Caroline’s Winter Fairy Birthday Party
Hello, welcome to our magical winter fairy birthday party wonderland! We’re so happy you’re here to celebrate Caroline’s second birthday. Our theme this time is winter fairies, who like the ice, snow, cold weather animals and of course, pine cones:
Fancy Chalkboard
Fairy house and magic tree
Welcome to my cottage, friends!
Caroline’s yearly books, from her first day til this month
Don’t forget proper fairy attire:
Wings, headbands & antlers!
I spy some fairies!
Please have some food:
Thumbprint cookies (so, so, so good. Insanely good. You won’t believe it good.)
Candy Cane Chex Mix, Caramel/Chocolate/Candy Appples
Sparkling Brie Bites (these are now a tradition, since we had them last year too)
Gum drop fudge (I used those sparkly gummy fruit wedges – DELICIOUS)
My mom made her traditional Christmas coffee cake
Pancake tree-tower, dusted with powdered sugar and surrounded by extra sparkling cranberries (I used the store brand complete mix, which was surprisingly good!)
Caprese Pops (pin link, original pin goes nowhere)
Reindeer Cookies – E said these are his new favorite Christmas cookie
Cucumber sandwiches – ALWAYS a hit
Pinecone cheeseball – I ignored the recipe and mixed 1 block cream cheese with a tub of Rondele herb cheese and added a little dill and garlic powder. Then I ate ALL the leftovers for dinner.
Microwave popcorn in paper cones I made with scrapbook paper and a hole punch
Olive wreath – This was the only thing that was TOTALLY gone at the end
Fruit tree – thanks to my mom for doing all the work on this
Cupcakes – white box cake mix with homemade frosting (1 stick butter, 1 block cream cheese, 1 2 lb bag of powdered sugar, the end)
Sparkly polar bears! Reindeer! Narwhals!!
Extra cupcakes
I forgot to take a picture of the buttermints, but they get 5 stars definitely will make again
Help yourself to a drink:
Homemade gingerbread donuts on “milk bottles” (actually those store-bought frappuchinos) (idea from here)
On the hot cocoa bar: candy cane dippers, peppermint sticks, mini M&M’s, mint marshmallows, regular marshmallows, whipped cream, 2 kind of creamer, whipped cream vodka (THIS IS A THING), peppermint schnapps, Bailey’s, sugar sprinkles, milk hot chocolate, dark hot chocolate, coffee, hot cider.
Decorate a tree to take home (or eat right now because they’re delicious):
Caroline really enjoyed this part of the party
MESS.
Don’t forget your party favors:
Red & white glitter play dough in mini mason jars with printable tags
Magic wands I made from dowels, tiny eye hooks, ribbon and jingle bells (I totally forgot to give them out!)
Foam ornament decorating
The birthday girl had a wonderful time (even though her brother blew out her candles):
Thank you friends for coming!
I actually missed photographing a lot of details and people because I was too buy enjoying my own party (for once!) Despite a lot of things not going as planned – Caroline refused to wear EITHER of the “princess dresses” I planned for her, misplacing her beautiful hair bow (not that she’d wear that either), forgetting to give the kids their magic wands, not getting many photos in the photo booth – I think everyone had a really good time and that’s what is really important at a 2 year old’s birthday.
Sites and Sources:
My Pinterest Board
Tips for writing on chalkboards (dipping the chalk in water worked REALLY well)
I made the chalkboards using garage sale frames, spray paint (silver and chalkboard colored) and a piece of particle board
Wings are from both a local bargain store and The Hair Bow Company
Headbands and antlers from Oriental Trading
Tissue paper snowflakes from Oriental Trading
Branches, crystals, ice cubes, paper stars from Save on Crafts
I made the tent with Ikea curtains and an embroidery hoop (tutorial here)
Balloons from Oriental Trading
The Fairy House is a the Discovery Kid’s Playhouse I bought on clearance after last Christmas for $10
Mini light strings, paper gingerbread house, red lanterns, various other Christmas decor from Ikea
Hot cocoa k-cups purchased at Bed Bath & Beyond
Deer cupcake toppers, cupcake wrappers, paper straws, sprinkles from Bake It Pretty
Super awesome tree stump stands were made by my dad
Winter animal cupcake toppers were custom made by PaperPartyParade
All banners, signs and labels were made by me using cardstock, my printer & free fonts found online
Pretty much everything else is from Target or Michael’s
That was really fun but I am SO glad it’s over and I can concentrate on wrapping Christmas gifts and not baking for 12 hours a day. I think my theme for next year is just going to be “Milk & Cookies” and I’ll spread out all the cookie-making over a month so my feet don’t feel like they’re going to fall off from standing in front of the stove. Mmm…cookies.
p.s. I forgot to include the beautiful invitations my friend Denae designed for me! She did Evan’s dino invites too & is so talented.
