My sweet daughter Ally turned six last month. I say it every year, but I can’t believe she’s already another year older. Time really does fly. To celebrate her special day, we threw a Mary Poppins Tea Party at the Woodland Park Zoo Vintage Carousel.

Seattle was taken by snowstorm the entire week before her party, literally dumping snow night after night. Each morning I’d wake up hoping the snow was gone, but nope, it’d still there. The day before the party I decided I just had to go for it and pray the weatherman was really going to be right when he said it would melt by Saturday.

Lo and behold the weatherman was right for a change! The snow was melted, and Jesus even granted us a few rays of sunshine as we unpacked the car and loaded the party into the zoo. As I’m sure most of you have party people have experienced, most venues don’t allow much time for set up. The Woodland Park Zoo was one of them. It was almost a deal breaker when I recieved the zoo contract reading that you are given a half hour to set up. Yikes! So with only 30 minutes to decorate the room and tea party table, my girlfriend Nazra and I had to move fast! (Thank you Naz!)

I hadn’t planned on doing a dessert table for such a small party, but I couldn’t help it, it’s what I do. Instead of a giant cake like I’ve done in the past for my children’s birthdays, I made Ally six small cakes in different colors and textures. This was really fun to do. Of course 15 people couldn’t eat six cakes, so guests were sent home with bakery boxes filled with treats and cake! Out of all the fun desserts, my favorite had to be the spoonful of sugar cake pops!

My friend Elaine, seamstress extraordinaire, made Ally a Mary Poppins Jolly Holiday dress to wear to her party. I am literally in awe every time I ask Elaine to sew something because not only does she do it, she does it beyond my wildest dreams. I emailed her a photo, not a pattern, not instructions, nothing but a simple photo from the internet of Mary Poppin’s dress. She whipped the dress up without a hinge and little Ally looked practically perfect as Mary Poppins.

The little girls absolutely loved the party. They sipped apple juice “tea”, nibbled on way too much sugar, played musical chairs to Mary Poppins songs, balanced tea cups on their heads, rode the carousel, and fed the penguins. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect party. And to top it off, my girlfriend Molly of Molly Vaden Photography captured every detail and smile of the day.
It was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

A week after I flew down to do Simone’s 1st Birthday, it was time to celebrate Stella’s 3rd Birthday, Hello Kitty style! To be honest, I’ve never been much of a Hello Kitty fan. In fact when Tori first told me the theme I cringed a little. Character parties are not my favorite. One, because you don’t want your event to look like you robbed your local party store, and two, because it’s hard to nail a licensed character in buttercream! But hey, I’m always up for a challenge.

To keep the dessert table looking Hello Kitty AND chic at the same time, I created Hello Kitty’s Bake Shop. Lucky for me, I happen to know the most incredibly talented seamstress who was able to whip up an adorable pink and white striped awning, to mimic an old fashioned bakery. I added Hello Kitty’s signature bow to many of the desserts including the white ruffle cake, coconut topped cupcakes, banana bread bites, and even attached mini bows to the dessert name tags. Gorgeous white milk glass cake plates and compotes were used to display all of the bake shop goodies. Suddenly, as I finished dessert after dessert, little miss Hello Kitty started growing on me. And after I conquered her signature face in a cake pop and sugar cookie, I decided I kinda liked her!

By the time the awning was hung, the cake plates were placed, and each dessert was set up and ready for the party, I realized Hello Kitty might be cute after all. Not just cute, She was adorable!

As pleased as I was with how the dessert table turned out, the best part of this birthday was that I had my daughter Ally with me! Tori had invited my family to come, but I decided to make it a special trip with just Ally and I. She was such a good girl while I was working, making friends with Liam and Stella, and enjoying all Tori and Dean’s animals. When it was finally party time, she jumped in the bouncy house, was given a manicure and feather extensions, had Cinderella painted on her arm, and ate way too much sugar. And as if the party wasn’t enough excitement, afterwards we headed to The Grove in LA to shop and dine at American Girl.

Thanks Tori and my favorite little Stella McDermott for inviting me to make all the sweets at your 3rd birthday party!! Hugs!

Going back and forth last year working with Tori on her new book, I quickly became friends with Tori’s friends Scout Masterson and Bill Horn(AKA the Guncles). They adopted a gorgeous baby girl, Simone Lynn, back in 2010. I was fortunate meet Simone when she was still a tiny baby at Tori’s Back to School party in August of that year.

Time flew and suddenly it was time to start plannning Simone’s 1st Birthday. Scout called to see if I’d be up for creating Simone’s 1st Birthday cake and dessert table. As soon as he told me the theme and venue, I was more than happy to say YES! Modern Circus at the Santa Monica Pier Carousel? Cutest venue ever!! Plus of course, Scout just happens to be one of the sweetest, most genuine people I’ve ever met. Love him!

I loved this table for so many reasons. I bounced ideas off of Scout and he was happy to let me just go for it. That’s the best. I chose a round table since the venue had an amazing rounded out corner, covered in windows. Guests could then walk around the table and eat sugar from every angle! Above the table I put together a giant cluster of pink tissue poms and paper lanterns. The table was covered in pink linens, vintage pink cake plates and compotes, and overflowing with a multitude of pink desserts. Cake lollipops, cotton candy topped cupcakes, sugar cookies shaped in circus foods, caramel apples, and gobs of perfectly colored pink candies. The two tiered pink cake was topped with a gold carousel and horses decorated with fondant. Scout did have one request, he wanted a smash cake for Simone shaped like a circus tent. Done! She dug into that thing like a pro!

