Firehouse Birthday Fun!

my sweet charlie turned 5 this november - we celebrated with our families, old friends and new classmates at a firehouse theme party! {oh, how mama loves a theme!}


fire truck invitation {discontinued from In Good Company Designs}

the welcoming committee

drink dispenser of lemonade, red cups displayed in a red lunchbox and red paper straws!

 red paper straws displayed in a mason jar, decorated with red grosgrain ribbon and a personalized fire truck sticker

red utensils displayed in red metal buckets {target dollar section}, red plates displayed in a red lunchbox and red napkins held securely in place by a little red wooden fire truck.

dalmation cake pops made by the amazing grandma jane, displayed in a vintage wooden coca-cola crate. {the hubby bought several of these on ebay years ago - finally found a use for them!}

marshmallow and oreo pops displayed in a vintage wooden coca-cola crate. 

marshmallow pops: marshmallows stuck on lollipop sticks and then dipped in white chocolate and then rolled in red, yellow and orange sprinkles.

oreo pops: double stuff oreos with a lollipop stick carefully inserted into the filling, then covered in milk chocolate. placed on wax paper until chocolate  hardened and then decorated with charlie's monogram and age in red icing. 

red and yellow m&ms displayed in red polka dot baking cups

marshmallows dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with orange and yellow sprinkles for a fire effect!  


{i wasn't thrilled with how they looked, but they tasted amazing!}

popcorn and red and yellow m&ms packaged in red and white polka dot favor bags. 

birthday cupcakes with red and white polka dot cupcake wrappers decorated with white icing and 'spray painted' with red food coloring and topped with a red chocolate fire helmet. i used a fire helmet candy mold and red chocolate melting wafters. {i can't with good conscience give the link for the fire helmet candy mold, because they were just plain awful to deal with!}

cupcakes with red and white polka dot cupcake wrappers and personalized fondant cupcake toppers - fire trucks, helmets and dalmations!  i wanted so badly to fib and say i made these cupcake toppers myself - but julie did such an amazing job!

after stuffing ourselves with burgers, dogs and tons of treats, it was time for a super cute fireman relay race, rides around town on a real fire truck,  pretend race car driving in poppy's cars, freeze dance and simon says. {three cheers for our master of ceremonies, hannah!}

it's not a party without favors! yellow polka dot favor boxes individually packaged in a clear bag, tied with a grosgrain ribbon and finished with a personalized fire truck sticker.  

 fire house themed chocolates handmade by the multi-talented uncle ross - who knew he was a master chocolatier?  love that guy! each of the {97} chocolates was individually packaged in a clear bag with a personalized candy bag wrapper!  we used merckens red, yellow and milk chocolate melting wafers and fire truck, helmet, badge and fire hydrant candy molds. 

charlie's birthday fun continued the next day at school with a birthday 'sharing snack' - popcorn and m&ms in personalized red metal mini pails for each classmate. {charlie's favorite treat is popcorn with m&ms in it - can you tell? love to the fabulous meg fay for inventing it a million years ago!} custom vinyl names and fire trucks by the fabulous kelly at 1derfully made! {if you can dream it up, she can create it!}

each of the 'sharing snacks' was individually packaged in a clear bag, tied with a grosgrain ribbon and finished with a personalized fire truck sticker. 

and the most important part - thank you notes! charlie's great grandmother, 'gaerta' would be so proud of him!

