Dora's Sweet Creations

I’m loving going back in time, looking through photos and gathering them all to share! How this party was 2 years ago is beyond me.

Well at this time, my 5 year old boy and his friends were into the nerf guns. Similarly, Avery had quite the obsession for bow and arrows. She had several- I believe NERF made some of them, and her collection grew, and the bows got bigger. When asking her what she wanted as a theme for her birthday, she thought about it for a while………. when I was pregnant with Avery, I dreamt of taking her to ballet classes and playing dolls with her…….. well ya know, things don’t always go as planned because they just happen to have a mind of their own sometimes hehe.

Avery was never into dolls or barbies. And we tried at dance twice and she didn’t like it *tears*.  I don’t push things on my kids. I like them to have a mind of their own and find their own likes and interests……. so fast forward to her 7th birthday. After thinking for some time, she says “mommy, I want a bow and arrow birthday”……what is a mommy to do?

I’ll tell you what a mommy did- she turned it into a tribal/bohemian theme hahahah – so, the birth of Avery’s Pow Wow!

The theme actually was rather popular at the time, but I truly wanted to create something that wasn’t out there. Tee pee and tent props were everywhere at the time, but I wanted to do something that wasn’t exactly that. So the light bulb went on- I wanted to have the desserts all under a tee pee. Heres how I did it:

I had 2 bamboo sticks that I crossed over the table, purchased some fabric and weaved it through, and tied it all up with leather rope that I found in the jewelry making section of Michaels. I then decorated it with an “arrow” garland.

When it came to the banner, I wanted something different as well. For this theme, I focused on arrows and feathers, so I made a feather banner. Those gold tipped white feathers were actually at Michaels. I hot glued them to some ribbon and voila!

I loved the mint green, pink , and gold combo so I kept an eye out during my visit to Hobby Lobby. Well, I actually found some candle holders with arrows and immediately wanted to use them for something. I decided they would be cupcake holders!

I wanted to keep the cake design simple. Pink with arrows, and then I pierced an arrow through it that I made with a straw, some gold tape, and some shapes I cut out. I then topped it with a gold cake topper. Two years ago, these toppers have just made an appearance into the party world, but today, you can find them everywhere.

Here’s what I included for desserts:

Themed decorated cookies I made

I made these homemade s’mores- the marshmallows and graham crackers were all made-from-scratch and were amazing. I didn’t get a picture of the top of these but I dipped it in pink chocolate and adorned it with a gold fondant arrow. The details.

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My friend Anna, who makes all my macarons made pink ones for me. Last minute, I decided I wanted details on it to coordinate the theme. I decided to paint a gold strip to it and insert an “arrow” tooth pick through it.

For the cake pops, I dipped it in pink and added the fondant bow and arrow that I painted gold as well:

So, if you read my cookie monster party, I raved about my younger cousin who is amazing at free handing art and can mimic any type of writing. For the the buffet labels, I wanted something different.  I found these wood pieces at Michaels, but they were bare wood. I stained them, and Sonia wrote on them for me. I loved how they turned out. Her efforts did not stop there, she also made all my backdrop signs for me and hand wrote all my favor boxes- she really is unbelievably talented!

I decided to have a trail mix bar for snacks, and guests just added what they liked and created their custom mix:

Guests were also encouraged to get into the “tribal” theme and join in all the pow wow festivities. We provided leather, braided headbands with various colored feathers and metallic tattoos. It turned out so fun!

I had trouble finding something I liked for party favors. I finally decided on these  boxes, and added my own details. With paper straws and gold paper, I created these “arrows” and hot glued them onto the boxes. It still wasn’t to my liking, so I asked Sonia to hand write “thank you” on them. Bless her heart!!! She did amazing!

I also wanted to provide bows and arrows for each guests, doubled as a party favor. I ordered a wooden archery set on Oriental Trading company and I found a tutorial on how to make these quivers. I purchased vinyl from Joann’s and sourced out my aunt to sew them for me. She did amazing!

Here is Avery trying them on before the party:

I have talented family I tell ya!

We ended Avery’s Pow Wow with presents and cake:

I enjoyed planning this party because although I initially thought Avery’s idea of a “bow and arrow party” was a bit odd, I was able to incorporate popular elements at the time and really transformed Avery’s Pow Wow into a complete theme!

Today is my son’s 8th birthday, but we celebrated this past Saturday. When it came to the theme, there was no question- he has been a WWE fanatic, so naturally, JACOBMANIA VIII was created!

