A VINTAGE PICNIC BIRTHDAY PARTY

So sorry I've been gone for so long.  I've been supporting several friends who had some major problems in their lives. 

Then, I was given two weeks notice that my great niece, Trinity, decided she wanted to have a birthday party for her 11th birthday.

Last year she said she was done with having parties and she only had a few close friends celebrate with her.  They went to spend the night at the Disney CA Adventure Hotel and had a blast. 

Before, I always had a full year to plan, shop and get ready for her parties.  So, only having two weeks was pretty stressful.

She always let's me pick the theme and this year I went with A Vintage Picnic.

We used vintage table cloths, mason jars tied with strips of shabby chic material, paper straws and cut glass beverage containers.

I was a little worried about having glass outside being used by kids but not one item broke. 

The big hit was the paper straws.   All the kids thought they were so fun.  When I told them that all straws were paper when I was their age, they all said how "lucky"  I was and thought it was funny that when straws started to be out of plastic everyone thought they were wonderful.

We had tons of food!  Again there was a mix of using plastic bowls next to a cupcake stand dripping in crystals, a white lace plate sitting on top of a milk glass bowl for added height.

I had made the pink cookies.  I just took Oreo cookies and dipped them in pink chocolate and then sprinkled with mini white nonpareils.  I got several compliments on them. 

I wanted the water bottles to be cute but I didn't want to use the normal labels that are out there.  They are cute and can be printed to say whatever you want on them, yet, I still wanted something different.

So, I prettied them up with scrapbook paper, paper flowers and rhinestones.  I made two different versions.  They came out cute but because of that, many people didn't want to use them.  I had to tell people to drink these and that they were not just for looks.

I knew all the kids were all going to be "winning" prizes at the games they played, so, we really didn't need to have party favors for them.  Even so, I wanted them to have a little something that Trinity could give them as they said good bye.

I took empty bottles of Starbucks coffee drinks, (thanks to my friend Susie for saving these for me) and took all the labels off, washed them up good, spray painted the lids (3 coats were needed) and then once again got the scrap booking paper out and prettied them up. 

Each bottle got filled with gum balls that were fun flavors.

There were little touches of homemade items, like the paper chain and paper flower fans at this table.

Also, picnic baskets were see throughout the area.  Like the little one used to hold the plastic silverware.  I loved how they looked like real silverware.  Until you looked close, you couldn't tell they were plastic.

I tried to buy as little as possible for this party.  When I did buy something I tried to find things either at the thrift stores, discount stores and even the Dollar Tree. 

The little picnic basket was found at a thrift store, the silverware and doilies came from the Dollar Tree.   The white chicken wire basket came from TJ Maxx.  I found three different sizes in the clearance section.  They were brown and while they were cute brown, I wanted them to be white, so out came the can of spray paint.

The location we picked at the park had three picnic tables.  However, they were not together and could not be moved. 

We ended up using the tables for the adults to eat at and sit to watch the kids.  Plus, all the extra "supplies" like food, plates, cups and so on.

The kids all ate old quilts and blankets.

Of course there were also balloons.  After all, it is a birthday party.

Here are the two other chicken wire baskets.  They were used to hold chips and snack mix.  The snack mix would have fallen through the chicken wire so I used some material that came from an old sheet.  It was the same material I used on the mason jars.  I also used the top sheet to this set as the back drop to a photo booth we had and the pillow cases were used in the sack race we had. 

 I made little framed signs to say what the items were and little clip on butterflies were also used throughout the area as was clip on flowers.

Before we knew it, the kids started to show up.  It was party time.

While we were waiting for everyone to show up, the kids had fun going through all the photo booth props and getting their picture taken.

Sadly, the backdrop didn't really show up in many of the photos because the sun was shinning through and so the print didn't show up.  But, it really didn't matter.  There were still many, many laughs going on at that photo booth.

Even some of the adults got into the fun!

There was a little bunny with her pet snake.

A silly nerd and  all sorts of funny get ups.

Trinity was so good about making sure even the little ones got into the fun. 

I love picture!

Even the babies had pictures taken with props.

The fun was just starting.  Once everyone got there, the party really kicked into action. 

Tomorrow, I'll post the rest of party.