Sweet & Lovely Flower Garden Birthday Party
Okay, everyone, get ready for a serious dose of adorableness… because this “Flower Garden” themed party that Lindsay Banner (of charming etsy shop Banner Boutique) created for her daughter’s first birthday is just SWEET & LOVELY in every way! (I’m also filing this one under Easter inspiration because that’s one of the first things I thought of when I saw these beautiful photos!)
You can definitely see the love shine through in the details of this party… from the chic mini-sized food (including flower-shaped sandwiches!) to the amazing dessert table displays (cake pops sprouting from a vintage flower box!) to the DIY decor: paper-flower-and-leaf mobiles hanging from painted branches, faux flower topiary trees, personalized paper details from The TomKat Studio, and more!
Read on for TONS of gorgeous images – as captured by Sierra Studios – and lots of {very helpful & detailed!} party info from Lindsay… (P.S. I’m also going to post a couple of the dessert recipes in a separate feature… and there’s a Banner Boutique discount code at the bottom of this post!)
PARTY DETAILS, as told by Lindsay…
THEME
“We chose a Flower Garden theme with soft colors because Chloe has been a sweet, classic, girly baby from the minute she was born…and she’s been surrounded by flowers her whole life (due to Banner Boutique) – so flowers are in her blood!
DECOR
We also knew we wanted the talented Kim, from The TomKat Studio, to create a custom set of printable designs for us based on this theme. Since we know Kim is a VERY busy lady, we wanted the set to be something that she could also sell in her shop that would work for many other party themes too! We LOVE the way everything turned out; it’s a classic set using light pink, spring green and a gorgeous light aqua blue… perfect for any girly birthday party, baby shower, Easter or any spring party in general!
We happen to have an abundance of silk flowers (due to BB), so we tried to incorporate a lot of those by making topiaries, garlands and other floral accents throughout the party.
Since the party had a very *spring* feel to it, we painted various twigs/branches white and used invisible thread to hang the flower punches from The TomKat Studio from, along with light pink and green suede leaves that we use for some of our BB products. This made for fun “chandelier” type mobiles that hung in the entry way!
Whenever I pull together a party, I take a walk all around my house and gather things that can be used for it! I’m always amazed at how the best decorations are typically the ones I have in my children’s rooms and around the house already! We used crate trays I already had to serve the sandwiches in, pink buckets/boxes we had in my daughter Kaitlyn’s room to decorate the children’s tables and put all of the crayons/paper in, etc.
FAVORS
We made handmade favor pouches using 12 x 12 scrapbook paper and attached the matching thank you labels from the printable collection. These have always been my go to/favorite type of favor packaging because it gives you an opportunity to add more color to your party in such an inexpensive way! You can get 4 favor punches out of 1 piece of scrapbook paper!
FOOD
The invites let everyone know we would be having a “baby bite” luncheon to celebrate our baby turning one! We kept the food very simple: Mini chicken salad croissants (using Grandma Beverly’s simple and easy recipe!), pasta salad, mini PB&J and turkey & cheese sandwiches cut out in flower shapes, mini fruit skewers, mini garden veggie cups with ranch dip at the bottom, etc. Another GREAT resource for all kinds of disposable serving cups/plates/skewers: Smart & Final! If you like to throw parties and you like cute little containers – Smart & Final is your place!
DESSERTS
Because some of our family members live out of state and weren’t able to come to Chloe’s party, we asked them to ship their signature desserts so that they could be included on the dessert table. This really made it feel like we had a little bit of Grandma Marilyn, Aunt Ang etc. in attendance! It also made for a very large and bountiful dessert table, while also cutting down on the cost. It was so nice to have professionally-made desserts mixed in with homemade treats!
My friend Malisa, owner of dessert catering company Ms. Sweet Soirée, made up most of the desserts, and they were incredible!!! Instead of having her make 50-100 pieces of just a couple different desserts, we had her make 20-30 of 10 different desserts. This made for a more elaborate and yummy table presentation, while also ensuring there was something for everyone’s taste preference…chocolatey, fruity, creamy, you name it!
Another FABULOUS resource…ETSY!! I ordered the most beautiful and petite little sugar cookies from Cukor Cookies. These were very inexpensive but added an AMAZINGLY perfect touch to the party! (We used coconut dyed green to act as “grass” underneath the sugar cookies.) I also got a BEAUTIFUL set of cake pops from Cake Pop Shoppe! Both of these shops will customize yummy desserts based on your party fcolors/theme! We also ordered some DARLING paper straws and pink and green paper bags to serve the pretzels in for the kids from The Party Fairy.