There were no invitations that really fit our style, so I found one on etsy, and it was customized for me, with all the wrestling puns. Here’s the invitation that set the stage for it all:

As I mentioned in my recent posts, I have done away with having parties at home, but Jacob was adamant about having a jumper that looked like a wrestling ring. I thought December here in California is doable at a park but the weather is unpredictable.  Luckily, the weather gods answered my prayers, and it was the most perfect sunny day on Saturday.

Back to the jumper……..I found one I really loved but it was for purchase and not rental so I decided on a local rental and wanted to customize it somehow. I have been using the older Cricut Explorer that I had for about 7 years now, and I finally took a leap and purchased the new Cricut Air. What an investment! I customized almost everything for this party. One way I used it was making WWE decals for the jumper:

This jumper, along with the park playground, our bean bag toss, and some footballs and soccer balls to kick around were the entertainment.

DESSERT TABLE:

I knew I wanted something grand. I thought of making a wrestling ring as the stage for the dessert table. I scoured the internet for some ideas, but I didn’t find anything I liked because it didn’t look realistic enough. I asked my husband for help because he would be the one building it. He used PVC pipes, rope, pool noodles, and red masking tape to bring my vision to life. Jacob was AMAZED!

The backdrop was just 2 metal tin roofs from Home Depot that we put together, then I put my new Cricut to use again to customize that JACOBMANIA VIII sign.

For the desserts, Jacob wanted a championship belt cake. I knew it wouldn’t be enough to feed all the guests, so I also made a simple design cake with a wrestling ring on top and topped it with his favorite wrestler: The Miz!

I learned so much about wrestling during this process. I wanted ideas on how to really incorporate as many  elements of WWE as I could. I used Jacob’s “Money in the Bank” suitcase that is really an action figure holder, and I filled it with candy bars wrapped in printable million dollar bill wrappers:

For the candy, we did Pop Rocks for “The Rock”, licorice for “wrestling ring ropes”, and in discussing the party and wrestling moves with Jacob, he told me a move called the “skull crusher”, so I found these gummy skulls and included it as so:

I also made rice krispies treats and added the WWE logo in an edible image, cake pops, and coordinated cookies, with one featuring one of  The Miz’s tag lines: “Hello, I’m Awesome!

Jacob’s favorite wrestler was CM Punk before he retired, so I thought of a way to incorporate him and another character into the party. Here’s an ode to Triple H and CM Punk!

For party favors, I put my Cricut to use again, cut out the WWE logo and filled the box with a mini wrestling figure I found at the Dollar Store!!!! I was so amazed they had these there. I also like to include a non sugar snack of some sort for the ride home. From experience, I find that kids always fill themselves with sugar and hardly eat at a party because they’re busy playing, so here’s what we included:

I left room for the candy they would get from the piñata as well.

I sourced out that WWE belt piñata from my local piñata lady. She never disappoints! It was super strong and everyone got a turn to hit it.

Jacob wanted to dress as his favorite wrestler, the Miz, and was wearing this outfit for weeks prior to his party. When the day came, he got self conscious and did not want to wear it. *tears*

He did wear his Miz shirt, and the whole family dressed up. The Miz needs a promoter, Security, and a referee for his wrestling match, so that is what we had!

Security protected the dessert table, I mean Jacob the whole time ha!

We ended the day with cake and presents. I can’t believe 8 years has flown by!

I had fun making all of Jacob’s WWE dreams come true!

Since I just started blogging this year, I guess I’m going backward on my party posts. I’m here planning my son’s 8th birthday, and I’m writing about his 6th birthday party…..but I have to share!

At the time of this party, Jacob had not really been a die hard video gamer, but he loved the characters. He loved Super Mario brothers and Yoshi. More so, he played with his Super Mario and Yoshi remote control cars and admired his dad’s “old school” Nintendo…….so that’s what his theme was. Not the new Mario kart games with the Wii, but the Nintendo from his dad’s childhood that he could not touch.

First off, we had to send the invites. He loved putting them together with me and so excited to mail them off:

I got a little sentimental looking back on these pictures because it was such a cute stage. He loved helping me put together things for his birthday and was super excited. He addressed and stamped his invites and labeled the water bottles too.

