August 13, 2015 - the portuguese american mom

When my daughter turned one, I knew I wanted to have a “girly” kind of party with pink and green being the featured colors. But, her birthday is in December. December birthday’s are tough because you are not only dealing with the weather (so you really can’t plan anything outside), but also the holidays. So, before picking a party theme, I thought the best thing to do would be to find a venue first. That tactic turned out to be the best way to go! I found a local carousel that was set up for parties and tons of kid fun! I was able to bring in all my own food and decorations and between the actual carousel, the bounce house on site and little coin operated machines, the entertainment was taken care of!

So, I found the venue, now to come up with a theme that had something to do with a carousel… And it came to me! One of my all time favorite scenes in Mary Poppins was the whimsical carousel scene and a theme was born. The carousel horses were there of course. In the movie there are lots of beautiful sidewalk chalk drawings… So, I made a chalk board detailing all the growing my baby girl had done throughout the year… I then added chalk boards as the party favors and had the kids use them as food place mats to keep them busy as they waited for the pizza to arrive. I didn’t have dancing penguins, but I did make penguin centerpieces. Instead of traditional party hats, I got cute top hats for the boys just like Dick Van Dike wore and cute little maid hats just like Julie Andrews wore. And the centerpiece of the decor was the cake that was dolled up in hand painted stripes to reflect Julie Andrews’ dress in the carousel scene and of course two tiny sterling silver spoons that I sugared to adorn the cake.

As for the party food, I kept things really simple. I made a couple of finger sandwiches I thought would be great for the adults, Chouriço & Peppers sandwiches, Caçoila sandwiches, Lebanese meat pies and (ordered) pizza were the main courses… A salad, some pop corn and chips and a pasta salad for sides… and individual crudettés were the appetizers.

The venue supplied us with lots of tables, we just brought in table coverings and the food.

Sandwiches on the left, sides in the middle and aps over to the right.

Sandwiches on the left, sides in the middle and apps over to the right.

Salad.

Some ice tea and punch for drinks. And boxed coffee from a local coffee shop. The chalk boards and chalk are all ready for the kids to take… I was originally going to use them to set the kid’s place setting, but with the set up in the room, I thought it was just better to hand them out. That worked out best because of the age of many of the guests, they needed to eat with moms and dads.

Spoon Full of Sugar Cake surrounded by the maid hats for the girls on the left and the top hats for the boys on the right. To make the hats, I just got some $.50 little mini party hats from my local party supply store and embellished the top hats with ribbon and a little lady bug and the maid hat was embellished with a ribbon and a little flower just like she has on her hat in the movie!

Centerpieces were made with recycled formula cans with the label peeled off for the base, then hand cut out characters glued onto shish kabob skewers and napkins and tissue paper for flare.

Some of the details in a hand made keepsake chalk board… I made this with a black foam core board and a Sharpie chalk marker. Today, this board is hanging in her bedroom.

There is my son making use of his chalk board… To make these chalk boards, I just got a couple boxes of linoleum floor tiles, the industrial strength kind, painted them with chalk board paint and softened the edges with pink or green duct tape. Then I just got some pink, green and white chalk and tied a couple of pieces together for each child.

One of the keys to any 1st birthday parties is to make sure the party is not just for the adults… I always like to be sure my child is going to have fun at their own party!