Way back in February I helped my friend with her daughter's teacher's bridal shower (here). She hinted that her daughter's fourth birthday was coming in May and she encouraged me to start thinking of how to pull off a tea party for a bunch of four year old girls.

Seeing as I will probably never have the privilege of planning a daughter's party since I'm destined to have another boy down the road, I took this as my chance to try and pull off a party that I would have for a little girl of my own. There would be loads of pink, doilies, and professionally designed printables.

May came very quickly, but as I had solicited the help of my friend B, owner of a gift and candy boutique in town, we had everything planned and accounted for. And I didn't procrastinate nearly as much as I am known for and it made for such an enjoyable experience. Nor did I have to pull an all-nighter like my crazy cake-decorating sister!

Let me tell you something. Paying someone $15 to design the invitations was the way to go. I knew exactly what I wanted for the invite but also knew I wasn't talented enough or experienced enough in Illustrator. And so I turned to etsy and started looking. It didn't take long to find what I was looking for. A couple of tweaks and the invite was finalized, e-mailed to me, and printed off at home. I used the same designer, who happens to be from the land of tea, England, for all of the other printables at the event, save for the Ella signs. It saved me at least 25 hours of design time, which I clearly don't have. Who does really? Leave it to the professionals I say.

B and I collaborated on the food, favours, activities, and decor and got to work and I must say I was really pleased with the end result.

I don't have anymore parties on my calendar right now, but I'm really looking forward to the next one as I feel like I'm learning so much more with each one. You'd think an event planner would kind of have an idea of how to pull off an event, but when it's a birthday party for 12 four year olds and not an event for 8,000 Asians with a budget of $1.2 million, it's a whole new ball game.

I'd love any constructive comments you might have on how to make it better.
I wasn't content with a plain envelope so out came my doilies and my box of ribbon.

The Ella banner was fun to make once I found the die cuts I wanted at a secret location where you can go and use the die cuts for free.

I had to knock back a dozen Starbucks frappuccinos to get the containers but it was well worth the calories.

I'd never made marshmallow pops before but they were pretty easy and pretty delicious.
Thank you IKEA for making such appropriate containers. And thank you B for finding them!

The birthday girl checking out the details before her guests arrived. I forgot to mention the party was held at Baby NeeNee in Park City, a children's boutique with some of the coolest boy clothes I've seen that don't break the bank.
Wishing I'd found a way to hang this behind the food table. You live and learn.
One final shot of the delicious cupcakes on the fabulous paper plate I found online.