Location:

These days, I’ve been downsizing on everything: the guest list, the food, duration of the party, because it gets to be a but much sometimes. I mean, I have a 9 year old, 7 year old and a 4 year old- thats a lot of birthdays! At this particular point in time, we still had them at home because I figured it was easier. Note to self- it’s not! haha

Because it was at home, I had to think about entertainment, so I rented a jumper. Always a win for the kids:

Piñatas are also a must at all of my kids home parties, and this one was no different. Here is a picture of the them along with the favors that Jacob helped me put together:

The favors are black gable boxes, and I cut those shapes from my Cricut and Jacob helped me glue them all on. I used foam adhesives for the black + and the 2 red circles to give it a 3D effect:

We served our traditional Laotian food and pizza for the kids. This party was the birth of the individual pizza boxes that I started on almost every party after this. I found these cute printables on etsy and glued them onto each box. It was so fitting with the theme and an ode to Mario’s sidekick Luigi:

For the decor of the party, I wanted something different. I wanted to bring the video game to life. I thought of elements such as the warp pipes, the question marks, the Super Star, the mushrooms, etc. I wanted to to represent all of those details both in the decor and in the desserts, so here’s the end result of it all:

I made the warp pipes from garbage cans- spray painted them green and screwed the bottom to our walls. These question marks are all printable I glued onto square glass bowls with gold coins like the video game, and also m&m mini tubes that we made into warp pipes:

The SUPER JACOB sign was a vinyl decal I special ordered from etsy, and I adhered it to a black poster board, then cut around it with an exacto knife.  I wanted to bring a more industrial feel to the design, so I hung that up with chains. I also displayed the desserts in galvanized stands to tie in with this element.

For the desserts, of course all his favorites made an appearance in cookie form:

I even made the “old school” remote controls that he’s not allowed to touch:

I also made the Mario logo but with a J for Jacob, in a chocolate covered oreo:

Another element I thought of from the game was the Super Star. This is an ode to the invincible star, in rice krispy form:

I also loved the Bob-bomb character! So he appeared in cake pop form:

It was super easy- just dip the cake pop in black chocolate melts, then you ad a mini pretzel to the back. The feet was royal icing I had left over from the cookies but u can definitely use yellow m&ms. The tops of them are actual cake pop sticks I cut and bent then dipped the tip of it in black candy melts.

I also made pana cotta with raspberry coulis and adorned the little plastic cups with the “J” Mario logo again:

For cupcakes, I found these cupcake wrappers and I thought of Super Mario. I topped them off with cupcake toppers of the mushroom. Same place I got the cake topper from.

S0, same as the birth of the pizza boxes, this was also the birth of the cakes. It was my first cake ever. I wanted to keep it simple and top it with accessories since it was my first one. I did a red cake with the J logo instead of M for Mario. Then I did a warp pipe. Just green buttercream, then used some fondant for the top strip. I topped it with a big Mario toy for a wow factor and got an acrylic cake topper that said “6UP” since he was turning 6:

I had to get creative since I was not skilled in cakes.  I think with the design and all the character themed desserts, it went well with everything.

Aside from this sugar overload, I had to make a Power UP station! This is where I displayed all the beverages which included cold and hot since his birthday is in December. Complete with Mario mustaches, Ba-Bomb beverages, and a hot chocolate bar:

And if this isn’t the Ultimate Super Jacob reaching level 6, I don’t know what is!

My how time flies, between weekly cookie orders, and my new venture….. cakes, I just have not had the time to write and share my parties. Ethan’s birthday was in July and I had so much fun baking, planning, and styling his party. He has a love for dinosaurs and wanted to repeat his costume from last Halloween, but I just couldn’t let him haha! I did let him dress up in that costume for weeks before Halloween though.

Anyhow, when it was time to plan his birthday, the theme was a no brainer. Ethan also loves swimming and all water activities, so regardless of him wanting a dinosaur party, I did not care that the location did not “fit” in with dinosaurs per say. We chose to have it at an aquatic center. It was in the 100’s that day so all the kids appreciated it:

And can we talk about his outfit?! I found those swim shorts at Old Navy. I love the palm leaves because I did not want to over do the dinosaur. His swim shirt says “lunch?”, and I found that at Target.  More about his other outfit later………

When choosing the colors, I wanted it to be on the modern side, that tends to be my style- so I stuck with various shades of green and black and white. Theres so many things that can be integrated into a dinosaur party, but I had to narrow it down so there wouldn’t be too, too much going on, even though we know I’m extra.

So, I almost always get my invites on etsy. I asked for a few color changes but this is what we chose, and is always the beginning of my planning:

Once I finalize invites, it’s game on!

