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Monday, August 1, 2011

{real parties} toby's art party


wow...has it really been that long since my last post?? all I can say is sorry...I've been busy...I'll try harder!!

I promised these photos quite some time ago...hope they were worth waiting for!

When Toby came to me with the idea of 'a smiggle party' for his birthday this year...I must admit I was a little stumped...what exactly is a smiggle party? Well, after a little thinking (and a coffee), we came up with the idea of an art party!

the invitations...
created with photoshop, I incorporated some of Toby's own sketches in the background, and a photo of him proudly showing one of his drawings. (oh, and the scribble in 'you're invited'...toby's ode to smiggle)

the dessert table. the backdrop was inspired by graham-brown wallpaper.  I was so pleased with how the rainbow of platters and food turned out!  We mixed it up...some healthy, some traditional party food...raspberries, carrot sticks, lolly bananas, twisties, apples, celery sticks, fairy bread, cupcakes & beetroot chips!

dessert table...whoops, there's a plate missing (last photo I managed before the guests arrived!!)

here's how we set up the room...white and kraft as the backdrop makes the rainbow colours really pop! You can spot our 'photo booth' behind the 'make a paper plane' table...the kids had a great time posing through the frames!

the kids had a great time with all the activities, and loved hanging their creations to show off to mum and dad at home time! My oldest son, my dad, my brother, my husband & my friends son all helped out at each of the activities. Thank you boys!!  I was amazed at how smoothly it all went and with very little mess, despite having 25 children!! 

rainbow jellies...took three days to make...but they looked fab!  and the gorgeous artists palette cake was made by a friend of my husbands
thank you gift for each guest. a huge thank you to my dad for creating the sketch pads to go inside the personalised covers I made.

As always, it's lovely to get your feedback!
Tanya x

Saturday, June 18, 2011

{real parties} whimsical woodland princess party

this is a big one...so get comfortable!

a whimsical woodland princess party...

inspiration...

Some of you might remember this rapunzel inspiration board I put together for one of our lovely followers earlier this year...
Well, my gorgeous little princess, Indigo, spotted it and fell in love with the idea of having a rapunzel party for her own birthday!

I managed to get a few words in throughout the planning process...and we shifted slightly from a complete rapunzel theme to more of a whimsical woodland princess idea, full of handmade elements, with a colour palette of lavenders, purples & greens.

Since creating the rapunzel inspiration board earlier in the year, I discovered pinterest (omg I love pinterest!) and an updated inspiration board was born with our new ideas included...


and so the planning began!

invitations...


invitations were clean and simple, but oh, so princessy! A soft lavender background colour, a whimsical script font, and a tiara design, finished with a sparly gem! It was a 'girls only' party, so guests were invited to wear their prettiest princess dress! designed especially for Indigo.

the party...

before I go any further I must include a huge thank you to my sister Jodie and her friend Kylie who came over and spent hours (HOURS...) helping me get everything finished the night before the party!! Without them, them party would simply not have happened! And, I must also thank my husband and boys for so graciously accepting that this was a 'girls only' party, and going out for the day to leave us to it! x

the party table (with the cake table in the background)...
starting with a simple white table cloth and hessian runner... branches ran down the centre and an assortment of lolly-filled apothecary jars, cupcakes, and paper flowers completed the whimsical tablescape

places were set with a princess tiara, name tag, and a little package filled with beads and ribbon for their first activity
to tie the tiaras into our whimsical princess theme, simple store bought plastic tiaras were given a handmade feel with clear crystal gemstones, and felt flowers and leaves (perhaps I could do a tutorial on these?)

one of my favourite elements was the assortment of repurposed jars, wrapped with a paper doily and tied with twine.  For the flowers we created miniature tissue pom poms, attached them to florists wire and finished with a hanging crystal.
cupcakes finished with green icing and an adorable rice paper flower sat upon sweet little cupcake pedestals

the cake table was left quite simple, so as not to compete with the other decor...

baking is not one of my strong points...so after years of insisting on making birthday cakes I caved in and ordered one!! I was so pleased with how well the princess cake from Miss Mauds co-ordinated.  I ordered it without decoration and simply finished it off with ribbon and lavender sugar flowers...and it sat perfectly with the rest of the party!

