Pink Poodle Party (1-2yr) Ooh-la-la Mon Cherie

My daughters, Alexandra and Angelique are only 14 months apart. They were turning 1 & 2 years old.  So decided to do their parties together. We decided to do a Pink Poodle in Paris soiree.  I found this theme at Birthday Express and thought it just so adoreable. 

I love making my own invitations, even though this theme has invites I made my own.  My husband is a wiz at Photoshop so we took the Poodle image and set it on the left bottom corner of 5x7 cardstock. A pink and white striped background was printed about and inch thick. We used a black swirly line to devide this part from the middle of the card where the text would go. The middle was left white for the print which read "Ooh-la-la Mon cherie a Pink Poodle Soiree is sure to be, for Mademoiselle Alexandra and Mademoiselle Angelique. Then the date and location. For a little extra glitz I bought clear irredesent glitter fabric paint and with the tip of the bottle very carefully I added glitter to the poddle to make it pop.  It looked like a store-bought card.

We rented a big pavillion at a park near our house, I wanted to make the place feel more like bistro so I rented 4 48" round tables with six white chairs each. I had round lilac plastic tablecovers, and for the white folding chairs I bought bright pink colored regular plastic tablecovers, cut them into strips and turned them into chair ties. I tied them around the top part of the chair and tied a bow at the back. 

The center pieces were done from styrofoam(not the floral kind, it's like the kind that is used in packaging) I bought a big sheet of it at Home Depot. I have a special tool to cut it which is a heated wire, this prevents the styrofoam from falling apart into little beads.  Back to the centerpices, I cut four 8"circles per centerpiece, then I glued them together by stacking them, I wanted them to look like a hatbox.  I painted big pink polkadots on the outside of the "hatbox", for the middle I used mint green tissue that looked like it was coming out and I also took 5 shishkabob sticks painted them lilac, cut out small pink flower out of the styrofoam for each stick and stuck them into the hat box, so it looked like a hatbox with a flower arrangement coming out of the middle.

I had two additional tables they were the rectangular kind. One was used for the food and the other was the cake table. For both tables I bought white and bright pink(like the chair ties) table plastic tablecovers.  I put the white one on each table first, I wanted to cover the legs of the table so I taped the tablecover to the table making sure it reached the floor from front view.  Part of the top of the table was exposed, this problem was solved by putting the pink tablecover on top.  Prior to setting up the table I had cut the edge of the pink tablecover in scallop shape. You can do this by folding it several times and cutting along the edge in a semicircle shape.  It looked great, it resembled the awnings on the front of the cafes and boutiques in paris.  The rest of the decorations were on the cake table. 

I made a balloon arch behind the table, you can get the materials at the hardware store. About 20 feet x 1/2 inch plastic pvc pipe and two small cinderblocks.  I spaced out the blocks and put each end of the pipe in the middle creating an arch.  I used pink, white and lilac balloons alternating the colors. I tied two balloons together and then another two of the same color, this group of four then is twisted onto the pipe and so on and so forth.  Remember to set the arch at least 2 feet away from the back of the table so that people can take pictures.

On top of the table to the right, I made a 2 1/2 foot Poodle character cutout in the same colors.  I used the styrofoam board and the cutting tool.  I drew the character from the theme and then painted it.  The theme poodle had a lilac bow in her hair, this I did not draw, I glued a lilac satin bow on the head.  Then I covered the whole thing with clear irredesent glitter(it was gorgeous!) For the top left of the table I did the same character but in a sitting pose, the first one was walking.  Behind the sitting poodle that was on the left I did a 3 foot purple eiffel tower, also covered in the clear irredesent glitter.  I decided not to do a character cake since I had those big characters on the table, so I ordered 24 vanilla cupcakes and had them painted lilac and pink and put them on a silver cupcake tower(they sell it at Michaels)in the middle of the table. 

The girls party favors were on the right side of the table infront of the first poodle. These were 5x4 white cavas totes that I sewed myself.  I got the material at wal-mart, I bought a yard and it was enough for 14 totes.  They were very simple, fold material in half, sew the sides and you can sew the handles at the same time that you are sewing the top edge.  For the handles I used white synthetic brading.  I also bought a pink decorative frilly trim which I sewed to the top front of the bag.  To finish the bag, I had my husband take the poodle image we used on the invite, (only the poodle) and print it on transfer paper.  I cut these out and ironed them on the front of the tote. Each bag contained a plush poodle (oriental trading) a poodle bracelet (birthday express) and a poodle keychain, which I changed into a charm for a zipper pull so that the big girls could use it on the backpacks for school.  The leftover poodle keychains were left like that and given to the moms as favors. 

Even though the party was very girly, I still had boys there, my son, and most of the cousins are boys.  For them I bought small water guns at the dollar store, but lets face it, they didn't go with the theme, so I wrapped them in mint green tissues like the centerpieces and put them inside of clear celophane bags tied with white irredecent curly ribbon and were scattered around the table to look like grass around the poodle cutouts.  It was a hot day so the water guns were a hit with the boys and the girls felt like Paris Hilton with their pooch in the purse. 

For entertainment I had a sound system with music  I rented a Pink and Purple caltle shaped bouncehouse, and a snowcone machine which was a hit with little ones and adults. On the food table I had beatiful round chaffing dishes with pasta one on each end, I had salad and french bread.  I also had a silver platter with pink sugar waffers and another one with peanut butter and jelly  sandwhiches that were cut in shape of a flower with a big cookie cutter. 

After everyone ate and played at the bouncehouse we sang happy birthday to the girls and I handed out the Party bags.  Then we went over to the pinata which was a pink poodle( Birthday Express) I spruced it up a little by adding clear irredesent glitter to the body and putting the same satin lilac bow that the cutouts had on the pinatas head(it is sold without a bow)I bought the pullsrting kit so the kids pulled the cords and out came the candy.  Everyone loved the theme from the moment I mailed the invites and even more when they go to the party.