We dressed up some of the plain plastic cups (from Smart & Final) that we used for the desserts with Martha Stewart’s scrapbooking stickers and a little ribbon bow punch.
The Coffee Shop (a local restaurant and winner of Cupcake Wars!) bakes up delicious and gorgeous cupcakes! Although we already had an abundance of sweets for our dessert table, I knew I just had to have their signature pink vanilla cupcakes! I always try to incorporate things that are gorgeous and premade to offset the time needed to create an beautiful presentation and encourage everyone to check out their local bakeries… even grocery store bakeries! You would be surprised at what you can find!
CAKE
My sweet neighbor offered to make the cake! I was talking with her a few weeks before the party…she said she had been taking a cake decorating class and proceeded to show me pictures on her phone of all the cakes she had been making! You never know who has hidden talents that can come to your rescue!
DIY TABLECLOTH
Since I knew I needed a fairly large dessert table, I took a large folding table and a smaller folding table and put them together to make a T shape. Since I didn’t want a messy looking table cloth, I knew I would need to sew a custom table cloth – however, I AM NOT a seamstress. I made a VERY simple tablecloth by measuring the size of the tops of each table, cutting fabric to fit each table separately, then sewing those together. I then added plain pink fabric that I gathered every 4 inches or so to make pleats and attached that. I made one simple straight stitch for each part so that the fabric could be easily pulled apart and washed and then used for another project after the party. I am very big on not buying things for a party that will only be able to be used once, and I love that I can now use this fabric for other projects! The whole project literally took me no more than 30 minutes!
HELPERS
I took all the help that was offered to me! I used to throw parties like this fairly often, back when I had one child and no business. Now that I have three busy children and a business it just isn’t practical to throw “over the top” parties all that often. My mom and dad spent most of the day before preparing all of the non-dessert type food. This was so, so appreciated and allowed me to be able to focus on the decorating aspect of everything!
I also involved my kids as much as possible! They really loved helping me to punch out cute little circles and squares to make the garlands…who knew my 4 year old boy would be so into punching out paper! We also made all of the mini cupcakes with the matching little pearls on top together…another easy and fun thing to do with your kids! It was so fun to see them feel so proud of the decorations at the party knowing they helped to make them!
PHOTOGRAPHY
I cannot express enough how happy I am that I asked Jessica (of Sierra Studios Photography) to come and photograph Chloe’s big day! I have literally been staring at the pictures of Chloe eating her cake for hours on end. The pictures of Chloe and all the little details at her party will forever be remembered now that we have these gorgeous photos!! I would HIGHLY recommend getting a really good photographer to come even if it’s just for an hour!!
HEADBAND
It’s always fun to have a special headband for the guest of honor…especially when the guest of honor has no hair! We made a special pink headband for Chloe to match the frosting on her cupcakes! You can see it right here, as captured by Melissa Lyn Photography. (Unfortunately, we didn’t get a pic of my own Chloe in the headband because she lost it at the party!)”
- Party Styling/Headband for Guest of Honor: Lindsay – Banner Boutique
- Photography: Sierra Studios Photography
- Party Printables: Kim – The TomKat Studio
- Desserts/Cake Pops: Malisa – Ms. Sweet Soirée
- Cake Pops: Cake Pop Shoppe
- Mini Sugar Cookies: Cukor Cookies
- Pink Swirled Cupcakes: The Coffee Shop
- Various Dessert Cups etc.: Smart & Final
- Martha Stewart Stickers/Punches: Michaels
61 Comments
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Love all the ideas at this party. Your little girl is precious!
Great ideas! We are growing the TickleMe Plant everyone seems to be talking about.
Who know a plant could make everyone smile when it closes its leaves like magic when you Tickle It!
The sheer abundance of details in this party is AMAZING. I love the theme, the colors, and the photos. Everything is just beautiful.
I love hostess blog. It’s a great source of inspiration for me.
I love all your designs!!! you are so talented and you’re an inspiration :) Keep up the good work. I’m truly your fan!!!
Im in dessert heaven!!!! Wow-wow-wow!!! Great job, decor is perfect.
I’m seriously dying from all the cuteness! And everything looks so yummy!! And that baby is adorable!
FAB-ULOUS!!!Every detail is so pastel and so pretty! Love the rusty buckets and all the grass mats. I am really diggin on pastel now that Spring is near!!!
So beautiful! I love the color palette – it’s perfect for a Spring or Easter party!
