Pink Poodle Party -1yr- Poodle Sugar Cookies

Invitation:  I purchased sets of plain black greetings cards with envelopes from a craft store as the base.  On the front, we used black paper with pink and white polka dots with a picture of Madison and the words Ooh-la-la!  I added a pink velvet ribbon and a small pink paper flower with rhinestone brad (from the scrapbooking store).  My husband made small circles with a french poodle on them and Madison's First Birthday" which were just the right size to cut out with a circle punch. 

These were put on the velvet ribbon I lined it wth pink paper and we printed an insert that I glued on top which read: Bonjour ma petite cherie A Pink Poodle soiree is the place to be.  Mademoiselle Madison is turning one You're invited to join the fun!  Respondez s'il vous plait.  On the back was a white polka dot ribbon and another circle tab printed with an Eiffel tower and "Au revoir!". I used calligraphy to write the addresses on the envelope and addressed them to Mlle or Monsieur.

Décor: For most of the poodle theme supplies I purchased the poodle party items at Oriental Trading Co. which are pink black and white.  We blew up lots of ballones to float all over the house.  In the center of the dining table (where all the food was) I made a tablescape that started with Michael Miller eiffel tower fabric bunched in the center (I left the edges raw and just tucked them under for no-sew) on top of a white tablecloth.  On top of that were two hand-painted hatboxes (pink on the bottom black with white polka dots on the top and black pom-pom frings around the lid).  Sitting on top of the two boxes were pink metal Eiffel Towers (from Birthday Express). 

There was also a square pink toile and striped box with a wire dress form on top.  It came with a black and white dress on it that I added a pink tulle skirt and pink beaded ribbon to.  I draped a pink feather boa over the top of the dress form and let it cascade down and around the hatboxes. I added some poodle plates on plate stands and some black Eiffel tower tea light holders (from Shindigz) to get some varying heights. Finally scattered pink and black confetti all over the table. 

For mood music we played a couple CD's of Putumayo presents French Café and Paris (both from Amazon).  They French language somewhat jazzy music was very chic and made our home seem like a French bistro. 

Food:  Since this was for a one-year old there were lots of adult parents in attendance so I made plenty of grown-up food too.  We had chicken salad croissants lots of easy-bake appetizers (like the little puff pastries and mini quiches you can just pop in the oven - and I made sure to include the mini hot dogs in pastry for the kids).  I also included a cheese plate (with all French cheeses of course) fruit plate and crackers and spread. 

We had LOTS of desserts including pink iced sugar cookie poodles (ordered the poodle cookie cutter on-line) lots of mini tarts from the store (pecan lemon and raspberry) mini chocolate eclairs (you can buy frozen in bulk) and petit fours from a local bakery.  I purchased an inexpensive tabletop chocolate fountain (only $30!) and melted Ghirardelli chocolate chips to go in with cut up Sara Lee pound cake strawberries and cream puffs (also frozen in bulk) to dip with bamboo skewers.

For cake I had a beautiful two-tier cake made with pink fondant and black polkda dots and black and white stripes to match the partyware and I made white chocolate-raspberry pink frosted cupcakes for the kids with poodle toppers (also from OTC).  

Activities:  Because there was a wide range of ages at the party we just let the kids free play.  I did have a little contest though - I filled a big apothecary jar with varying sizes of white rawhide bones and made slips of paper that said "Name" and "Guess".  A sign informed guests that they should guess how many bones were in the jar and the closest guess would win a Pink Poodle Webkinz.  That was a big hit! 

Favors: To take away I filled the little hatboxes from OTC.  If you buy them from OTC you have to get them filled with their trinkets but you can get the unfilled hatboxes off of Ebay.  Because the hatboxes are little you have to find small items to put inside.  First I put in a little black excelsior (shredded paper) on the bottom then added small silver frames from the dollar store a little bottle of bubbles (like they use for wedding favors) dog stickers and a chocolate Eiffel tower in a cellophane bag tied with ribbon (from chocolatevault.com).

Then depending on the age/gender of the child I added a little bath puppet car or sequined hair band.  I attached the favor tags described above to the hat box ribbon and wrote each child's name on it.  Note: I had a beautiful party dress made for Madison from pink poodle material from a seller on ebay - she looked absolutely precious!  All in all it was a gorgeous party.  Madison may not remember it but everyone else certainly will!"