Tags: 2, 2nd birthday, birthday party, Caroline, celebrate, entertaining, food, snow, spakles, two, winter birthday, Winter Fairy Birthday Party
You are some sort of super lady. I can’t wait to see your face!
i was just waiting and waiting for this post to pop up, after you only posted a teaser pic on IG! haha! lady, you’ve absolutely outdone yourself. what a magical party. completely gorgeous. i’m amazed!!! wow!!!
A wonderland indeed! Happy Birthday, Caroline! :)
This post had to have taken you AGES to write, upload, etc…not to mention all.the.food. You’re superwoman!
Thanks for trying my buttermints recipe and for making them (wish I could have seen a photo!) & if you do ever re-make them, LMK. Glad you liked my recipe & thanks for the link.
And wow – I want to make like 10 things from this post!
And Happy Bday to her! My lil girl is turning 6 here in a month! Time flies!
Mine weren’t nearly as photogenic as yours (I used too much red food coloring and was too impatient to cut them) but they were SO delicious. Thank you so much for the recipe!
I actually used a ‘hot pink’ food coloring; Kroger/Ralph’s generic store brand and wanted to make pink mints for my daughter. They turned out something in between pink and red in person; not the hot pink I wanted for her but in the long run, probably better for pics :)
ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! This is the most amazing party I’ve ever seen. I want to live in Caroline’s second birthday party. You’re some kind of super-human, otherworldly mama extraordinaire.
SHUT UP this is awesome. Will you be my mom?
If I ever throw David a birthday party, I will totally have to copy this. I tried to invite people over for this Thursday night (his bday) but I don’t think anyone is even coming. Poor kid. I’m very impressed with you considering how close it is to Christmas!
So, so amazing Suzanne!
Wow, Suzanne! I’m in awe.
Seriously, this blew my mind. Amazing. And Happy Birthday C!
Honestly. Amazing.
When are you starting a party planning business? Cause I’ll totally fly you to Minnesota to do my next birthday party :)
This is amazing! I remember when we talked about whether winter fairies were a thing or not. Well, Suzanne, you totally made them a thing!! SO, SO COOL. One of these days, I am flying Spencer and I out for a party. (I did just invite myself. Whatever.)
Your pinecone cheese ball looks like a hedgehog. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING. Everything is adorable and it looks like everyone had a super fun and awesome time. :)
This is the most amazing party ever!!! So beautiful, so thoughtful, what an amazing memory for your family!
I’m pretty sure you are secretly Martha Stewart … or maybe her granddaughter? Is that how you got her to speak at BlogHer? lol. Awesome-looking party!
Okay, do you do consulting or brainstorming for a fee? Simply amazing and simply gorgeous… you outdid yourself! It looked amazing!
If you’re serious about consulting/brainstorming I would be HAPPY to put together Pinterest boards for you. Just give me a theme – I would LOVE to do it. (Free, obviously, that’s not worth paying for!)
Fabulous. Simply fabulous.
INCREDIBLE! You seriously need to go into business. I’d hire you.
WOW. Like LOTS OF WOW. Great job.
HOLY CRAP WOMAN! Ah-may-zing. The food table alone blew my mind – you did good, mom!
This. Is. Amazing. Totally awesome, Suzanne! Happy birthday to Caroline!
amazing!! your presentation is spot on. i just cant for some reason..i try and itjust doesnt come through. my daughters birthday follows carolines by just a couple of months (she will be 2 first week of march), i used some of your food ideas last year. thank you so much for sharing
You are the party queen once again! I’m so impressed!
So twinkly and magical! You out do yourself each time! If you go for milk and cookies next year I highly suggest the magic milk straws! The girls are obsessed with them (and the only way I could get Z to ween down to one nursing session a day!)
Oh, wow! Amazing!
[…] (image credit: Bebehblog) […]
[…] haven’t been reading my blog for 5+ years, her previous themes were: Winter Sparkle Snowflake, Woodland Fairy, Princess and Mermaid. They were all really fun, but this year was the […]
[…] 7. Bebehblog […]