When I posted the invitations to Lottie’s fashion palooza, I mentioned that I was struggling with the whole concept of a ‘fashion’ party for a six year old. And only just-turned six at that! I thought long and hard about how to pull off a party that was suitably grown-up in Badoo’s eyes, but not too creepy for the rest of us.
I think I managed it! Badoo was certainly very happy with the whole thing and it didn’t feel too sixteen-year-old for me. Winners!
Setting the scene maaaahvellously
To make it work, I cut a black and white / animal print theme back with sweet girly pastel confetti colours. I took the colours from the invites we made back in May.
I made cake stands out of old Vinnies plates and vases. I was inspired to get creative after discovering that a cake stand in the colours I wanted was $69.95. Eeep! So I hit up Vinnies, found the plates and vases, glued them together with araldite then painted them using sample house paint pots before sealing them with a spray-on varnish. The whole thing cost me $21.50 and not half as much time as you’d think.
For the wall confetti, LOML and I cut out loads and loads of circles using plates, glasses and bowls as the template. We got through three episodes of River Cottage Australia cutting out those bloody circles.
I had the idea that I could do a super-cool party ‘garland’ using girly clothing and that morphed into making a sweet little skirt for each of the 20 girls attending. So the skirts were decorations and then a lovely thank-you-for-celebrating-with-me gift. Badoo and Cappers spent a lot of time carefully allocating skirts to each friend and organising them with their tags. The skirts themselves were very simple to make using this tutorial by Dana Made – I confess that despite getting a new sewing machine in (having dropped and busted my old one) I ended up getting my clever MIL to whip these up for me when I completely ran out of time. I didn’t want a repeat of the dreaded mice (dear god, remember the mice???).
I did simple little party bags using up the glassine bags leftover from this year’s Easter bunny bags and adding a confetti circle with a thank you message. Inside were some girly hair bits, a few sweets and a colourful nail polish (more on nail polish later!).
Throw in 20 helium balloons (another take-home present for the girls – I loathe having leftover balloons hanging around for weeks) and the party is on! It still always amazes me how much a kid loves a balloon.
We also dragged out all the dress-ups and added Aunty Zia’s extensive ‘old’ shoe collection to make a fun dress-ups corner. The girls really went to town on their make up and just look at the funky-quirky-cute outfit Badoo put together from all the bits and pieces for her big day. She’s definitely got a way about her, our Badoo.
Faaaabulous fashion-inspired yummies
The food at this fashion party was out-of-this-world beautiful. As ever, I can only take credit for idea-generation, the actual creating of the party food is always done by my trusty sidekick Aunty Zia (the best aunty zia in the whole wide world).
Look, here she is wearing her stunning lilac taffeta number – fashionable circa 1984. Despite her dubious fashion choices, what Aunty Zia can’t do with an icing gun and a spatula doesn’t deserve doing.
Exhibit A: Fancy shoe cupcakes
Every one of the 20 shoe cucpcakes was completely unique and completely beautiful. The girls were in heaven.
Exhibit B: Fancy handbag cupcakes
Yes, these are cupcakes. Cupcakes! Aren’t they just adorable! Do you like the little Chanel and Prada brands standing proudly next to the Lottie brand?
Exhibit C: Fancy nailpolish cakepops
The cakepop makes a welcome return to Maxabellaland (having been banned circa 2011) in the form of nailpolish bottles. As always, what the cakepop lacks in ease and speed, it more than makes up for in taste and cuteness.
Exhibit D: Fancy dress and shoe biscuits
Get outta town, or very much on the town – look at these designer shoes and dresses! Love the zebra print and adore the little pink-skirted number up there. Too divine to eat, don’t you think?
Exhibt E: Fancy stained-glass dress biscuits
These shortbread biscuits melted in your mouth, but not before melting your heart (ahhhhhhh). I have no idea how Aunty Zia gets a dress pattern happening, but I’m sure one day I’ll convince her to have a guest post series on my blog revealing how to do all this stuff!
Exhibit F: Extra-fancy cakepop surprise birthday cake
Inside this beautiful two-tier buttercake with marshmallow fluffy icing and sprinkles were 21 cake pops in a whirlwind of confetti colours. How awesome is that! I am loving the ‘surprise inside’ cake. It’s become something of a specialty for Aunty Zia (best aunty zia in the whole wide world), having produced lollies at the slumber party, rainbows at the rainbow party, carrots at the flower garden party and pixels at the Minecraft party.
[…] on the home stretch for party season – yay! Party season extends from May (Max) through June (Badoo) into August (me) and up to October (Cappers). It’s Cappers’ birthday in a couple of […]