Sunday, February 21, 2016

LeighAshley's One-derland

Yesterday, was historic for me. Why, you may ask? Because, while I have experience in event and wedding planning, whenever the event is personal, I end up so stressed out in the minutes leading up to the big event that I volcano on all around me.  I hate it! I've tried to change but it's been my own Everest that's pinnacle evades me.  Yesterday, with the help of a few friends, I pulled off a great event without the freak out!!! I happily leave my flag at the peak, knowing it can be done! Now, that we have that virginal experience behind us, let's move on to the best part, THE PARTY! 

I love Alice in Wonderland! As a girl, my mom and I sang "I'm late" as we sped out the door in the morning.  I love the tea cups at Disneyland and love the Queen's rose bushes.  So turning that theme into my baby girl's Onederland seemed a given when planning her first birthday! I started with the invitation. (I've blurred personal info). 

Then it came time to plan. I overpopulated a Pinterest board with a plethora of ideas before selecting my plan.  I'm usually on a budget which means my ideas have to be reigned in a bit.  I'm apart of a great group of local people in a "For Sale" group on Facebook and I reached out to them and got a lot of great props on loan.  Then, I searched garage sales and finally sought out my missing pieces on Amazon. Here is the final result:
In this picture are two borrowed pieces that really added to theme! 

I made this banner above the door.

As people entered they could sign a copy of Alice In Wonderland for LeighAshley to read over her life.  



The party had both kids and adults so I decided to do one long table for adults like the Mad Hatter Tea Party, Vintage Style. Then I had kids tables on the side with coloring pages and toys. 




The long table was decorated with a variety of objects to include plates I found on Amazon that I couldn't afford to use for the whole party so I added them to the table along with matching napkins.  I used moss runners I found at Hobby Lobby, log rounds spray painted gold, skeleton keys from Amazon, a collection of tea cups and tea sets, vintage books, real and silk flowers, floral card stock and added some amazing cookies that my step mom procured from a talented friend.  
The set that goes with this pot is very special, it was given to me as a wedding shower gift from a surrogate mother figure who died from cancer a little over a year ago and having that set integrated brought her spirit to the event. 


This last set is was a gift from an older women in our church, who was a friend of my husband's late grandma.  This will be a special set to have future tea parties with! 

I love the sentimental elements to a party!

Our drink table:  

The food

Our marshmallow and strawberry toadstools. 

Fruit was cut out in bunny and heart shaped. 

Sandwiches were cut into spades, hearts, diamonds and clovers.  

One of my youth group teens helped me with rose cupcakes. 

For the smash cake I had another student, who does professional cakes duplicate the cake in the invitation. 


This table also had her growing garden. 

Each flower had her monthly photos. 

The Queen demanded, "Off With Her Gifts" as the banner says. 

I loved making the Rose bushes! 
Our favors was a Mad Hatter Make & Take Tea bar.  I found fill able tea bags on Amazon and made tea tags and then founds black and green tea, dried herbs and dried fruit. I loved this idea! 

I wanted to hang paper lanterns over the long table, but the ceiling was way too high so I thought the tea bar was a good fit.  

Then there's the birthday girl in her Alice inspired tulle and striped pants 


She watched the big kids bounce outside.


She sampled the food

She hung out with her guests. 

She enjoyed her cake! 





She played! 

All in all it was a great party! It was a great memory and a lot of fun! We were blessed by all our friends who came to celebrate with us! 






 
This special guest is exactly one day younger and we got pictures of them in the hospital together.  Fun to celebrate together! 

She loved her gifts and even her cards!!!




Thanks to everyone for making it special!