Christi from P is for Party and Kelly from WH Hostess teamed up to create this modern + adorable LITTLE BLUE CAR themed first birthday party… which looks pretty darn fantastic brightened up with all the splashes of vibrant ORANGE! First birthday parties are often filled with even more adults than kids, as was the case here, and Christi & Kelly did such a great job keeping the look stylish & adult-friendly, yet also playful enough for a first birthday party (and adults love cake pops and brownie bites too!!).

Fabulous patterns are always one of the first things to catch my eye, and I couldn’t help but be immediately drawn to the AMAZING {& handmade} backdrop on the dessert table, which was crafted from all the different papers used throughout the party + wide satin ribbon. LOVE! Also smitten with the creative lemonade bottle favors, peach bellini station, and of course the fabulous 2-tier cake complete with a blue fondant car topper!

Read on for LOTS more playful party pics + all the creative details…

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Christi…

THEME

“The birthday boy’s favorite toy is his Step 2 blue car, so my friend and client, Andrea, knew she wanted to base the party around Luke’s favorite pastime. Once we decided on the theme, I quickly contacted Kelly from The Party Dress and WH Hostess to get started.  We knew we would use blue since that was the color of the car, but we needed another fun color to complete the scheme.  We settled on a bright orange that paired perfectly with the blue!

Andrea works full time, so she wanted me to coordinate the party from beginning to end and let her be fully surprised with most of the details.  So, Kelly and I took the LITTLE BLUE CAR theme and ran with it.  Even though this was a first birthday celebration, most of the people in attendance were adults.  Kelly did such a wonderful job creating paper goods that were kid friendly as well as pleasing to the adult eye.  I had the task of creating a setting where adults would have a nice time as well as the little ones.

DESSERT TABLE

A dessert table was a must since all ages were able to enjoy the treats.  I filled the table with blue, orange and white sweets.  The candy was placed in glass containers from The Container Store and the desserts were set on white platters from Target.  Charynn of Two Sugar Babies designed custom fondant toppers for the brownies and they were perfect!  The two tiered cake was made by Cakes by Gin a and they did an amazing job reproducing the patterns.

The cookie, cake pops and cupcakes were made locally by Michael’s Cookie Jar, Nathalie Cook and Rice Epicurean.  I purchased blue striped cupcake wrappers from Shop Lulu to dress up the store bought cupcakes.  I also found the candy bags and cups from Shop Lulu.  Kelly also provided custom box wraps to dress up the white boxes, which served as pedestals for the candy jars.  My favorite part of the table was the custom backdrop handcrafted by Kelly!  She printed out multiple sheets of the coordinating patterns and glued them to ribbon, which I tacked to white foam board.

TABLES & DECOR

The tables were set with simple white tablecloths, but custom cardstock placemats gave them the perfect pop of color!  Whole Foods created the floral arrangements in white ceramic containers from IKEA, which I provided.  I placed one of Kelly’s centerpiece sticks in each arrangement to give it more of a childish and playful feel.

A new service that Kelly offers is custom fabric in any of her patterns!  I jumped at this opportunity and ordered a yard of fabric that my Mom sewed two pillows from.  The pillows were placed on the outdoor fireplace along with a “Happy Birthday Luke” banner.

FOOD & DRINKS

James Coney Island, a favorite local hot dog joint, catered the party.  Instead of serving the traditional French fries, I created a small chip bar with 4 varieties of chips. Food tent cards were displayed in front of each clear bowl.

The drink table was a popular area since it was unusually hot and humid for this time of year and the party guests couldn’t resist the Bellini station, which gave a nod to our orange color scheme.  I placed custom wrapped water bottles and other sodas and beer in white galvanized tins from Crate and Barrel.  Kelly’s custom wraps also adorned glass bottles ordered from Specialty Bottle and filled with orange soda.

FAVORS

Guests took home fresh lemonade bottled in jars from IKEA.  The bottles were adorned with favor tags that said, “Beep! Beep!  Thanks for Coming!”.

This party was such a joy to plan and I always love working with Kelly! She makes the planning process go so smoothly!“