Garden Party

After seeing Norman & Jules, the most perfectly curated children’s toy store with the prettiest outdoor space, at Lilly’s friend Gray’s party last year, I knew where we were celebrating her third birthday (nine months out)! And, since she’s three, it was time to get sophisticated (no more character- Sophie, Peppa– parties for her). My girl is obsessed with flowers. Every day, we must stop to smell, feed and talk to them. She’s also very into fairy wands. Not so much the wings or the costumes but the wands. So a fairy garden party it was! And it worked perfectly with the space. The thing that didn’t? The weather. You take a gamble throwing an outdoor party (or wedding!) in May. And, as our luck would have it, the day we planned for was a complete washout. Luckily, we were tracking it, knew ahead of time and, three days prior, moved everything to the day before- that was fun! But everyone was so accommodating and most could make it. It was still about ten degrees too cold (no planned party dress for Lilly and the water table was a bit daring) but, hey: No rain, no complaints!

P.S. Does anyone else struggle with invites for a toddler’s party?! With family, family friends, neighborhood pals and, now, classmates, narrowing down the list for my three-year-old was harder than our wedding! I chose to stick to only girls from her class (plus the one boy who is also a family friend) and the neighborhood buddies we see on a regular basis and Lilly talks and asks about but, boy, it was stressful! Which sounds ridiculous, I know. I’m fearful for the pre-teen years when she’s actually aware and has an opinion.

Paperless Post invite that I had printed.

I had my favorite calligrapher do some custom signs like this one for Lilly’s Flower Shop. Galvanized vases with faux flowers (so the kids could go crazy with them!) from Afloral.com, who have so much more than just flowers- vases, cake stands, etc!

Moss letter that I stuck in one of the flower boxes.

The best grandparents Lilly could ever ask for.

Individual stems that I arranged in a wood planter.

One of my favorite parts of the party was this floral crown station (baby bands for the infants, wreaths for the girls and leaves for the boys) plus these natural fairy wands that I fell in love with.

I was in love with how the dessert table turned out thanks to help from my friend Brooke and intern Carly as well as the lovely people at Norman & Jules, my parents, Zach’s parents… (Forget raising a child, it takes a village to prep a good party!) This love balloon is the impetus for our new shop. I’m so into it, I decided to launch an entire e-commerce portion of the site! It makes for the perfect party prop and is so pretty for baby and bridal showers, weddings, not to mention engagement and family shoots.

I’m always looking to do something fresh and since we already had custom signage with the “Lilly’s Flower Shop”, I didn’t feel the need to do a traditional “Happy Birthday” banner. So, instead, I showered her- and all our guests- with love, in rose gold, naturally. Is there any other color right now?

We’re also selling these beautiful number (and script) cake toppers in the shop. Since it was in an outdoor setting, with a lot of natural elements, I went with a wood palette, which is new for me but I love the way it turned out. It paired perfectly with the greenery, tons of white and pops of pink and rose.

Mini floral crown donut toppers that my fabulous intern Carly made.

I’m obsessed with Belvoir Fruit Farms lemonade. It’s my go-to spring and summer drink. Seriously, if you haven’t tried it, you’re missing out. And I love, love, love the packaging. Plus, the elderflower and elderflower rosé went perfectly with our garden party and color palette. It’s like they were made for this event. Buy some here and here.

For those interested in something a little stronger, we served, what else, rosé champagne with sprigs of dried lavender.

A Melamine platter made the perfect serving tray for a little rosé. Mismatched cups in the similar vintage patterns lined the windowsills with flowers, acted as holders for markers and scissors and cups for the kids to play with at the water table.

I used a wood crate from Homegoods and a floral bowl from Shop Sweet Lulu, both flipped upside down, for leverage, to create varying heights.

Donuts from Green Mountain Mini Baked. Debbie, the owner and creator, is fantastic to work with and whips up awesome concoctions like maple and bacon, chocolate chip pancake, s’mores, Reese’s peanut butter cup and cookie dough donuts.

And Malvi made homemade marshmallows (huge right now!) in cotton candy and vanilla salted caramel sandwiches. I’m not normally a big marshmallow person but they were ridiculously good- and so cute! And I made some Rice Krispie Treats in bite-size stars and on sticks to mimic the fairy wands. I also planned on passing mini star ice cream sandwiches but… they melted. Next time: Dry ice.

The cutest Liberty liners (and napkins, plates, cutlery, etc.) from Meri Meri.

Liberty canapé plates.

Mini watering cans and flower pots filled with styrofoam were scattered at different tables along with ceramic markers, stickers, letters and flowers for each child to decorate however they chose.

They got creative and used the cans on the big flowers, grass, at the water table and…

… to drink out of!

Liberty crackers filled with confetti for the kids to pop open and make a mess with a snapshot of the birthday girl. I’ve used this frame at our wedding, her first birthday, countless other parties and now this one. I love the history it has.