This birthday boy loves Dumbo just about as much as elephants love peanuts! Mommy and creative party planner, Andrea of Where the Green Grass Grows Designs, wanted to celebrate her son’s 3rd birthday in a LARGE way with a Dumbo Themed Birthday Party wrapped in colorful ric rac & ribbon!

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for….

• Fabulous Nutter Butter “Peanut Birthday Cake”
  
• Cupcake jars with custom wooden spoons
• Vintage popcorn & peanut treat bags in novelty orange & blue suitcases
• Story book party favors with custom bookplates

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Andrea…

My son loves all things Dumbo, but I wanted to create something that is not your typical Disney Dumbo Party. My inspiration came from a shopping trip to buy fabric at the fabric store. I fell in love with the super large ric rac ribbon and bright colors.

Decor

I ended up spending hours in the fabric store buying loads of bright ribbon that was a variety of red, yellow, orange and blue. I also picked different colors and textures; I thought it would look really great on the party table. I purchased a large piece of denim fabric for the main table cloth and then a smaller piece of the yellow and white gingham fabric. I used pinking shears to give some texture to the cut. The orange measuring tape was thrown in my cart by my boys. I saw the bright orange on top of the pile of ribbon and fabric and thought GENIUS! It looked great with it all.

I started shopping months before the event. I wanted to have peanuts to tie in the DUMBO elephant theme, but it is not the easiest for little kids and I didn’t want peanut shells by the pool. Instead of peanuts I bought Nutter Butter Cookies, the kids loved them! I put the Nutter Butter Cookies in some super cute vintage peanut bags from Hey Yoyo. I also bought the popcorn boxes from Hey Yoyo and filled them with popcorn. The popcorn bags were stuffed into a cute novelty suitcase from The Land of Nod. I also made custom bookplates to stick in the inside cover of a Dumbo book. Each familiy that came went home with their own Dumbo book. It will help them remember the special day celebrating Alec’s 3rd Birthday. The books were also put in the suitcase since I thought the colors looked great together.

I designed custom invitations, cupcake jar sticker labels, goody bag tags, an 8×10 print and return address labels to coordinate with the party collection.

Food & Drinks

I purchased matching orange and blue cups and a cute bright red drink dispenser from Walmart. I filled the juice dispenser with V8 Fruit Punch and ice. It tasted great! Water bottles were below in a large metal tin bucket. I had Jimmy Johns Sandwiches Catered so I wouldn’t have to cook. We also had chips, fruit and veggies.

I used small metal buckets to seperate the cutlery. Napkins and paper plates were also purchased at Walmart and tied into the colors. I used some fun craft boxes from our local restaurant supply store to fill with goodies. I wrapped them with a bright orange, thick ribbon and sealed it with a coordinating goody bag tag.

Dessert

I always wanted to make the cupcakes in a jar. I purchased some fun wooden spoons and stamp set from The Tom Kat Studio. I stamped ALEC on each spoon. It added a sweet detail that guests “ooohed” and “awwwed” about!

I also had a cake made from a local bakery in Eugene Oregon called Market of Choice. I purchased the smaller cake seperate from the bottom larger cake. I just had them frost the cake in the smooth blue frosting. I knew they would make it taste amazing. It was less expensive to buy them separate and I stacked them myself at home. Then I wrapped the coordinating ribbon around the cake and pushed a small pushpin in the back to hold the ribbon together. Nutter Butter Cookies were stacked on the top, and a few on the middle & bottom. This was my favorite part of the party table and it was a total last minute thought.

Activities

The kids went swimming for the party, filled their tummies and we had present opening time. Alec had the best day. I’m so happy with how the decorations came together. It was so much fun!