{fire truck fill in thank you notes}

much love to teams donneson and otis, the quogue fire department {all volunteers!} and my darling husband, who wrapped every single one of those chocolates! 

yipee..dt is three! {an ice cream theme party}

my darling dagalicious turned three on sunday...so we celebrated with a palm beach ink ice cream theme party!

custom cath kidston fabric name applique by the fabulous kelly at 1derfully made! {if you can dream it up, she can create it!}

it all started with the perfect ice cream cone invitation {and her nickname, dt, even rhymes with three!}

we selected a color palette of bright and light pinks mixed with the prettiest lilly green!

it's not a palm beach ink party without pom-poms! we made ours into a fabulous outdoor chandelier!

munchies table with cath kidston oilcloth tablecloth and cupcake liner centerpiece!

close up of centerpiece!

ice cream cones made with paper mache, unbleached coffee filters & streamers. and lots and lots of hot glue! sadly they did not survive the weather...

hand painted custom ice cream cone sign by the incredibly talented and sweet friend, lissette!

our delicious birthday girl as a baby

the ice cream party table!

mama & daddy serving ice cream to the munchies! {we put the half-gallons of ice cream in a pink polka dot galvanized tub - cute & effective!}

pink & green ice cream cones, dipped in white chocolate and rainbow sprinkles

birthday girl's favorite toppings arranged in glass vases trimmed out with green polka dot grosgrain ribbon and personalized labels

fresh fruit & mint arranged in waffle cones. several guests poured the homemade hot fudge on top - delish!

ice cream cone cake pops made by the ridiculously talented aunt beth, dt's fairy godmother!

pink sweets arranged on a cath kidston cake stand

lollipops arranged in milk glass vases and pink & white iced animal crackers in a pink depression glass bowl. we put ice cream cone stickers on the lollipops for a little extra pop! {ha!}

close up of lollipops

chocolate cupcakes baked in brown ice cream cones with strawberry icing & a cherry on top! {my mom used to make these for us when i was little!}

close up of ice cream cone cupcakes on pink polka dot platter {thanks, aunt karen!}

strawberry lemonade in glass drink dispenser

we removed the outer ring from a psa essentials peel & stick princess stamp, put in a pink ink cartridge and stamped the napkins!

pink & white polka dot favor boxes, filled with ice cream cone shaped marshmallows!

personalized lilly clothesline gift stickers for the favor boxes. that's dt's monogram on the dresses! {mama is slightly obsessed with monograms!}

favor boxes ready to be taken home by little party guests

ice cream cone shaped bubbles tied with pink & green grosgrain ribbon!

many, many thanks to the over the top talented aunt phoebe of phoebe denton photography and dear sweet friend jessie for fabulous party photos...the super stylish lissette for invaluable help with set-up {what an eye for detail she has!} and of course dt's beloved 'aunt beff' whose incredible talents we are so blessed to have in our family! {you were dearly missed, but we forgive you for picking the maldives over jupiter! xoxo}

and most of all to my darling husband, who not only indulges me in my party extravaganzas, but cheerfully helps out with everything while graciously ignoring the huge piles of laundry and noodles with butter for dinner again... i adore you!

'an i scream....you scream... birthday!'

my sweet daughter, dagalicious, (as we call her) is turning 3 in may, and i have been searching for a cute idea for a little party for her. while going through some magazine clippings i discovered an article about an ice cream party - perfect for south florida in may! throw in a slip and slide and some pink lemonade and we are done.

of course i needed to find the perfect invitation, and here it is!

my plan is to set up an ice cream cone station just like this, with all kinds of fun toppings arranged in pretty pink bowls.

and of course you need something slightly healthy so the other mommies aren't horrified by all the junk food. love these fruit filled cones!

the cupcake cone is another easy treat - i remember my mom making these when we were little!

i'm not sure exactly how these flowers fit in - but they are just too adorable not to incorporate. i'm thinking perhaps as centerpieces for the little kiddie tables? aunt beth is bringing over some Cath Kidston oilcloth to make a tablecloth that will go perfectly with our Cath Kidston kiddie china!

and of course we need the perfect favors -- my mom made these recently, but i would need her to fly in to help me make them. she claims they are easy, but i totally don't believe her.

these adorable boxes filled with marshmallow ice cream cones and other sweet treats would be much easier...i'm thinking packaged in a cello bag, tied with grosgrain ribbon and with an ice cream cone sticker?

what do you think? i told dagny she could invite 4 friends....she changes the guest list every 12 minutes! i think i might have to break down and let her add a few more!