arnotts rice cookies (another cheat!), topped with green icing and finished with purple sprinkles...simple but delicious!

mallow pops...

the girls loved their personalised drink bottles!

games & activities

at this point I must thank two of the mums who stayed and helped with all the activities!! Andrea and Rebecca, I truly appreciated you jumping in and helping, you are amazing! Thank you! x

on arrival the girls each created their own princess bracelet...so sweet!


one of the things Indigo insisted on having for the party was 'rapunzel hair'...so we found these little plaited hair ties and for their next activity the girls decorated them with sticky gemstones...to create their own 'rapunzel' hair plait!... they then all loved popping them into their hair and parading their new 'long hair'!


next we sat down to watch a little 'Tangled' while they each had their nails polished and decorated with butterfly decals! 

next they decorated a cupcake with gorgeous enchanted garden cupcake toppers from Jamosie Sweet (a special thank you to Janelle from Jamosie Sweet for getting these done so quickly and perfectly! And they arrived all the way from Melbourne without a single piece broken! ...the most gorgeous edible cupcake toppers, take a look at her gallery! x)
 
and, of course, no party is complete without pass the parcel...the wrapping was inspired by one of the images from our pinterest inspiration board! Each layer had a unique felt flower hairclip which my sister and I made...which unfortunately I didn't get a good photo of :( 

thank you gifts

and after a fun, princessy party...Indigo's friends went home with big smiles on their faces and a sweet little noodle boxes filled with princess goodies!

(oh, and the best bit for me... dropping indigo to school on Monday to be greeted by her friends who told  me it was the 'greatest party ever!')



Tanya x
  
credits
styling & photography - tanya from the candy tree
printables - the candy tree
apothecary vases - sweet little birdy
cupcake toppers - jamosie sweet
cupcake cases and rice paper flowers - glad tidings, canning vale, wa
helpers - Jodie, Kylie, Andrea & Rebecca...thankyou again! x

Monday, June 6, 2011

{free printable} ...sleeps until my birthday

please pop over to Little Red Bus blog to see our latest contribution ...a gorgeous printable project to create for your little one, to count the sleeps until their birthday! x

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

{hello} indigo's party, pinterest and our first birthday!!

Hello lovelies!

It seems I've neglected our little blog of late :(

Life has been very busy with party bookings and custom stationery orders (and, ahem...my new little project...) that there just haven't been the hours in the day!

I wanted to pop in though, and give you a {teeny} peek at the invitations for Indigo's 5th birthday party, which is next week...a princess party with a touch of purple and green, a pinch of rapunzel and a dash of handmade!


I created a board at pinterest to collect inspiration for the party {I've only just discovered pinterest this week...oh my goodness, I love it!}...here's a little preview...

...you can take a closer look here

Haven't heard of pinterest? It's amazing! You can create virtual pinboards of images you love, and it keeps a track of where you have collected the images from...you can then share the boards with friends, have others visit and repin your images...did I mention I love it? I must thank my friend Jacq from Funky Dory for inviting me!!

Oh, and it's also The Candy Tree's 1st birthday this month!! hmmm how to celebrate...any suggestions?

Tanya x

Monday, May 16, 2011

{food allergy awareness} food allergy awareness week


This week is Food Allergy Awareness Week!

Food allergies are a really important consideration when planning any party, but especially for children! It really isn't hard to accomodate children with allergies...it just takes a little consideration.  Ask parents when they rsvp if their child has any allergies...if so, then ask the parent or search the web for suitable recipes.  You have no idea how much it will be appreciated by both the parents and the party guest!

If you would like to find out more please pop over to the Food Allergy Awareness Week or Allergy Facts websites.  There are some great resources to download and share with your school.

We would love to hear your stories and favourite party recipes to share in a new 'food allergy awareness' category. You can share your stories over at our facebook page, where we will be discussing food allergies all week...or email me tanya@thecandytree.com.au

Tanya x

Monday, May 2, 2011

{free printables} mother's day gift bag & tags

sweet printable mothers day gift bag & tags
Our latest contribution has just been posted at little-red-bus

click here to view the post and download yours!

hope you love them!
Tanya x

Thursday, April 21, 2011

{free printable} easter colouring page


Keep your little ones busy this weekend with a fun easter colouring page!