I found these bags on etsy, for the dessert buffet and thought it was just perfect! I also got those muslin bags for party favors for the little guests.

Here’s what I filled the bags with:

The birthday boy welcomed guests with this sign I made from scrap wood and printables:

Back to his indoor outfit.  If you’ve read my other posts or follow my Instagram, you will know that Ethan is the ultimate foodie. When I was looking for a customized shirt for him, I ran into this “Hangrysaurus” shirt and “RAWR” hat, and I just knew it was made for him! It was just perfection!

We served a BBQ spread and pizza for the kids. I made this wood backdrop with leaves that read “DIG IN” but of course, no photographer so I did not get a picture of it. I still appreciated the other details I included:

For the dessert table, I included my usuals: cake pops, decorated cookies, cake, but I wanted to incorporate the theme accordingly. For cupcakes, I made cookies and cream cupcakes and topped it with a number 4 cookie with “dinosaur bite marks”:

I also made various dinosaur cookies and incorporated his age into the design:

I was imagining the dessert table and wanted to do something extra with dinosaurs, so I thought of standing some of the cookies up to make them 3-D so that each dinosaur can be seen:

All of it is edible. It is standing on top of another cookie decorated in frosting and chocolate candy rocks. I really loved how this turned out.

I also always fill the dessert tables with some store bought things and candy. In fitting with the theme, I bought these bags and  painted on these labels with my cricuit. White chocolate covered pretzels as “dinosaur bones”, “gummy dinosaurs”, and I stuck my cake pops in there, featured as “dinosaur eggs”. I like how this added a rustic touch to the table.

For his cake, I wanted a design that included a volcano cake. Before he blew out his candles, we added dry ice into the volcano to create smoke.  This wowed the birthday boy and his little friends, and maybe even some adults- ha!  I also wanted to include water into the design since we were at an aquatic center:

For the decor of the table, I made a balloon garland with various shades of green, made to mimic a dinosaur tail. I also found a wooden crate and adorned it with several silk leaves. I love the letter balloons- they’re everywhere, but instead of spelling out the age or Ethan’s name like we often see, I thought of bringing out more of the dinosaur essence, and spelled out RAWR.  This is how my vision came to life:

Although someone ripped out the tail of the Ethansaurus banner before I can capture a picture, I still loved the banner because it is creative and another way to bring out the dinosaur theme.

Before all the kids ran out into the aquatic center, we ate, opened presents, and sang Happy Birthday to my baby boy:

Doesn’t his face just say it all?

Well it’s definitely been a while since I’ve posted on here. I love to write and share my creations and celebrations, but what can I say, life happens! We had a busy summer, so although we have celebrated 2 birthdays during my blogging hiatus, I need to share my 7 year old son’s birthday celebration since I have already shared my 2 other kids’ parties on here. Plus- I’m already planning his 8th birthday!!!!

As I’ve said before, all the themes are picked by the birthday boy or girl. I always allow them to choose. Jacob was maybe a little late on the Angry Bird train, but he loved Angry Birds for the last 2 years. He did start out with playing the actual game on the iPad, but the youtube videos of the kids playing with the plush toys is what really intrigued him. He has an extensive collection of those Plush Toys. I mean, this is just half of his collection lol!:

I started out with the invitations:

Jacob loves all the aspects of Angry Birds, the sling shots, the TNT, and I wanted to incorporate it all creatively.

I purchased a personalized shirt for him but because it’s cold in December, he also wanted to wear his “Red” sweatshirt. Here’s how it all came together:

For the decor, I wanted a 3D effect, so I decided to use cloud balloons, as like the setting in the game. And I ordered the “Angry Bird Jacob” in the Angry Bird font on etsy.

I also wanted to bring the grass element into the table, so I used a faux grass rug for the center of the table. I made that “dynamite” banner  from ohhappyday.com. She used it for 4th of July inspiration but I remembered it and thought it would just be perfect for this Angry Bird party!

I adorned the table with everything Angry Birds inspired: the rustic wood, the dynamite boxes, wood slabs, wood crates, etc. After I set the stage, I dreamed up all the desserts!

Desserts:

Cookies are what started me on this sweet journey, so my brain always goes there first because that’s my signature dessert! Of course, I had to incorporate all the main characters in there:

I incorporated the pigs into cake pops and styled them on wooden “TNT” boxes:

JELLO is a kid favorite, and it’s an easy way to incorporate into any theme! This time, I made blue jello to mimic the sky from the setting of the Angry Birds game and topped with “cloud” whipped cream:

Rice krispies treats are also a favorite and is an easy dessert. Whether you homemake it or take a shortcut and buy the pre packaged ones, no one will judge!

