Lemonade Party

July 11, 2019/Nat

Okay, more house. Less stand. We’ve done the traditional stand so we decided to mix it up this time. We love our outdoor playhouse that we DIY’d last fall. It started like this and we took off the upper door, painted it white and, voilà, the perfect canvas for any celebration. At Christmas, we tricked it out with some holiday decor. And, two weeks ago, when we hosted our first outside play date of the season, we thought the perfect way to welcome summer was to throw a lemonade themed party!

I purchased the lemonade banner on Amazon and swapped out the green ribbon for white to better go with the color scheme. The kit came with other items that I wasn’t planning on using for this occasion and thought they’d be fun for Lilly to play with later. But, the mini striped tent was so cute and the house needed a little something more, so I cut them down and used them as awnings, which pulled the whole look together. I love when a last minute addition works out, especially since that’s not usually the case with me. It’s quite often the other way. I have a vision, it doesn’t turn out the way I want or it looked in my head, it’s down to the wire and ends up being scrapped altogether.

I put some good old rainbow popsicles (Yes, I picked out only the yellow cause I’m crazy like that.) in a bowl with ice and stuck it in the freezer till go time. Note to self: Take it out a few minutes before serving next time, or place it in the fridge. I left it in until the last minute and our impatient guests had to wait for them to thaw as they were attached to the ice. There’s always at least one takeaway at each party for me. By the time Lilly’s in college, I should have it all sorted!

Speaking of my girl, she definitely inherited the love of party planning from her mama. She gets so excited about picking out items and decorating together. And, also much like her mother, she’s the perfect, overly excited, slightly frenetic hostess.

Oliver’s job is to stare everyone (and everything!) down and steal as many treats as possible.

I purchased many of the items at the Target dollar bin, a.k.a. my home away from home. Sadly, I can’t link to them, but check your local store as I just saw the yellow crate, lemon board (that I wrote on with paint pen) and striped money jar there yesterday! The plastic shaker with fake lemon slices was just for fun as were the fake lemons in the jar. In addition to the kids being able to play with them, they made for pretty cute props.

I painted this white wooden tray and just wrote on it with a black Sharpie. And picked up this striped plastic dispenser so the kids could do their own drink pouring, which was so fun for them.

The adult spiked lemonades I made ahead of time and put them in glass carafes with lids and stored them separately from the kids. I made lemonade ice cubes (and placed a lemon slice in them) so the drinks wouldn’t get watered down. I precut additional lemon slices with a slit in one side so my guests could easily use it as a garnish for their glass. And, I had a dish of fresh mint for those that wanted to elevate their beverage a bit.

They were so good and went down a little too easy!

For snacks, I stuck to the sweet theme and put out lemon candies, lollipops and iced cookies and lemon Moravians. The striped napkins are old, but these adorable lemon ones are still available!

The iced cookies come in a pack with cherries and watermelons. I didn’t put those out, but, instead, wrapped sets of 3 up in cellophane bags and gifted my guests with them when they left saying, “I’m sure you’re sick of lemons by now, here’s some other fruit!”

We blew up the big water slide, put up the bounce house, got out the sprinkler and inflatable pool, along with some water balloons, and let the kids cool down both with the activities and the cold beverages.