One of my best friends was turning 18, and she told me that she never had a birthday party before! I love to plan parties and have people over, so this was completely shocking to me and I knew that it was time to throw her the party of her dreams. I sneakily contacted her boyfriend and mother to find out her favorite things as well as who she would want me to invite. So it was set! She thought she was coming to spend the night at my house - just the two of us - to celebrate her birthday which would be the next day. Little did she know that she would have a house full of lovely ladies waiting for her when she arrived! Her face was absolutely priceless and I think she may have even cried a little - her reaction made all of the planning and prep so worth it!
Of course the minute that I knew I wanted to plan her surprise party, I turned to Pinterest for inspiration. The birthday girl is much like me in that she loves anything sweet, pink, or sparkly! It was so simple to pick out stuff that she would love because it was practically just choosing the things which I would want! So without further adieu, here's all the fab little details from the evening along with some photos of the lovely ladies that filled my home for the night!
The Yummy Treats
The Guac
The guacamole was a total hit and it is so easy to make! "Squish" several avocados together to create the guacamole base - I used four to create approximately 3-4 cups of guac. Next, add "La Mexicana" mild salsa - I buy mine in the produce section of my local grocery store. You don't need a lot of the salsa, just add it to taste. About 1 part salsa for every 2 parts of avocado is about how much I usually add. Then mix up and enjoy! The chips are so yummy too! I used "Tostitos Natural Blue Corn Chips."
The Oreo Truffles
Yep, I'm totally obsessed with these and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I sent home all the extras with the birthday girl after the party because I knew I'd be too tempted to eat them if I didn't. I was so right...I'm totally craving them as I'm writing this post! You can find the recipe for the truffles here! A little tip - the recipe doesn't mention freezing the balls before dipping them in the chocolate but I found that extremely helpful because the balls were more firm and would stay on the skewer better for dipping. I also topped mine off with some cute little sprinkles!
The Greek Yogurt Covered Strawberries
I got my inspiration for this cute little snack here, but there isn't much of a recipe. The best way to go is to purchase fresh strawberries and greek yogurt - I chose "Cabot Vanilla Bean Greek Yogurt." Next, prep your strawberries by removing the stems and cutting them in half. Cover a cookie sheet in wax paper. Then use a skewer to dip the strawberries in the yogurt and lay them on the cookie sheet - flat side down. Then freeze until firm! I sprinkled some colored sugar on them and I think that was the perfect extra touch.
The Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade
This recipe was FAB - find it here! I served it in our crystal champagne glasses but added little bows to the stems for an extra girly touch.
Mini Maple & Applesauce Donuts with Maple Glaze
I recently grabbed the Baby Cakes Mini Donut Maker for a steal of only $7 at Bed Bath & Beyond's after Christmas sale, and these were made using the donut maker & it's recipe guide. I would highly recommend this adorable and super easy appliance! Even at full price it's only $20 - get yours here. The donuts were our yummy breakfast for the morning along with fresh fruit salad.
The Birthday Cake
The Festivities
Thanks Pinterest for the inspiration for this one! I filled balloons with little slips of paper which had an activity that corresponded to the hour written on the balloon. Every hour or half hour the birthday girl had to pop a balloon and see what was written on the note to find out what we'd be doing next. Activities ranged from watching her favorite movie (Sweet Home Alabama), to playing games and opening gifts. The two games that everyone seemed to love most were the human knot and sock wrestling. "Sock wrestling" is explained here - it's idea #8, and "the human knot" is explained here. We had activities leading up until midnight when the birthday girl turned 18!
The Decor
Here's the birthday girl!
The Labels
I obsessed over the adorable little scalloped labels that were on all of the food. I printed out scalloped tags from here and then just glued (or taped) on the pink circles which were easily made on Microsoft Word. You could also just write directly onto the tags! Then I taped the tags onto wooden skewers for the food and tied it onto the punch bowl with a ribbon - and voila! The girls loved the little detail of the tags and I also loved that no one had to ask me "what is this?" - because they already knew! Such a simple but great addition, I think I'm going to be making these for more parties in the future.
The Birthday Banner
I printed off the polka dot triangle-shaped pieces of the banner from here - I just had to enlarge it in microsoft word so it wasn't mini anymore. Then I printed and cut out the letters from Microsoft Word and just glued/taped them on. I used hemp string to attach the pieces to. It really turned out so great!
The Color Scheme
I was going for pink, gold, white, and silver - so my mother's silver and crystal china really came in handy for this! I think the little details of pink throughout the party really pulled together the mix-matched serving trays to make it look great. Also, the birthday girl's favorite flower is sunflowers so I picked some up at the local green market the day of the party.
We all had so much fun and it was really the best time! The birthday girl was beyond surprised and I think she felt super special. That's all for now - I hope this will inspire y'all to throw a pink party sometime soon!
XO,
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