Eloise is an adorable little girl whole lives in the Plaza Hotel and is always up for adventure (and sometimes a little more than her fair share of mischief) ;). Since her daughter loves these books and just so happens to be the spitting image of Eloise herself, Tammy Mitchell of Pink Peppermint Prints and Parties decided to take the theme and run with it, creating this adorable Polka Dots & Pink Eloise Birthday Party. With all the glamorous feather boas, sparkling glasses and chic desserts, this party would also be great inspiration for a kid’s Paris inspired celebration!

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• Eloise’s pet turtle (Skipperdee) decorating activity & pin the bow on her pug Weenie’s tail
• Pink cotton candy packaged in cute mason jars + pink crown & ladybug shaped cookies
• Pink feather boas, a polka dot pink cake & hand-drawn New York cityscape building centerpieces
• Scalloped pink streamer canopy and an adorable Eloise-inspired costume for the birthday girl

PARTY DETAILS as told by Tammy…

I wanted to make my daughter’s birthday about something that she loved, something that represented her at that moment in time.  With her blond hair and spunky, precocious personality, she reminds me a bit of Eloise, and she happens to LOVE the books and movies. I knew it would be perfect for her! Since pink is her favorite color, I raided the Target $1 bins where I found adorable pink glittered boxes, pink pearl necklaces, and hilarious pink and white polka dot flower shaped sunglasses. Target always comes through! Eloise loves to dress up and these $1 bin items got the creative juices flowing!

Decor

My ideas for party printables started forming and I was envisioning a table full of frilly pink and black dress ups, polka dots and cute little girls eating pink treats. For a table, I pushed together two 6’ tables to form a square. I like to find more than one use for things, so instead of disposable tablecloths, I used pink fabric with white polka dots so that after the party I could use it to sew up something fun! I rounded up more pink and black party goods from local shops like Party City, Walmart and HomeGoods. Eloise is a city girl who lives at the Plaza Hotel in New York, so for the table centerpiece to go along with the book I wrapped some different sized boxes in white wrapping paper and drew city scenes on them to give it a cityscape look.

I wanted the space to have some sort of canopy, or something fun hanging over the table. Kind of hard to do in an open space! I found heavy gage wire at the hardware store and strung it in a zigzag pattern from tree to tree across the park. Then, I hung bright pink crepe paper in a scallop pattern from it. It’s kind of hard to tell in the pictures because it was very windy, but it looked even more fun when it was hanging straight.

The favor boxes included the pink necklaces and sunglasses, pink hair flowers and a clear bag of good and plenty candy wrapped with a black and white gingham ribbon. The feather boas were all over the table for the girls to put on too.

Food

The food table consisted of ham and cheese tea sandwiches that I individually wrapped in cellophane bags tied with ribbon, pink cotton candy, pink and black ladybug sugar cookies, pink jello, pink lemonade, watermelon and blackberry kabobs, pink strawberry marshmallow treats, tiny pink crown sugar cookies, pink heart shaped rice krispy treat pops, pink rock candy and of course…the cake. Much to my surprise, with all the flavors and colors of Jello available, they don’t make one that’s bright pink, so, I was left with the option of making my own Jello. Sounds crazy I know, but it was actually surprisingly easy. All you need is some clear gelatin (find these next to the Jello at your local grocery store) food coloring, and juice of your choice to flavor it. I used raspberry lemonade. You can find the instructions on the gelatin packets. I wanted cotton candy, but I didn’t want it in it’s ugly plastic container…so I came up with an alternative. I simply bought a box of canning jars (available at Walmart) they come with the lids and rings. I filled the jars with cotton candy and put a party printable on the lid and tied them with ribbon. For the cookies, I worked with Sugar and Flour and can I just tell you it was a wonderful experience. They were perfectly wrapped and not one was broken when they arrived. I HIGHLY recommend them and their amazing cookies. They were like little works of art. The cake was a simple design that I came up with and asked my local Albertsons to create it for me. They were great to work with and the best part?? It fed 30 and only cost $27.99!

Entertainment

We started out by creating our very own pet turtles just like Eloise’s Skipperdee. I used green fun foam that I cut into a circle and head and tail shape for each child, 4 small wooden spoons that I painted green for legs, google eyes, and an assortment of buttons and rhinestones from oriental trading co for them to decorate their turtle’s shell. The girls had so much fun creating these and they turned out so cute! We also played pin the bow on Weenie’s tail, Eloise’s silly dog. I drew the simple dog from a picture I had in the book. After the games and activities we headed to the table for our tea party and treats. The girls were delighted to dress up in all their goodies and eat fun treats.