I made ours and dipped it in chocolate and piped lines on them to mimic the TNT boxes. I ordered those TNT edible labels from Margaret from http://neverforgottendesigns.com

I tend to go to the same businesses. The ones that are reliable, with good products, and preferably small or local businesses. Margaret has made so many custom items for me.

There was so much candy that easily fit into this theme. I thought Pop Rocks would be fun because of all the crackling sound and I found it to go with all the “ammo” I included to the table:

Bird Food and Bird Eggs was also a must:

The sweets did not stop there lol! I also wanted to pay tribute to the PIGS which is just as important as the Angry Birds characters themselves. How to incorporate??? I made “Piggy Island” come to life! It’s definitely 2 fold since I made a donut wall to represent it ha! I used a peg board and spray painted it the signature green “Pig” color, and displayed it with the beverage bar. It is December, so I included coffee, hot chocolate, and a flavored milk bar. So fun!

Entertainment:

Pinatas frequent our parties, and this one was no different. I always use the same local vendor that makes them so strong, she assures everyone will receive a turn. The best part? She can make anything I dream up!!!

I used it as decor before we hit it because why not? I set it by all the party bags I made and the character masks. Each kid was so cute with those but I did not get as many pictures of that as I wanted. I’m not on that “hire a photographer” level yet. I know I can be extravagant on some things, but most of this stuff, I make myself because I love to and to save on costs.

For the rest of entertainment, I set up an “ammo” station to fight the pigs. This included party poppers, sling shots, “pop its” and firework sparklers. The kids had a marshmallow fight with the sling shots, so we assured no one would get hurt. They loved it!

Unfortunately it rained that day, so although my husband worked tirelessly on a big sling shot for the kids to play with, only the “early birds” were able to play with it, and I didn’t get a picture. Reason 121 to get a photographer or someone just to read my mind and do it for me lol!

The weather didn’t stop us from having a great time!  We ended the night singing Happy Birthday to my favorite 7 year old:

And can we talk about those bomb candles?! Thank you amazon.com!

What will he be into next? Well because mommy is so late on blog posts, you will not have to wait long! His birthday is already in a couple months! I can’t wait to see how this kid will challenge me with his next theme!

For Ethan’s 3rd birthday, we chose the cartoon and toy he was the most interested in at that time- Spongebob Squarepants.  When he watched the cartoon, he would rewind the theme song over and over again and dance and sing “Oooooooh”!  How can I not make him a Spongebob party after that?  Some people are opposed to character parties, because they can easily look like a “birthday in a box”, but you can make any theme more refined if you mix and match decor instead of over-using the character.

I wanted to focus on all things “under the sea” : fish nets, rustic plates and cake stands, nautical elements, etc which were all related to Spongebob and easy to obtain because it was summer.  I also brought in the pineapple element because, that is where Spongebob lives, and pineapples happen to be everywhere at that time, so those were also easy to find. Here’s the final product of my vision: complete with a certain modern day Spongebob as I like to call him.

After the theme is chosen, I always have my party hat on, every store or website I visit, and I get inspired by my findings. These are my initial findings and things I collected before I went on full on party mode.

The pineapple plates are from Shop Sweet Lulu, and I found those pineapple cups from OrientalTrading. The buckets were from Target one spot, and the rest were from Michaels.

I wanted the invitation to be fun. I found an adorable printable on Etsy from LilGiggs. I thought of adding a little extra and purchased pocket envelopes and I cut out and glued a tie, a shirt collar, and part of his pants, so it would look like his full outfit. I loved how it turned out

I tried to incorporate all of the birthday boy’s favorites into his party. Ethan is a major foodie and LOVES cheeseburgers. Sometimes I wonder if this is what attracted him to this cartoon- the krabby patties!!!! Lol Along with BBQ and a big spread, we also offered “krabby patties” aka In-N-Out burgers:

For beverages, we offered all things spongebob and under-the-sea related: pineapple juice, “ocean water”, “fresh water” and a flavored lemonade bar. I decorated the lemonade dispenser with tropical leaves to mimic a pineapple:

I also decorated plastic cups with vinyl pineapple cut outs that I got from Mac Creations from Etsy. Andrea always does all of my custom vinyl cut outs and is always so accommodating!