The party was wonderful, from the gorgeous flowers to the adorable Sweet Lucie’s ice cream cart, and of course the most beautiful vintage carousel and Santa Monica boardwalk as a backdrop. If I lived in Ca, I’d definitely be booking a party there!

Thank you again Bill and Scout for letting me be part of such a special day! Already looking forward to sweet Simone’s 2nd birthday! xoxo!

My daughter turned 5 a few weeks ago. 5. It still blows my mind. Where did 5 years go? We debated having either a Cinderella Wedding party (her all time love) or an owl party. Owls won.

I had a busy December. Cookie orders coming out my ears, a Gingerbread party at our house, Christmas at our house, and two weeks after..Ally’s birthday. There was a lot going on. First up was the venue search. Let’s just say the Snohomish County area is in a dire need of party venues. I’ve wanted to open an event/party/wedding venue since I got married 7 years ago…this search confirmed the dream. Aside from bouncy house places and your typical roller rink/children’s museums..there’s NOTHING for parties. Let me back up. There are places to rent…FOR A WEDDING..which means you’ll be paying wedding prices. No thanks. So I searched. I searched from Bellingham to Seattle. Every hall, barn, room, warehouse you could find. Negative.

Right as I was about to settle on a place I wasn’t crazy for, I found A Country Location from a google search. A hidden little gem! I’ve lived in this same area forever and never knew about it. And who would. You drive past house after house until voila, the most darling barn, absolutely perfect for an owl party. Done.

Invites. I’m a firm believer that an invitation sets the stage for a party. Thank Goodness I found Sara a few years ago. Sara is amazing. A friend referred me to her etsy shop and now, even though we’ve never met in person, I totally feel like we’re friends. She has worked with me on every invite, christmas card, thank you card, label, sticker, logo..you name it…for the past two years. And when I say work with me, I mean we’ve gone back and forth 80 times on a single project. She’s patient. She accepts crazy, over the top, picky me. She created Ally’s flamingo invite last year where I wanted the flamingo’s legs to be in the shape of a 4, Hudson’s Sesame Street invite when I wanted a Sesame Street theme but no character/commercialized look, a shower invite to resemble PBK’s Lambie bedding, a vintage/retro family Christmas card, even wedding invites and programs, all after 50 back and forth emails a piece. She gets it.

For this years invite I was inspired by Ally’s PBK bedding. Green gingham, bright pink polka dots, brown polka dots, floral patterns and of course owls. I added a swing in the tree because Ally had gotten it in her head that she wanted a cake with a swing. Silly girl. But ok.

Ally was an owl for Halloween with the sweetest little costume from PBK. I took the wings of her costume over to my friend Elaine, of The Pickie Needle. Elaine can do/make/replicate anything. Vera Wang and Monique Lhuillier wedding gowns, done. Owl wings would be a breeze. She took Ally’s costume and made the most darling set of wings for each child coming to the party. Owl wings, check.

I bought white plastic masks and feathers at Michaels and had planned on the kids making their own masks at the party. But after a failed adult attempt at one, that idea went out the window. Thankfully, my Aunt Susan said she’d be more than happy to make the kids masks out of felt. They were Adorable. And an entire yard of felt costs only 2.99. It’s like free.

After all the details, decorations and desserts, I can’t justify using plastic tablecloths. Lucky me, I found brown table cloths on clearance at Target for $5/each. Kinda plain, but I had bought some pink tulle panels at PBK on sale for $4.97-40%. I thought they could be sewn around the hem of the tablecloths to add a little something girly. My friend Lorelei offered, and in addition ALSO sewed on the cutest polka dots in green gingham, pink polka dot, brown polka dot and pink floral fabric. Absolutely Perfect.

I spent two nights making tissue poms and tulle balls. It’s a chore. But so rewarding when you finally get them open and they just smile back at you. I love them. After the poms I cut felt circles. You’d think after Hudson’s party I’d be sick of the felt cutting. No, I found something different to do with the felt. Line up a bunch of felt circles, sew through each one and you’ll have the cutest garland. Again, a big thanks to Aunt Susan for seeing spots after sewing all those together for me.

A few days before Ally’s party I glanced at my dining room and saw a very clear resemblance between Ally’s party goodies and everything I packed to take to my wedding 7 years ago. Seeing that I’m only one person, I needed help. Help getting it to the venue and help setting up. Thank goodness for my mom, queen of retail floor sets and visuals combined with my get-it-done friend Wendy, they single handedly hung all the tissue balls, paper lanterns, tulle balls, and garland while the rest of my friends (Lorelei, Hailey, Naomi, Naz and Emily) set up everything else. It was pretty nice, I just ran around and directed everyone. Go team.

We got it all done just as guests were arrving. The party was a blast. The kids had a great time painting ceramic owls, making pinecone owls, playing musical chairs and fly the owl to the tree. We sent each kid home with enough goodies to have their own personal owl party.

It really was a hoot.