Hostess With The Mostess

We threw my daughter a sweet French Market Poodle party to fete her first birthday, especially since I'm slightly obsessed with Paris and our pet is a French Poodle, bien sur!

The guests were greeted at the door by a welcome sign. On the patio, we re-created a French Market feeling with different stands. My parents were an ENORMOUS help in building the backdrops to each stand, from putting together the pipes and sewing the fabric. I was then able to paint the background.

We had a painting and photo stand to capture the art found in the market, while showcasing photos of Anabelle's first year with her friends and family. I also made "cartes postales" (postcards) that had pictures of all the guests and were available for them to take home and actually use to mail!

At the flower stand, we had bushels of pinks, whites and purples and a station for guests to leave Anabelle notes with floral pens.

The drink stand offered pink lemonade and water. Girls had pink Eiffel Tower cups, while the boys had dog bone cups! Each cup had a poodle stamp with the guests' names and tied on with ribbon.

And finally the food stand included baskets of baguettes and croissants, cheese and fresh fruit! We also had pink dog bone sugar cookies and lots of fresh fruit!

No stroll down the Seine is complete without seeing French painters! We had a caricaturist drawing pictures of the guests at the party, which made fabulous keepsakes!

I made a buttercream poodle cake for the birthday girl! We also had cupcakes with adorable poodle candles.

The favors included French poodle and bulldog finger puppets, a blow-up pink poodle and a CD with French music for both kids and adults.