Paper Doll/Old Fashioned Birthday Party

What a whirlwind! I find that I work hard & get all anxious & excited for the parties to arrive & then they're here & gone & next....*insert deflating balloon sound*.

This party was a different one for Zoey--& for me as well. It was her first "friends" party. I sorta felt like I was the director at a fun little summer camp, leading the girls from project, to activity, to game, to snacks, etc. I loved it!! One thing I would change next party: Get. Help. There were 7 girls total, which isn't overwhelming at all, but I just wish I had more hands to help so I could snap some more fun photos!

Well, let's get to it!

The party theme started out as "paper dolls", but it kinda morphed into something different as I planned along & I was very happy with the outcome.

HERE are the paper doll party invites. Love.

I had a lovely morning before the party at the Farmer's Market gathering some sweet eats for the foodie table at the celebration. The party was from 10-noon, so it's not like I had to serve a meal, but I always like to have some munchy type stuff anyway. Golden raspberries, asian pears, the sweetest most tastiest grapes I've ever had, a caramel apple ring pastry, blueberry bread & cheddar cheese cubes.

One of my favorite things at the party was this little pedestal holding some mini cupcakes. You can also see some paper doll chains I taped to the window.

When the little party people arrived I gave them each a handmade party crown. I painted alternating stripes in pink (with spray paint) & yellow (watered down acrylic paint for a washed look rather then solid color).

It wasn't a sunny day, but it was a perfect temperature, so we set up tables outside where the girls worked on some projects.

The first project we made were these spinners. A lovely blog reader sent me the neatest link HERE for these & other paper toys.

And then I showed the girls how to make paper doll chains from newspaper. They were so creative with their cutting. Some even made heart chains & bunnies. They all seemed to have a fun time. I even made a cupcake one! (not pictured)

Next were the games!

I think I found the idea for this String Hunt game in one of my vintage kid's party books. Before the party, I hid 50 pieces of varying lengths of string around the backyard. The girls had to hunt for as many strings as they could find. The winner wasn't the person who had the most string: The girls each took their own strings & connected 'em from end-to-end. Whoever's strings were the longest was the winner!

 For the pillowcase race, I purchased very inexpensive pillowcases at the thrift store & the girls hoppity-hopped their hearts out! I would have loved to have found some burlap bags for a traditional gunnysack race, but I made do.

I made 2 badges for the winners of each game. BUT, it was my first time experiencing an upset child due to the fact that they "didn't win". I just thought that at this age they'd be fine with winners vs. non-winners. Maybe I'm wrong. Party foul.

You can see one of the party guests wearing her winning badge in this photo:

Cupcake time! I have SO many cupcake photos but I don't want to bore you with sweetness overload. So I'm dedicating a complete separate post to my cupcakes. haha! (I'm serious.)

I used the same vintage paper doll graphics from the birthday invitations for the cupcake picks. I was bummed that I didn't get a nice close-up shot of the cupcakes all adorned with their handmade picks.

Mr. WhiMSy love is so funny. I really could do without the mylar balloons in every shape & size AND the tacky "7" candle. But that's HIS thing & he loves doing it every year for the girls' birthdays.

We even had Mrs. Moth stop by to check out the cupcakes. She has good taste.

 Piñata anyone?! We bought this piñata at Walmart. I love the shape of it.

I had to run inside during the piñata portion of the show to deal with the birthday girl's fussy 5 year old sister. So, I missed out on that super fun busted pinata photo. Darn.

The girls quickly gathered toys & candies & stuffed it all in their bags. I made the bags the night before. They are simple brown paper lunch bags. I snipped off some of the paper dolls from the chains I have been cutting for the past 3 weeks & laid one on top of each bag. I sprayed the edges with white paint to create this effect.

Oh, & we discovered the piñata was like a 2-fer deal. The pointy parts of it made really kooky party headgear.

OK. Now for my favorite part: The Goodie Bags!!! I added only one personal touch to the goodies inside the bags & they were these hair bobbies I made with my button machine. I LOVE how they turned out. All made with vintage fabric.

The goodies included: stickers, a loopy straw, a candy watch, a girly lollipop, a whistle toy, faux ring bling &  handmade hair bobbies.

The goodies were all tossed in these bags that I already had on hand, a purchase made last year from Etsy. I punched holes at the top & tied them off with polka dotted pink ribbon. The girls also took home a sheet of paper dolls in the same style as the invitations & the cupcake picks.

While the girls & I waited for their parents to pick them up, we drew chalk portraits. The girls didn't get finished though because the mommies & daddies started arriving shortly after we began. My friend Julie commented on the lovely "murder art" as she picked up her girls. HAHA!

Hoory for parties! With friends!

And yay for mommies who get to play along!

That's all folks!

♥