ENTERTAINMENT:

A requirement from my kids is always to have a piñata. I found a spongebob piñata but also a cheeseburger one at Target.  After purchasing, I customized it with cut out letters that I cut out with my Cricut machine, and labeled it as a Krabby Patty.

Ethan also loves water balloons and bubbles. I made a water balloon station at “Jelly Fish Fields” and sadly did not get a picture of my bubble station that was filled with various bubbles, and huge bubble makers. Sorry, these are real life parties people! I may do a lot with my kids’ parties, but I don’t hire a professional photographer, and I don’t stage them to a point where kids are scared to play with things or eat the desserts hehe…. but you will get a glimpse of it later. Stay tuned.

Aside from the dessert table, we also made ice cream “krabby patties” with various cookie flavors from chocolate chip to snickerdoodle……coupled with popsicles, they were a hit in the hot July sun. I made and packaged them myself and then filled up the ice cream cart I rented:

Birthday boy was definitely a fan 🙂

(And there is the glimpse of the bubble station- to the right lol)

FAVORS:

Of course, we had to do Chum Buckets as favors. I purchased these buckets at the infamous 1 Spot at Target, then used my Cricut to cut out letters with vinyl paper:

I filled them with all things Spongebob: his flute that he plays during the theme song, “ocean water” bubbles, bubblegum tape that I made look like Gary, and I also made my own candy kebobs. I found a how-to on the Gary bubblegum tape on daneesdelights.blogspot.com. She’s so creative!

For the candy kebobs, you’ve seen these around…..but $3 a pop was out of my budget (yes, I do have a budget, kind of lol), so naturally, I found a way! I rolled up my own sour belts and painted the pineapple stripes with food coloring. Yes, it was a little time consuming but it was fun, and I didn’t do them all in one day.

I displayed the chum buckets in a boat that I had purchased for his first birthday, which was a Nautical Mickey Mouse theme. It currently houses toys and figurines in his room, but I was glad to be able to use it again for this party:

We also gave out these picture snow globes I found, but I made them “under the sea” by incorporating blue sand, and spray painting the bottom aqua. I left out my polaroid camera, and guests took pictures and inserted them in the globe and took them as favors- so fun!

On the other side of the dessert table, I did a pineapple display, made to mimic a palm tree. There’s a lot of how-to’s out there, but I found the easiest one on makelifespecial.com. I lined up these pineapple cups, both for filling with beverages and also with all the sweets from the dessert table so guests can take some home.

DESSERT TABLE:

I made most of the desserts myself. I recently started making simple cakes…..by simple, I mean baked and frosted with buttercream, and adding some fondant elements, toys, whatever I have on hand that will add a cute touch but not take me days to do.  I added a toy spongebob that was supposed to be a gift to Ethan, but I needed it for the cake! lol besides, its his anyway after we clean the frosting off right? Right.

The sign and life saver are actually decorated cookies that I made. And this is only my second cake that I’ve ever created- it’s definitely going to take some practice, but the birthday boy enjoyed it!

Aside from that cake, I also made a couple pina colada cakes and added these cute rustic cake toppers that I purchased from Alexis Mattox Design. Her toppers are made very sturdy and a great value, a lot lower in price than all of the other calligraphy toppers you find out there.

As I mentioned before, I started out this sweet journey with making decorated cookies. Character cookies are so time consuming, but my primary reason for learning was so I can make them for my kids’ parties, so I did not hold back- Spongebob and all his friends made an appearance:

I wanted to incorporate Krabby Patties in there again, so my talented friend, Anna San Pedro, who I order my macarons from, made me these amazing macarons:

Aren’t they fun?

I also made cake pops shaped like pineapples and in keeping with the tropical theme, I made some passion fruit panna cota:

I also filled up the dessert table with various candy, all relative to the theme, of course:

Here is an aerial view of how it all came together:

Everyone enjoyed the sweets, especially the birthday boy!

For the table decor, I purchased the wood paneling at Home Depot, painted it, and staggered it to bring some depth to it. I then hung all these tissue honeycomb balls in various shades of blue that I purchased  from Shop Sweet Lulu– her shop is so cute and has all kinds of unique party goods.  If you’re not sure how to decorate or can’t decide what to do, her shop offers tons of inspiration!

I really enjoyed planning and executing this party because Ethan is my youngest, and I can still do cutesy things and not really have any parameters because he just lets mama do it all at this point. I think I still have free reign for at least a couple more years, no? 🙂