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I am finally ready to share photos from our Royal Tea Birthday Party! I was so happy with how the entire party turned out, I was excited to see how all of my DIY projects worked into the event. Little Miss absolutely loved it, I will sure have a hard time matching it next year!

The table, complete with tiaras for the girls and foam swords for the boys

One of my DIY Centerpieces with Princess Crown Lollipops

DIY Goodie Bags, Pink for girls and Blue for boys

Cake & Cupcakes on my DIY Cupcake Stand

Putting on her Princess Dress

What's a Princess dress without the Jewels?

Time for Tea!

Yummy Food!

Meeting Cinderella

Storytime with Cinderella

Happy Toddler = Happy Family!

I want to thank Rusella Photography for capturing this for us. Not having to worry about taking pictures and hosting a party was a huge relief.

TeaParTea is such a great venue, they went above and beyond to help out during the party. 

The cake and cupcakes were from Shockley's Sweet Shoppe. They are just the sweetest people and were very budget friendly. Plus, their stuff tastes amazing!
   
Believe it or not, this party did NOT break the bank. Last year we went to a local bounce house for her birthday. We spent the same amount of money as we did this year but didn't have nearly as much fun and I felt like it wasn't a very unique experience.

I don't have the space in our townhouse to throw a party here. Plus parking is terribad. So having a party at home is not an option. 

Here are my tips for making the most of your party $$ and keeping your party unique:

- Have your party during the week.
      By doing this, I paid almost HALF of what it would cost
      to have the party on a weekend. 

- Go with cupcakes instead of cake.
      An intricately decorated cake can be costly! If you want
      bling on your cupcakes, buy it separately. I picked up
      the edible pearls on sale for less than a dollar. I simply
      added it to the cupcakes myself!
                                  -OR-
      If you are good at baking, make it yourself!  
 
- Be crafty!
      By making my own centerpieces, cupcake stand, and 
      goody bags I was able to save alot but make the party 
      still look great! Check out all the tutorials HERE.  I was
      able to get multiple uses out of a few things, like the candy
      used in the decorations was also given out for the goody
      bags at the end of the party.  

And if you have the extra money, hire a photographer to take pictures for the party. Of course you could always just have a designated friend take pictures too! Last year, I had about 10 photos of the party and I was in NONE of them. My daughter is going to look back and wonder where I was! I didn't want to worry about taking pictures and being a good hostess, so spending the money was very much worth it to me. Plus, these pictures are far better than what my camera is capable of taking. It wasn't very expensive either!

The party was perfect for our little princess!

 
 

Easy DIY Party Centerpieces

The next project for Little Miss's upcoming birthday party: Come up with centerpieces!

I ordered princess tiara lollipops, tea pot lollipops, chocolate gold coins, candy bracelets, and small plastic wands from Oriental Trading (I love when they have free shipping codes!). I wanted all of these to go into goodie bags, but then I came up with a new idea - Use them all in the centerpieces! And when the guests start to leave, they can take the candy out of the centerpieces ala candy buffet style. This way I won't end up with centerpieces I may never use again!

Since I had tulle and ribbon left over from making the cupcake stand and goodie bags, I decided to incorporate the remains into the centerpieces.

 
Does anyone else have a cabinet full of vases from flower arrangements over the years? Well I have one very full cupboard and decided to use a few of these vases for the centerpieces. I used craft glue to attach ribbon around the vases to give them all a unifying look.

Small round vase filled with tulle and chocolate gold coins

Princess Tiara lollipops in a medium yellow vase, first stuffed with grocery bags then topped off with the tulle.

Tea Pot lollipops in another small vase

Another small round vase, filled with candy bracelets

 
The taller vases I first stuffed with plastic grocery bags then topped them with tulle before adding in the wands or candy.

I made sure to buy plenty of candy to ensure if the kids grabbed a few before it was time to stuff their goody bags, there would be enough left at the end!
 
    
 
 

DIY Cupcake Stand

The first item on my DIY list for Little Miss's 3rd birthday party was a cupcake stand. Last year, we bought one of those cheap cardboard cupcake stands that matched all of the Elmo supplies we bought at the party store. Considering the price, it really was a piece of crap. It barely held all the cupcakes and it was flimsy. When I decided to serve cupcakes again this year, I decided I was going to make my own cupcake stand.

I wanted to make a cupcake stand that I would be able to re-use and personalize for whatever occasion needed. Since we are going with a "Royal Tea Party" theme for the birthday party, I decorated the cupcake stand accordingly.

Its perfect for a little princess's birthday tea party!

I bought all of supplies at Michael's: 

Wilton Round Silver Cake Base 10in., 2 pack
Wilton Round Silver Cake Base 12in., 2 pack
Ribbon, 1in. wide
Tulle Fabric Bolt
3 Flower pots, 2.5 in.
4 Plastic Solo cups
Silver metallic spray-paint
Hot glue


First I spray painted the 3 flower pots and 4 plastic cups with the silver metallic spray-paint.

Next I simply glued the ribbon to the edge of the cake bases, except on the bottom base I glued the tulle down first then topped off with a ribbon. For the tulle, I glued then gathered, glued then gathered. Be prepared for hot glue on your fingers! The key is to allow a few moments for the glue to set before moving onto the next set of gathers. Otherwise you end up with hot glue & tulle all over in the wrong places.

For each base, I measured to find the exact center. Then I used hot glue to attach the flower pots to the bases. 

After waiting for all the glue to set, I glued the bottom base onto the 4 plastic cups.

Pretty simple, huh?

The only thing that I was unappeased about was how the hot glue did not dry clear on the flower pots, it looks yellowish to me. But I know once all of the cupcakes are on the tiers no one will be able to see that minor imperfection :)

You can use a variety of things to space the tiers instead of flowers pots. I almost used plain, wooden candle sticks but I wanted something wider. I found cute, plastic containers but they weren't as tall as I wanted. 

I spent a little more money on the cake bases because these are thick, sturdy, and wipe-able. They are also grease resistant and food-safe!

This will be the perfect cupcake stand for the birthday party, my aim is to have cupcakes on the bottom 3 tiers and place a small cake on the top tier!