Here are the details of Elle's Tiny Two party including a free PDF download of some of the elements of the party (at the end of the post). This theme worked great for a 2-year-old birthday party, but could be used for so many other occasions.
[invitations]
I wanted "tiny" invitations so I designed the basic size and then created a coordinating envelope template. I cut the envelopes using my Silhouette (Silhouette Users: download the envelope template and mini party hat template from the Silhouette download site soon). I also embellished the invites with glossy accents to give them some texture and dimension - everything looks better with glossy accents or diamond glaze!
[decor]
I hung chinese lanterns with fishing wire above the dessert area. I couldn't find the exact color of teal blue I wanted so I purchased a white lantern and painted it with the food coloring I used for the frosting. It worked great and was simple...just add food coloring to some water in a bowl and paint with a foam brush.
I also printed out several sheets of the patterned paper I designed for the invitation envelopes in both a teal and pink color to use on a variety of decor elements including:
- wrapping around the mini water bottles (I wanted to add a white circle label printed with 2, but ran out of time)
- wrapping around the condiment bottles
- creating food place cards
- embellishing Elle's wrapped presents
[food]
I think the food was a key element in making the party feel truly tiny. We had tiny hamburgers, tiny hot dogs and tiny veggies along with tiny cupcakes and ice cream scoops. Elle also had a tiny-sized cake. My friend Heather baked all of the tiny rolls for the hamburgers and hot dogs (thanks Heather!). She also found the tiny hot dogs at a local Albertsons (Oscar Meyer brand), and I made small 2" hamburger patties. For the veggies, I used the small baby carrots (some are bigger than others - get the small snack size packs), cut up tiny celery sticks, and cut up small peppers from Costco and lucked out with mini cucumbers from Costco.
I also made the cupcakes with 2" paper souffle cups and placed the scoop of ice cream in a 3.25 oz. paper souffle cup with the wooden spoon inserted into the center. For Elle's cake and the cupcakes I embellished them with royal icing shapes and letters....just pipe the royal icing shapes onto a piece of parchment and let harden over night. I loved the small 2 that adorned the top of each cupcake.
[games and favors]
We had about 40 people at the party - 20 adults and 20 kids so I was a little nervous about keeping the kids entertained (ranging in age from 2 to 14). Luckily the weather was nice so the kids could go outside but I also had a variety of tiny games set out including a small kids table covered in freezer paper with crayons, markers and small animal toys to play with and mini games I found at the party store (mini bowling sets, mini uno cards, mini pool).
For the favors, I made tiny notepads of games for two - hangman, tic-tac-toe and the dot game. I put the notepads in a clear bag with a tiny marker and filled with fun-size candy.
Overall, I think the party was a success. Here is a PDF filled with some of the elements I used to make it happen including:
- tiny envelope template
- tiny party hat template
- patterned paper in teal and pink
- tiny game sheets you can cut out and turn into notepads
Enjoy!
(thanks to Heather and Laura for the pictures of the party!)
