Shabby Chic 3rd Birthday Tea Party!

Today I am thrilled to share with you all the details of the girls' shabby chic 3rd birthday tea party. I had so much fun planning, searching, creating and baking for their party. I made all of the food for the party as well as all of the decorations and borrowed a few things from my sister and mom and found several things at an antique store. I decided a long time ago that I wanted to do a tea party but my vision and inspiration for the party centered all around the pretty dresses I found for the girls at The Children's Place (see bottom right corner of collage). From there, I decided to create much of the party decor using the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan collection by American Crafts. I loved the soft colors paired with white for a shabby chic flair. Here's a look at the details...

The lighting is not the best in my kitchen so please bear with me for some of these photos... I created a banner using a sheer butterfly album by Maya Road and patterned paper from the Neapolitan collection. I'll share a detail shot of the banner later...

Here's a closer look at the table...I'll share more about the pieces individually but what I wanted to point out most was the tablecloth. I picked up this beautiful bargain for $2.00. Yes, I said $2.00! My sisters and I went on an adventure at Chuck's Bargain Barn (local to my hometown) and I found this beauty. I saw it and couldn't resist and after washing it up realized it was in PERFECT condition. No stains or rips anywhere and it was the perfect color. A beautiful linen fabric with tiny grey cross-stitches. I keep picturing a sweet lady lovingly working on this masterpiece. I LOVE it!

Next up is the centerpiece for the party. Michael's just happened to have tea cups and coffee pots and tea pots and I was thrilled to find them. I covered the little flower pots with patterned paper from the Neapolitan collection and painted everything white. I sprayed the wooden pieces with adhesive and then added some white glitter. Pretty, pretty. The tea cups and pots were hot glued to dowels that I painted brown. The little banner is part of the Flutterbys in the Neapolitan collection. I simply hot glued the thread to keep it in place. The little white birdies were a last minute addition to the party decor that I found at Michael's for $2.00 each.

I made the girls tea party bonnets (that they wore in a different photo shoot - I'll share those photos in a layout soon). I had picked up these straw hats in the Target dollar spot around Easter time when they were babies and they had never worn the hats. I simply hot glued flowers and pearl and silver picks that I found at Michael's to the hats. 

I found these giant wooden tea pots at Michael's (I think they were only $3-$4 each). I covered them with music patterned paper from the Neapolitan collection and some white paint and glitter. A paper doily, Flutterbys and a pinwheel decoration from Neapolitan helped complete them. The little chalkboard I picked up at Joann's for a few dollars and added a pinwheel to it. 

Here's a closer look at the banner. I loved the "Smile" sentiment and thought that was perfect for the middle butterfly. The banner pieces are Papertrey Ink dies and I simply sewed the butterflies and banner pieces together. I tied tulle in between all the pieces.

Here's a tea set we used as a centerpiece in our sun porch. I borrowed the silver tray from my mom and the rest of the pieces came from Chuck's Bargain Barn. The tea pot was around $10, the creamer and sugar ($1.00 each) and the tea cups and saucers were $2.00 each). 

I made the girls party hats with patterned paper from Neapolitan. I cut a large circle from the center of a piece of patterned paper and then cut that in half so that I had two half circles. I formed a cone shape and hot glued it. The tissue trim is by Melissa Frances. The tea pots are Maya Road and the pearl and silver picks came from Michael's. I picked up elastic string at Hobby Lobby to help keep the hats on and simply stapled that on the inside of each hat. 

And now for my baking masterpiece - ha! I am by no means a good cake decorator but I can make it simple and that's exactly what I did. I used my favorite cake and buttercream frosting recipes from Kevin and Amanda. I used a star tip on the top of the cake and the bottom edge. To decorate, I used lollipop sticks, more of the Flutterbys banner pieces, a couple of paper doilies hot glued together, and another sheer butterfly piece. (This was easy to stick on with some extra frosting).

This next photo ended up becoming a pretty centerpiece as well. (I so want to steal that 3-tiered stand from my sister! She was awesome for letting me borrow it!) I have to make the girls their own cupcakes because of their food allergies so the cupcakes were all for them. The ruffled liners are Martha Stewart that I picked up at Michael's and I made toothpick flags for them using patterned paper and stickers from the Neapolitan collection. The doily toothpick flags are by Martha Stewart. I also baked cream wafer cookies and little mini pecan pie tarts. 

The color on this photo is not my favorite but I made marshmellow treats on lollipop sticks by dipping them in Wilton candy melts and sprinkles. The tray is a vintage one I borrowed from my sister.

Here's a look at the food table...we had sandwiches on cocktail buns, an assortment of salads and chips...mostly finger foods. 

At the end of the party, I had the girls hand out these party favors with a couple of caramel chocolate kisses in them. The little bags came from Michael's. I stamped and embossed them with doily stamps from My Mind's Eye. The tea pots, etc. are by Maya road and twine by Martha Stewart. 

And here's my sweet girls again in their party hats...

Thanks so much for looking today...I would love to hear what you think! I wish there was a market for birthday party planning in my neck of the woods because I would love to do it! ;) I should also mention that Emma's Paperie is a great place to pick up paper crafting products for your party needs! All of the pieces I got from the Dear Lizzy collection came from Emma's Paperie!

Have a great day! :)