Monday 19 September 2016

A picnic birthday party

It is always beautiful to have an ourdoor birthday celebration for little ones.

Since Prachi's little Sara loves being outdoors, when she turned seven they took her celebrations out doors and here is what Prachi put together.... Its simply beautiful.

Teeny tiny picnic baskets were the invitations. To each of the baskets was given a pop of bright pink and green (the colour theme - pink, green and brown), a brown paper scroll that had the party details and a green and pink rubber band around it.


Here is a little poster to direct the tiny guests. 


The chevron bunting and several green paper balls were hung all around, to make the park area even more beautiful than it already was with the lush greens & big trees. 


Prachi used a free alphabet bunting printable to make a third bunting that read, “Happy Birthday Sara”. She printed it on brown paper and used some jute twine and brown pegs to bring it all together.




The party games were the cutest, here is what Prachi says :
After the kids had a little time to settle down we played three picnic games. The invitation card read we’ll run, explore and play and that is exactly what we did. For the first game the children were divided into two teams and we had a relay. I used the triangular flags you saw above to mark the beginning and the end of each activity. The kids had to balance a lemon on a badminton racket followed by maneuvering a ball between some obstacles with their feet and finally balance plates on their head to reach the finishing line. For the second game, we explored. Each child was given this Let’s go exploring card that didn’t take very long for me to make and print. They were also given bags to collect leaves, rocks, branches, etc before they set out for exploration. For the third game, the kids stood in a circle and had to name animals and birds found on earth, in air and in water. The catch was that category was given by the child before them in the circle and they had to be super fast. Also you couldn’t repeat answer. There was obviously a lot of screaming and jumping


Menus... for the kids & adults...


 The menu for the kids was carrot, cucumber and cheese sandwiches, butter and oregano corn, juicy green grapes, potato crisps, dried rose cookies and lemonade.


For the adults homemade falafel, hummus and garlic yoghurt baguettes, a carrot, cucumber, mint and bulghar wheat tabbouleh along with green and black grapes, potato crisps, dried rose cookies and lemonade. There was also coconut water and sparkling water for everyone.


Whats a party without popcorn, peanuts, salted nuts and pumpkin seeds to munch on.


The food was packed into individual portions in picnicky green bags complete with a straw, a spoon and a napkin with a napkin ring around it that was made with origami paper and a “table mat” to place food on as well. (Prachi used large doilies and made a brown paper ring to hold it together). To the green “picnic basket” was a little tag - Let’s Picnic.


For the beautiful setup, they carried furniture from Sara’s room to the park. The below rack for the food bags, her table for the cake and our step ladder for the return gifts. They also took all the rugs from her room for the stuff that was to be put on the ground.

The frames from Saras room that Prachi distressed a few years ago.... were used for decor and to “frame” the little guests for the birthday pictures. Photo booth of sorts.



Aya from Aya cupcakes made this adorable, which was designed by little Sara. Making her dream into reality. 


Pink & green candles for the cake and bamboo plates to serve the cake.


A picnic birthday party cannot be complete without a picnic basket party favor. The tag read: Fly a kite, hunt for fallen flowers, collect a few pebbles, run around, eat a snack, plant a tree and blow some bubbles. Go on a picnic.


The picnic baskets was filled with edible pebbles, umbrella shaped bottles of bubbles and a tiny flower pot. The children also got these colourful kites and wind streamers at the party itself. 


Thats how the little picnic baskets were displayed... on a rug from Saras room. 




Can you see the beautiful setup below... with furniture from Saras room, some on the floor... and an IKEA stood for adding height... 

Simply adorable.. 


The geens with dashes of pink and brown... little ones running around with pink ribbons or flying kites.. What a beautiful birthday this would have been.. 

Monday 12 September 2016

The Little Mermaid Birthday

Kicking off blogging again with a birthday post.

Featuring Sara's 'The Little Mermaid' themed birthday party. You must have seen this on Prachi's Orange Kitchens before... well if not... here it is!! 

The invitations were mermaid treasure bottles with tricoloured sand, a scroll carrying the invitation, a tiny blue star for every mermaid needs some sparkle and a name tag with a ribbon to complete it.


Tons of blue balloons and paper flowers were used as decor. All mommys smart DIY ideas! 


I loved this shadow box idea... makes for a pretty centerpeice too.
Prachi put together this shadow box with one of her favourite quotes. A bottle similar to the invitation, some shells and loads of sparkly white and blue stars. It is such a fantastic idea for personalised wall decor.


The little - tiny mermaids and the pirates were welcomed with this rubber tube on our front door or the “mermaid wreath” as Sara likes to call it.



Then they got to play three games. The first one pin the fin on the mermaid (below).


The second game was a creative edge on the very popular limbo. The kids played under the sea limbo with the song “Under the sea” from the movie The Little Mermaid playing in the background. 

The mermaids got mermaid artprints to colour as prizes.

The third and final game was treasure hunt in the sand pit. Each mermaid/pirate had to find one fish eraser, one glitter box and a pair of blue rubber bands (replaced with little dinosaurs for the boys).


Here is another fantastic idea... The yearly ritual of asking the guests to write down a little something for Sara for us and her to look at and smile years later. 


Elna from Cake Witch made this beauty. 


The menu for the party was:
  • Star fishes (star fish shaped sandwiches with grated carrot, cucumber and cream cheese filling)
  • Conch shells (shell shape pasta with red sauce made with tomatoes, carrots, celery and leeks)
  • Mermaid rocks (puff pastry vol au vents with a corn pesto filling)
  • Seaweed (green grape mini skewers)
  • Oysters with pearls (homemade butter cookies with a light blue frosting and white buttons for pearls)
  • Shark’s teeth (Mini cheese triangles)
  • Seawaves (Store bought  multigrain waves with homemade yoghurt dip)
  • Goldfish (well..just because and the kids didn’t touch these..don’t know whether to be happy or sad :)))
  • Mermaid magic potion (orange and mango juice)
  • Seawater (water)








The last activity of the day was the pinata for which Prachi used a paper lantern and added white and blue crepe steamers to resemble the tentacles of the jelly fish, filled it up lots of little goodies.


And finally a little gift for the little ones... Each bucket carried a little thank you note that read “May you always have a shell in your pocket and sand in your toes”.


Let us know what you think of this fantastic themed birthday!! I can't wait to show you Sara's 7th birthday preparations!! *smiles*