Tutti Frutti Girls’ Birthday Party

Spoiler alert: I am a boy mom. 😉 But I have always wanted to throw a bright and colorful party for a little girl. When I had this opportunity to come up with an idea for a girls’ birthday party I jumped on it! I am going to be on the local news tomorrow morning (WBTV Morning Break at 9:20 and 9:40) discussing some kids’ birthday party tips! UPDATE: Here is the link to the birthday party segment. And here is the link to the demo about cutting a pineapple like the one pictured for a fruit tray. I had a hard time narrowing down ideas, but the tutti frutti theme just grabbed my attention. Here are some tips and ideas for how to throw a super-duper cute and kid-friendly tutti frutti party!

I’ve included the menu, that is all themed, the decor, a kids’ activity, and some favor ideas. I also linked to any of the sources that I could in this post. Also, special thanks to my mom for letting me crash their house, and for putting together these adorable flower arrangements!

my main party planning tips:

• Find an invitation you love and use that as inspiration.
• Try to tie in the theme in little ways throughout the party.
• Have a fabric runner.
• If you can, order materials online.
• Always have a fun activity for the kids.
• Use books as party favors.

invitation

When I plan a party I like to start with the invitation. Once I find one that I like and that fits the theme well, I can plan the decor around it. For this party I used Zazzle for printed invites, but I also found a really cute digital one if you prefer email invitations.

decor

Because the invitation has a black background, I used black in the table runners. TIP: you can buy cheap fabric from somewhere like Hobby Lobby or Joanne’s, cut it to fit the middle of your table, and not even sew the edges. My mom taught me this, and I do this for every party I throw. These bold black and white stripe runners were actually from my 30th birthday party that my mom, girlfriends, and husband threw for me!

The balloons were something I knew I had to have. I ordered them from a small online shop, and I do still love them, but unfortunately my favorite one came with holes in it. There is also this option from Amazon!

My mom was at Hobby Lobby and found these cute paper containers for the flowers. This is a way to tie in the theme throughout the party. They’re like little berry baskets you’d buy strawberries in from a farmer’s market. It’s just an extra little touch, and they were only $4 for a pack of 6. She put a plastic cocktail cup inside of them to use as the “vase.” For flowers, anything brightly colored would work well!

The plates and napkins were just too perfect to pass on. Here is where you can find them! Online shopping for the win! They’d also just be really cute to have on hand for summer playdates or a girls’ night.

For the serving pieces, I used a mix of white and wood. I found the little green and white striped paper cups for the popcorn and pretzels from HomeGoods for $1.99 and the yellow cupcake liners are from Hobby Lobby in their summer items.

FOOD

The menu for this party was all focused on fruit:

• Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes. I used this recipe, but just added crushed freeze-dried strawberries and a little lemon juice to my Vanilla Cream Cheese Buttercream
• Pretzels Dipped in Vanilla Candy Coating with Sprinkles
• Party Popcorn
• Fruit Tray (a how-to coming to my blog tomorrow; also demonstrating how to cut a pineapple like this on the news segment this morning)
• Fruit Water. I did kiwi-strawberry-mint and blackberry-blueberry-citrus.
  • Here are the straws I used.
• Fruit Fondue. Grab some cute skewers, and add a variety of diced fruit. I made a chocolate fondue dip by melting 1 cup of chocolate with 1 Tbsp coconut oil. Heat these together in a microwave safe dish for 30 seconds at a time, and stir after each time. It will not take very long, and the stirring helps melt it. This needs to be melted right before serving.
• Strawberry Banana Yogurt

Activity

Fruit Loop necklaces! I bought some colorful cording, cut it to fit around a child’s neck, and strung some fruit on it that I cut from cardstock. I used these graphics. This activity would be appropriate for many ages. All they’ll need to do is string the fruit loops onto their necklace in any color combo they like!

Favors

I used some little pineapple sunglasses that I found at Hobby Lobby, but what I would have actually liked to do is use a book as a favor! I did this for Ridge’s first birthday Teddy Bear Party, and it was so easy! And it means that the kids take home something useful. For a Tutti Frutti party, I would give this book out as a favor. My cousin has it for her kids (along with the vegetable version) and she loves it. It is so cute!

 

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