You're Invited Gifts, Paper, Events | Nashville Party Event Wedding Planner: Birthday party

In September, I had the pleasure of working with the lovely Allen family on their father's 85 birthday celebration at the Noah Liff Opera Center. The birthday honoree was so much fun to work with, and he really wanted his guests to have a great time as he celebrated his 85 birthday. Music was an important element for this family for the evening.

The evening started off with a cocktail hour in the lobby, accompanied by a pianist on a baby grand piano. After the cocktail hour, guests were whisked into the Opera Studio for a concert by a string quartet. A formal sit-down menu, by Sargeant's Catering, immediately followed. After the dinner ended, guests were treated to several surprise operatic performances. After the opera singers received a standing ovation, guests joined in for a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday! Leland Riggin's Dessert Designs caramel cake was served, along with homemade apple fritter ice-cream. I can't think of a better way to end an evening!

(The picture below is of me and the birthday honoree! I had to wear my "O" dress since the event was held at the Noah Liff. If you haven't been there, you will see recurring "O's" throughout the decor.)

Here are some additional photos that Kristen Steele took at the event.

My son, Will, just turned 2 and we just celebrated his birthday. Since little boys are made of frogs, snails and puppy dog tails, we celebrated with a Frogs and Dogs party.

Here is the invitation we sent (of course it came from You're Invited).

My 3 year-old, Lillie Claire (who is quite the avid baker) helping me make the frog and dog cupcakes!

This is the sign on my front door that let guests know to come on in.

I had these frogs in each of the windows in my kitchen, and I even put one on the mirror in the guest bathroom. They said things like "Will is 2!", and "Thanks for hopping by!" I found the frogs in the $1 bin at Target. They are meant to be toothbrush holders, but I knew I could somehow use them at my party.

After deciding on a theme "Frogs and Dogs", I decided to stick with primary colors. I wanted to use lots of greens, blues and reds. As you can see from my dessert tablescape, I wanted to keep it simple but fun and festive.

I made a pennant flag banner (I found a DIY tutorial online) and kept with green, red and blue. I sewed the flags and hung them from twine and had my husband string them across our family room. Here's the result:

Here is a picture of the "Frog Pops" I made. They are simply marshmallows on a lollipop stick, dipped in white chocolate and coated with sprinkles. This was probably the biggest hit at Will's party. I wrapped a box in a fun striped green paper and stuck the lollipops in the box.

Will totally digging his birthday cupcake. Check out his adorable dog applique shirt I had made for his party! Once I set a theme, I run with it!

Pictures of the children's table. I found frog princes and frog princesses on clearance from Orientaltrading.com (they were Valentine's Day frogs) and I used those on the tables. I also had melamine dog bowls to hold animal cookies throughout the table, which I found in the $1 bin at Michael's.

For a fun craft activity, we decorated dog tags with stickers. I covered a board in batting and red fabric and stapled gunned it to hold it taut (similar to reupholstering a seat cushion). I used the board to hang all the dog tags from gold tacks. I then took a fine point Sharpie and wrote each child's name on the dog tag. I covered the "craft station" in a fun dog print fabric I found at JoAnn's. As the children sat down, I handed each one their dog tag and passed around frog and dog stickers. They really seemed to enjoy getting to decorate their own necklace.

Here is a picture of the menu card I made.

It says "Will's Hoppy Birthday Menu "

I divided the menu into 2 sections. The first section is for the children, which I called "For the Tadpoles." You'll notice "Pup"cakes (instead of cupcakes) and Frog Pops. I always try to come up with fun, unique words to describe the party's theme.

Here's a picture of the adult section of the menu, which I called "For the Big Dogs." I also chose to make gourmet cupcakes for the adults. Kids love any kind of cupcake, but I like to offer adults a more grown-up version!

Pictures of the adult's table at the party:

Coffee chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter mousse icing and sprinkled with chopped peanuts with a chocolate drizzle sauce.

The adult cupcakes looked like the children's; however, these were a white wedding cake with a homemade vanilla buttercream frosting. They were delicious, if I do say so myself!

We were going to play some games outside, but due to the weather, we had to keep everything indoors. I had decided to do a duck game, where the ducks are floating in a pool and you have to choose a duck and see if it has a star on the bottom. Due to the weather, I had to change it up a little. Instead, I filled a small galvanized tub with raffia and "floated" the ducks on the raffia. I had all the kids sit in a circle in the floor and we played "Pass the Bucket" and choose a duck. You'll notice that the "ducks" for this game are actually dogs! How cute is that! Orientaltrading.com has some fun, inexpensive items for parties.

Here are the prizes for the "Pass the Bucket" game. All the prizes were found at Michael's, and were in the $1 bin. We gave away frog sunglasses, and wooden paint sets of frogs and dogs.