I finally have pictures from my Mom's birthday party edited! I wanted her party to be elegant and simple and chose the color scheme of lavender and purple based on her favorite color with hints of silver thrown in. She loves butterflies so I decided to implement those in the decor as well.
I must forewarn you that the lighting in the room where the party was held and the fact that the walls were yellow tinted did not make the most conducive atmosphere for photos, but they are decent. (Click on any of the pictures below to see them larger.)
The invitation set the tone......
I must admit initially that decorating was challenging because the church had many rules like no balloons, no candles, no confetti, nothing on walls, etc. So most of the decor went into the actual centerpieces.
The centerpieces were white vases filled with branches. Dangling from the branches were purple and lavender butterflies that I cut out with my Silhouette machine and then dry embossed them with a pretty swirly pattern. The vases sat on silver cake plates and two photos of my Mom over the years were on each table. There were also two wine glass lamps on each table with vellum shades with battery operated candles inside. We swirled some purple tulle in there to bring in a little more color.
On the food table, I needed to add some decor without taking up very much room. So I bought two purple potted plants and covered them with some pretty fabric. Then I painted two dowels white and stuck them inside the plants. I tied white twine to the dowels and then clipped on photos of my Mom with friends and family on the "clothesline" using clothespins. I don't know why but that was probably my favorite part of the decorations.
For munching, we had a variety of finger foods including a meat and cheese tray, small sandwiches, a cheese ball and crackers, a popcorn chicken tray, and more. We had a pretty purple punch (and bottled water) for drinking - I shared
the recipe for the punch earlier this week. And the best part was the chocolate fountain with strawberries, raspberries, pineapples, marshmallows, and pound cake for dipping!
Next up was the butterfly wish tree. It sat on a table that guests saw right as they walked in. My BFF made the actual "tree" out of branches in a large hurricane. We hung a little sign that asked guests to write a birthday wish for my Mom on a butterfly that was sitting on the table that I had cut out with my Silhouette machine. Thread was attached to each butterfly so they could hang it on the tree once they were done signing it.
The cake was made by a friend and was absolutely gorgeous - and delicious!
My Mom's favorite charity is
Operation Christmas Child. She is a very dedicated year round volunteer and makes about 100 shoe boxes each year! So in lieu of gifts, we asked people to bring items for the shoe boxes and included an insert with the invitation that had a list of suggested items. I thought it would be cute to use my vintage suitcase as a place to put some of the items. The inside of the suitcase was actually blue but my BFF and I took some of the left over fabric from wrapping the flower pots and pinned it inside suitcase. People ended up bringing so much stuff that it spilled out of the suitcase and all over the table!
My Mom has always thought
personalized M&Ms were neat so my Dad and I decided to splurge (they are pretty pricey!) and get some for the party. I used the baby picture of her from the invitation on the M&Ms as well. They turned out so cute but I just couldn't bear to eat the "baby Anne" M&Ms.
For "entertainment" I made "things Anne loves" word searches using an online program and we had them along with pens sitting out for guests to complete if they wanted to. I think they all got a kick out of it!
Lastly, for favors I went small and easy since we needed so many. I wrapped candy bars in different purple and lavender patterned papers and attached a tag that said, "You're so sweet for coming to Anne's party" with ribbon. Simple and cute.
Whew! That's it! Makes me tired again just typing it all up. It was a great party if I do say so myself and I really think my Mom enjoyed herself. I was thrilled to be able to throw a party for my Mom as a way of
saying thanks for all the great birthday parties she threw for my brother and I when we were young.
PS. Let me give a big shout out to all those who helped make the party a big success - Daddy, Aunt Donna, the BFF, Brother & K!
