag of each and 1 tub of cotton candy and it was the perfect amount. The ferrero rocher was from Sams Club for the adults to enjoy. I love including some type of candy or treat for the adults to enjoy. It makes the table not only for the kids to enjoy but for the adults to enjoy too! As far as cake…Melia didn’t want a cake this year, and instead wanted a cheesecake (her fave). I got her cheesecake from Costco, which she just choose plain.. but it was still delicious!
When it comes to where I purchased thing from the dessert table; the cake panda toppers, happy birthday topper, candle and cupcake toppers all from Amazon. The black + white paper sacks with popcorn filled inside, the boxes that have the cups placed on top, the black candy cups filled with fruit all came from Hobby Lobby. We also used a wooden white linen on the dessert table as well. For the actual centerpieces, those were also purchased years ago when we had our business and unfortunately, I can’t find any of them online; but the peonies in the white vases all came from Target and the pink flowers in the large glass vase came from Ikea. All of our china dishes were also purchased years ago, and came from Home Goods (which I cannot link). I love Home Goods though… hehehe! That place has so many options and affordable prices as well!
For the food, I was fortunate to have my sister + mom make some of the food. The rest I catered from a few different places, and my husband grilled some BBQ chicken at the park, which was delicious!
Lastly, I bought her panda shirt from Amazon. I love trying to get them to wear something that is part of their theme that’s going on. I also found really cute panda ears headbands from Target, but is also not listed online as well.
As far as tips that I could recommend would be taking your time. Look around and price everything. Also if you don’t have a great imagination then always use Pinterest for ideas! You can get so much inspiration from Pinterest and so something similar.
Another tip would be allowing yourself time to plan and prep for the party. I ALWAYS plan + prep at least a month before her party. It gives me time to look around, and put things together. Taking pictures while you are out of items you see or may possibly get is so helpful!
Also another tip would be trying to put things together before the party. I always set up the seating table + dessert table prior to the party, just so I have a vision of what it’s going to look it. It helps me determine what I need to change, add, fix, etc. It also adds less stress come the day of the party.. just as long as you don’t forget to take a picture of the set up, so you know how it looks like!
Last tip, is you don’t have to spend an arm + a leg to make a party modern. Even if you don’t have centerpieces and china dishes like I do, so many stores now a days.. especially Target has up’d there party supply game. Also, have fun with it + don’t let it stress you out!
Now that Melia’s party is done, I have 1 more to go.. Avery’s. Her birthday is about a month from Melia’s (May 6th), so you know I’m already starting hers. I can’t wait to show you how it turns out. She asked for an LOL Surprise theme.. and I feel like this is more of a challenge then the panda theme because theme is more bold then the panda theme, but I’m taking on this challenge, so stay tuned!
XOXO
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