A Royal Celebration Fit For A Princess

I guess it's only fitting that the first blog post for Shindig Studios be about my daughter's first birthday. It was so very hard to settle on a theme for this big event but we finally picked {A Royal Princess Party} since she is the little princess of our family. The visions beamed pink, gold and pearls.

To set the tone of the event we created {invitations} to resemble scrolls. I designed the invite in Photoshop and printed on an ivory parchment paper while the boys took on spray painting of the doll rods. After the invites were assembled we rolled and finished them off with a sheer pink ribbon.

Only one and we are already searching for the perfect party {outfit}. Oh my, what am I doing???  I found the PERFECT princess outfit at Charming Necesssities, a boutique childrens clothing store. Jenni didn't have listed the exact color combo I was looking for but she accepted my special request of pink damask and gold crowns and now it's listed on her website under the pretty pretty princess collection. If you look very closely you can see the sparkle details on the peasant dress. This woman does amazing detail work and I highly recommend her products!

 
Upon their arrival, guests were greeted with a wreath at the {entryway}. Attached to the wreath was a scroll beginning the tale of how Princess Lexi came to be. These short stories were strewn throughout the party.

We had a special {activity} for all our guests. Everyone knows that when you wish upon a star dreams come true, so we asked all of our guests to make a special wish for the princess and hang it on the wish tree.  Decorating the wish tree were pearls and pictures of the birthday girl from the past year.

{Food & Drink} Guests were served in grand fashion. Catered by one of our very talented friends, Billie Jo Noblitt, we enjoyed caesar salad, rolls, green beans, whole potatoes and roast beef.  It was nothing short of delicious!  Among other beverages, we made sure guests had the option of drinking "High Tea".

In my family it is a tradition to have a number pretzel from Gus' Pretzels on your birthday.  Ever since I can remember my mom & dad have gotten me one for my birthday and I have chosen to continue this tradition with my children.  It's probably more of a must than birthday cake if you can believe that.  I have a funny feeling the princess is going to like this tradition!

After dinner comes {dessert} and this party was loaded with royal sweets to eat.  Guests had their choice of powdered sugar doughnuts (store bought), sugar cookies (made by my seriously talented niece Kalin), ring pops (store bought), cotton candy (from Chuck E. Cheese), vanilla merinque cookies (store bought), strawberry marshmallow pops (store bought then dipped in chocolate and edible pearls by moi), chocolate cupcakes (made by me), rice krispie treats (made by Kalin) and white cake with royal icing (made by me).  The only thing off limits was the "SMASH" cake (also made by yours truly)!

I loved the sign at this table which read:  "A celebration is just not complete without an assortment of royal sweets to eat. Help yourself, it's so much fun. Just don't touch the "SMASH" cake, that's for the princess turning one!"

The best part of every 1st birthday...CAKE!

The kiddo's received a goody bag {favor} fit for only a prince or princess.  Each received a chipboard crown to decorate with jewels, custom made tulle princess wand or sword, plus a white chocolate castle candy pop and ring pop.  Everyone took home a portrait of the 1 year old princess. Each picture was placed in a white envelope stamped "Thank You" in gold and tied with light pink baker's twine from The Twinery.

 

Well that's all for my very first and very long post. I promise to keep the future ones much shorter.  Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed the party as much as we did. Special thanks to my cousin Kristin of Synergy Photography who captured the event beautifully!