Party Planning: Strawberry Shortcake! 2014

With a five year birthday party fast approaching, it's time to start planning and crafting!

First off, let me start buy saying that I hate buying pre-made licensed party supplies.  For one thing it costs much more than plain products.  I can't justify spending money on paper products that will be used for a couple of hours and then be tossed in the trash.  I would much rather make my own and use the savings for something that can be kept and played with.  For example, rather than buy traditional cake toppers I find miniature toys in whatever character Baby Girl has chosen for the year.  That way the cake is cute, fits with the party theme and Baby Girl gets an extra toy ;)

Another reason I choose not to buy pre-made products is because for me it's just too trendy.  I have never been one to follow others and party decor is no exception.  Besides, it's much more fun to make your own!

This year Baby Girl decided upon Strawberry Shortcake for her party theme.  We began our prep by creating small strawberries for the table tops and large strawberries for wall hangings.

The materials: scrap booking paper in red and a couple shades of green.

First I cut out a couple of different sized red strawberry shapes and some leafy green tops.  I didn't use a pattern here, but instead sketched out a few shapes until I found one I liked.  Once I found a good one, I used it to trace all the rest.

Here you can see the leafy tops attached to the strawberry shapes.

 (I used a little bit of school glue)

The shapes were great, but needed a little detail.  

A brown marker was perfect for adding 'seeds' and a bit of dimension to the leafy tops.

I really like  how they turned out; simple but effective!  

Want to know another secret?  I always create my paper decorations with scrap booking in mind.  Once the party is over I will re-use these as embellishments/ backgrounds when I scrap the party photos ;)

The Invitation

First I scoured Pinterest for Strawberry Shortcake wording that I liked.  Once I settled on the phrasing, I simply typed it up and glued it to a piece of the darker green paper.  I positioned a smaller strawberry to one side and then let Baby Girl go to town with her stickers.  

(I always make extra invitations for keepsakes and scrap booking)

Not to be outdone, Baby Girl retrieved her Strawberry Shortcake coloring book and made a few decorations herself!  We'll use these on the walls with the larger paper strawberries.

I hope you enjoyed our party planning!  Thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2014