So beautiful, the attention to detail was amazing. I would love more details on how to make the favor containers.
This is one of the best parties I have ever seen. Hands down, DARLING! Gets me in that spring mood :)
What a lovely party! I wish I have a girl to make a party with these colors!
Awww, girls. This is just lovely. Sweet without being totally saccharine. (Is that even a phrase anymore? “Saccharine”?)
Love love love it. It turned out perfectly.
Melanie
love this softly pink party! the dyed coconut is such a good idea!how do you make the favor pouches?
This just made my day!!! It is gorgeous!
I absolutely LOVE this!!!!!!!
Oh. My. Goodness. This party is SUPER GORGEOUS!. May jaw literally dropped when I looked at these pictures. Every detail is stunning. I’m definitely bookmarking this one!
Oh my goodness, how pretty! Makes me wish we had a birthday we could celebrate this Spring. Maybe we’ll just have to celebrate Spring itself? Just for the beauty of it!
Incredible. What a celebration!
Such a lovely party with so many sweet details!
Ridiculously amazing! This is my favorite of all time! Thanks, thanks, thanks for sharing!
Every now and again an extra gorgeous party pops up around the web. This is one of them for me!
Definitley has me thinking of Easter!
Oh my! There are not enough words to describe how my I love this party! Absolutely gorgeous – in every way!
I love this party!! Can you tell me where you got the metal server you used for the cupcakes?
I can’t tell you how much I am in love with this! Every detail was amazing! And most importantly, your baby is ADORABLE!!! [Chloe is my favorite name]
Great job!
Incredibly cute!! I am browsing around for ideas for my own daughter’s first birthday coming up in April, and I fell in love with what you did. It is so sweet, classy, and charming!
Wow! I love this. Super cute!
I love this layout! Can I ask what type of flowers those are in center? The little pink ones on the sticks. thanks!
It force me to love visit here frequently……Awsome :)
Amazing!! i love it all :) Where did you get those great vintage wooden crates? I am hosting a spring party so this is perfect timing!
I would LOVE to know what type of flowers those are for the dessert table centerpiece. Does anyone know? Thank you!
I love the wreath on the front door, where is it from?
This is very professional and I must say nothing seems out of place.
Well done!
Hi! I absolutely love this birthday theme. I’m hosting my goddaughters birthday party and I just love all the ideas you have. I was wondering if you have a step by step guide to the table cover?? and where can I order the white tree??
i love this!
This is so cute – great ideas for any party or shower. Is there a template or instructions on the favor pouches?
hi i was wondering how you made the favors and can you let me know what you put in them too? thanks!
This was simply beautiful. im totally in love with it all. keep up the good work!!
I’m so inspired by your your idea that I’m thinking a similar theme party for my daughter’s first birthday. Good job. Tess
I am dying to know how to make the branch centerpiece. Are those silk flowers/branches or real? Beautiful party!!!
LOVE everything about this! Where did that adorable shirt she is wearing coming from??
What lovely decorations you have there! and the sweets look tempting, you got my mouth watering!
awesome!
Great job! I love all of the details. Where did you get the shirt she is wearing?
It’s so gorgeous! The colours are so vibrant and perfect for a fairy tale party. I can’t wait to celebrate my own! Cheers!
Help! Looking to find out what type of plant/flowering tree you used for the centerpiece. What is in the favors? Everything is just gorgeous.
So many beautiful details!!!!It is absolutely amazing !!!!
Awwwww.. It’s so lovely! This is like a sweet 16 rather 1 yr old party dream come trues! =) I wish I had this when I was that age haha
i love all the little details that were put into this party, looks amazing, I really want to know how you made the flower arrangement on the table, the pink and green flowers, also I love the tree branches great idea!
I can’t stop smiling, this is so pretty!
Your beautiful cake has been featured on best of the web first birthdays to check it out at https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/best-of-the-web-1st-birthday-cakes-parties/
OMG, so cute! And yummy looking!
u do parties in kuwait?
Love all the party foodie things! They all add so much to the decor.
Does anyone know where I can get the balloons used here? I can’t seem to find these exact colors anywhere. Thanks!
Hi what type of flowers are in that vase on the dessert table. Are they real or silk could you email me at samanthawehmeyer@gmail.com
Wow!!! What wonderful ideas
Wow, I'm jealous! Very well done and perfectly executed!
What kind of plant/tree are those big branches with the pink flowers in the giant clear vase?
could be weeping cherry ? don't think it's redbud
Wow, so cute! And good looking!