My very dear friend Andrea is a great party planner. I love to get invitations to her parties: everything from a low-key, make your own panini party (let’s just say I have to duplicate the apricot, prosciutto ham and cream cheese panini that I made at her house!) to more sophisticated birthday parties and holiday dinners.
Andrea puts working moms to shame and really considers the details. For her youngest daughter’s first birthday she had a party with a pinwheel theme. It was colorful and downright cute. What was so great were the details that she took time to include. She’s letting me post her secrets here so that you can create this pinwheel birthday party at home.
The birthday girl in her birthday tutu.
Happy Birthday banner. The letters are made from paper and strung on ribbon that is tacked to the wall.
I love this. Andrea took a simple mason jar and put in some colorful green ribbon, then placed the pinwheel in the jar. She had these on the main table holding the cake, and throughout the house.
Same premise here, she jut used a flower vase with some matching pink and green paper confetti.
Party hats! Even the hats match! The birthday girl’s hat has a subtle tag on her hat so there is no mistaking the party is for her.
Again with the details … the birthday girl’s high chair was decorated in coordinating colors with a pink “skirt” velcroed to the tray. Made for great cake-eating photos.
So, these were just simple, plain green and pink cups. Andrea added a pinwheel sticker to make them personalized.
Here’s the cake. So sweet. All pink and green. All matchy-matchy with the decorations. A local bakery made this gem and I can tell you that it tasted delicious. I had a lovely piece cut for me and started eating it when I had to do something with my daughter (Adele’s first friend), she must have been trying to get into something. Well, I put my cake down on the table and went into another room. When I went back to finish my piece of cake it had been cleaned up and thrown out by some well meaning house guests!
What’s a woman to do? I went back and got an entire new piece and gobble it up before the cleaning crew came around again.
Here’s a close up of the cake. The icing looks like butter cream, but I think it was fondant. Decadent, actually edible, fondant.
The entire table display. Simple, yet elegant and welcoming.
Party time! Getting ready for the cake.
All the guests went home with gift bags filled with home made cookie treats. The bags were customized with a sticker thanking everyone for coming and topped with a mini-pinwheel that was glued to a tiny close pin.
Resource list:
- Pinwheels, party hats, banner: www.pinwhirls.com
- Cake from Party Flavors: https://www.orlandocustomcakes.com
- Tutu outfit (onsie, tutu and headband): https://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetiepietutus
- Favor labels, pinwheel stickers (on cups): Kate, one of the Haute Apple Pie bloggers made these. She’s a graphic designer at www.goldandtwig.com. We’re not sure if she really makes these for sale, but when asked, she made them for Andrea.
Although we didn’t make these for the party, my pinwheel sugar cookies would be a perfect treat for this party. Make them in a matching color!
Comments & Reviews
Stacey says
Oh wow! This is so adorable; makes me want a youngin’ to celebrate for!!! HaHa!! Too cute!!
Jean Lewis says
What a great post. I loved all the stuff. And the cake looked amazing. Way to go Andrea. We can all learn from you. Maybe you Andrea should go into the kiddie party planning business.