Monday, May 7, 2012

Planning Grace’s 3rd Birthday Party




Here in our little household, I'm in full party planning mode as Grace’s birthday is midway through this month.  Not that I’m planning anything over the top, it’s just that I want to be organised.  With her party set to be on the weekend following her actual big day, that gives me pretty much a fortnight to sort things out in amongst the usual day to day running of our household and looking after our girls 24/7. 

So far, I’ve made a little birthday countdown calendar based on a Christmas Advent one I’d seen on the Mondocherry blog.  Each morning after breakfast, Grace carefully removes a link and we count how many sleeps are left until her big day.  It’s a great way for her to understand the concept of passing time. 

I’ve been thinking of ideas for Grace’s party pretty much since the start of the year but in the end decided to let Grace choose which cake she would like, seeing as it is her birthday and not mine.  I saved a few images in a file and let her flick through them to see what she liked.  Each time, she kept coming back to the layered rainbow cake.  Nothing could sway her decision towards a ‘simpler to make cake.’  However, I’ve decided to keep things as easy as possible and will limit the cake to four different coloured layers instead of the traditional seven, make some simple decorations and lolly bags and if time permits, a rainbow skirt for the birthday girl to wear. 




Yesterday, using a file of digital images I purchased from ‘hello love too’ on Etsy, I designed and printed Grace’s invites which you can see above.  Paul suggested I just email everyone to make things easier but I really enjoy designing invites for our parties and I still think there is something special about receiving one in the mail.  Grace helped attach the stamps and we posted them this morning.  My next job is to sort out the food and perhaps even make some things to freeze ahead of time. 

Also, thank you all for your advice on my last post.  I appreciated all of your suggestions in my comments.  Grace woke up yesterday still in her pyjamas.  I jumped around in excitement and told her how happy she’d made her Mummy.  However, when I checked on her last night, she had done a change into her summer pyjamas!!  I’ll keep you posted on our progress…

22 comments:

  1. I love your ideas for Grace's party and the invitations look wonderful. Have fun planning and preparing. xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely ideas Amanda, I bet she cant wait. I was just going to say that I work in the childrens dept. in myer garden city and I there is a pretty dress with different rainbow colours tiered all the way down that I know of. Its cotton and quite simple.. Not too sure of all the sizes left though. Might be worth a thought if you dont get time to make anything...
    look forward to hearing more about your plans!!!
    Laura xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Laura, I'll definitely keep that in mind for sure!

      Delete
  3. Yay!!! Party prep makes me happy too :) LIke everything these days....doing things with 2 kids is hard work. I find there is just not enough hours in each day, as 99% of my time is spent feeding kids, cleaning kids, getting kids to sleep & playing with kids LOL. So, I know what you mean about needing to be organised & I like your idea of freezing things ahead of time. GOOD IDEA MUMMA!!!! I also love the idea of the countdown calender....I should do this more often with Ella {for special events & parties & holidays etc} as she often gets time very confused and I think {at 4} they have trouble grasping the concept of days/weeks/months & what that really means :)
    So thank you for the ideas xx
    x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm hoping to freeze the layers of the cake too :)

      Delete
  4. Cute Amanda! Look forward to more peeks into the party decor ;)
    x

    ps. I have pinned a sweet idea for a 'rainbow' fruit platter on my pintrest account - might be fun to include on your food table?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm so excited for you, a party is so much fun to organise, and THREE will be memorable.Have fun! Cant wait to see the pics xxxxRoberta

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a gorgeous calendar Amanda. Love it, and thank you for the Mondocherry link. A lovely blog to come across.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Gorgeous invitation Amanda,
    Have fun with all of the preparations!

    I planned a rainbow cake for Sophie's 5th party last February - of course I made the trial cake 2 days before the big day, so then needed to make the real one the night before, leaving time only for 2 batches of cake mix (4 layers) plus one of the trial layers - in shades of pink and orange (the party colour theme) - I surprised myself with how good it was - plus received comments the next week at school - "You are so clever, 5 layers for celebrating being 5"!!! - If only they knew..!!!

    I'm sure dear Grace will have the best of days.

    Christine xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Christine, I always enjoy seeing you comment on my blog :) Would love to see a photo of the cake you made Sophie if you have a photo? I'm thinking of sticking to four layers for the cake too... fingers crossed mine turns out as well as yours!!

      Delete
    2. hi Amanda, hope you received my photos ok and are enjoying the day with your girls - I had to visit PMH at 3am this morning, Sophie awoke with croup and difficulty breathing so a quick dash up the highway was needed, thankfully the steroids helped and we were home by 6am, albeit exhausted (me!).
      Please let me know if you need any help/advice with the party things in my email.
      bye for now
      Christine

      Delete
    3. Oh you poor things!! Hope Sophie is feeling better today. Have just emailed you now - thanks so much for emailing me your photos x

      Delete
  8. The invitation looks fantastic! Did you then print them onto card? Would love to know as I want to make some for Hamish's party next month. He wants the rainbow cake as well.... I think the last dozen or so parties we have attended have had variations of it, so now it is all they seem to want! x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Emma, yes they're printed onto card that has a slight gloss to it. I initially tried printing on some slightly textured card but they looked better on the plain one. We haven't been to any parties yet with the layered cake that's why I thought it would be something 'different' - I realise it's all over Pinterest and blogland though :)

      Delete
  9. i love the look of the invitations!

    i've been trying to decide on a theme for olive's first birthday...and even though it's still a few months away, there's not a lot of time in each day that's free to look and research....so your idea of freezing things in advance is a great idea.

    i've seen the rainbow layer cakes and they're just gorgeous! i can totally see why grace kept coming back to it :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love the invitations, font, colours, rainbows, so sweet, just like your Grace, happy birthday, love Posie

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love the invitation, and I can only imagine what other ideas you'll come up with for the party, can't wait to see how it all comes together..I hope I get a chance to do a rainbow party for my daughter some day :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love the look of that invitation Amanda, it's really pretty and colourful. I bet Grace is getting excited about her birthday party with all of your planning I can't wait to see what you end up creating, it will be beautiful what ever you do:) xx

    ReplyDelete
  13. oh great idea Amanda (the birthday countdown)! Hugh is 3 next month and we have been talking about birthday cakes and now he keeps asking if it's his birthday....this might be an activity to do tmrw!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Grace loved taking off a link each day. I started about a fortnight before her birthday.

      Delete

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment - it really makes my day!!