All hail the Queen! This Magnificent Royal 60th Birthday Party by Jennifer Carver of Banner Events is absolutely brilliant! Queen Elizabeth II greeted guests as they entered the posh celebration, where grandchildren received their very own knight and princess costumes as well as swords and magic wands! Family members from all over travelled to celebrate their matriarch’s milestone birthday — such a noble thing to do!

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• Crown topped cupcakes & cake pops + a pale pink, crown-topped pillow cake with gold tassels and rope
• DIY castle wall backdrop with large golden crown + glittering golden party flags & banners
• Flower filled mini carriages, beautiful crystal stemware & DIY gold lace crowns line the table
• Pink ribbon & pearl door wreath + mini pearl topiaries + crown & ’60’ cookies on a bed of pearly sixlets

PARTY DETAILS as told by Jennifer…

Once upon a time, (60 years ago, to be exact) in a far-away city, a beautiful baby girl was born. Like every little girl, this sweet child (my mom), had dreams of becoming a princess. Born on Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation day, she had long dreamed of fancy ball gowns, royal castles and crown jewels. This pretty girl continued to dream and one day her fascination with the Royal Family eventually led her to England on a few different occasions, where countless individuals stopped her and remarked how much she resembled the lovely Lady Diana. She has always lived a life full of dignity and class, unselfish service to others and love for all. When it came time to begin plans for her 60th birthday party with family, we knew it had to be a royal celebration fit for our queen mother.

Much like a true royal celebration, where the finest bakers & craftsmen in all the land are commissioned to produce their masterpieces, we sought out the help of an amazingly talented group of true artists, each an expert in their craft. There were designers and bakers, a seamstress, photographer and so on. With the help, talents and wonderful products of many people, a beautiful royal celebration began to take shape.

PRINTABLES & DECOR

Every fabulous event begins with a gorgeous invitation. Event paper and stationery designer, Lorelee Lewis , customized her “Crown Princess” suite for our royal occasion. Royal decrees were sent out to family members requesting their presence at the “Carver Castle.” A true tribute to my mom, all immediate family members rearranged plans to be in attendance — 1 husband, 5 children, 5 spouses, 12 grandchildren + 1 on the way.

As this celebration took place out of state for both me as the planner & stylist and also for the guest of honor and most of the family, almost every piece of décor & dessert had to be shipped in sight unseen, hand carried in suitcases or driven close to 900 miles on each leg of the trip. Our venue was not actually a castle, but rather a large cabin nestled in the mountains of a small Utah town. With the wonderful contributions of every business, we transformed a rustic mountain cabin into a lovely, royal celebration perfect for our sweet mom.

Upon arrival at Carver Castle, guests were greeted by Queen Elizabeth II (o.k., it might have been a life-sized cardboard replica) and entered an oversized door beautifully accented with a custom pearl wreath by Sweet Georgia Sweet. They were shown to their royal “apartments” where they could primp & polish for the occasion.

COSTUMES

Beautiful costumes had been sewn for each of the twelve grandchildren to bring the magic of a royal celebration to life. Perfect, custom-sewn felt hats with delicate embellishments were created by Crackabo for little princes and princesses. Gorgeous soft pink tulle tutus by Atutudes were sewn with prancing and twirling princesses in mind. Appliquéd shirts with crowns, carriages and sparkling gold & silver thread were beautifully customized with each child’s name by Great Stitch. One was also gifted for the birthday “girl.” The princesses were each thrilled to receive enchanting sparkling pink wands, while the princes received shiny capes with crown detailing, all handmade by Cupcake Wishes and Birthday Dreams. Our heroic little princes were armed with swords & shields, and our fashionable princesses were given crown kits and embellishments to craft spare crowns from Oriental Trading Co. They pranced and twirled and dueled and fought off imaginary dragons as all good little princesses and princes should do. A royal treasure hunt ended in squeals of glee as the treasure box full of treats and jewels from Oriental Trading Company was discovered!

FOOD

By then, the royal court had definitely worked up a royal appetite. A scrumptious catered meal by Wallaby’s Smokehouse was presented in the royal dining hall and in the royal gardens. Guests feasted on chipotle chicken, BBQ beef brisket, smashers (a delicious side consisting of cheesy mashed potatoes topped with green onions, smoked bacon, and sour cream), garden salad & homemade rolls with cinnamon butter. Our buffet table was beautifully accessorized with stunning pearl topiaries from Sweet Georgia Sweet, a custom royal platter with vinyl crown accents from Creative Designs by Toni, sparkly tassel garlands by Fancy & Fold and a beverage dispenser accented with a gold vinyl crown from Ten23Designs. A knight in shining armor stood guard and watched over the food. Lovely food labels designed by Loralee Lewis helped guests, both young and old, decide on which morsels to add to their plates.

TABLESCAPE

The Birthday Princess and her daughters dined underneath a chandelier of beautiful poms by Peckled. Sparkly place settings consisted of gorgeous DIY gold lace crowns, gold & pink flowered gift boxes by Fancy & Fold, and custom beverages wrapped in gold sparkly cardstock from American Crafts & self-adhesive labels from Loralee Lewis. Goblets were accessorized with coordinating flagged straws, also produced by Loralee Lewis. We loved the scroll chair backers Loralee created for us to dress up the rustic chairs we had to work with at our location. A sparkly silver tulle sash helped bring in a touch of elegance as well. Our little guests dined on similar tables with kid-friendly gold & silver place settings & fun castle cupcake holder centerpieces provided by Oriental Trading Company.

DESSERT TABLE

Of course, the highlight of the celebration was our royal sweets table. It was a challenge figuring out how to make a budget-friendly, transportable castle wall backdrop that would fit in a mini-van with 6 people and luggage for a 30-hour roundtrip car ride! But, we did it! Using two tri-fold foam presentation boards, some dollar store foam core boards and a few cans of Krylon Make it Stone spray paint, we found our backdrop solution! We crafted gorgeous medieval style pennant banners from stunning sheets of gold, glittered damask scrapbook paper & sparkly gold ribbon from American Crafts and added the eye-catching intricate wood laser cut gold crown from Ten23Designs as a focal point on the backdrop. A romantic ruffled tablecloth from Candy Crush Events was layered with dreamy, soft pink David Tutera rosette fabric and became home to a display of the most beautiful confections you can imagine!

Sweeten Your Day Cakes dreamed up a truly stunning tufted royal crown pillow cake with edible beading to showcase the golden fondant crown handcrafted by 4 Kids Cakes. Mouth wateringly delicious cupcakes from Cupcake Chic Utah were topped off with lovely rosette toppers designed by Loralee Lewis and fondant toppers by 4 Kids Cakes. We displayed these on pale pink cake stands from Smash Cake & Co. 4 Kids Cakes also made yummy chocolate covered Oreos with a chocolate pattern that was a perfect grab-and-go item for little hands. Delicate macarons (4 Kids Cakes) in a lovely shade of pink were nestled in gorgeous gold trinket boxes from Ronisugar Creations. Roni also shipped in her glamorous chocolate covered apples & rice krispy treats for the occasion. Beautiful ribbons and embellishments added by Roni truly made these desserts as equally breathtaking as they were delicious. Picture perfect cookies by Frog Prince Cake & Cookies rested beautifully on a bed of white “pearl” candies from Candied Confections. One of the crowd favorites was the white chocolate popcorn in fancy custom crown favor boxes from Piggy Bank Parties. Lulu Popz designed such stunning crown and monogram cakepops that were almost too beautiful to eat. (I said, almost.) Guests were invited to fill up pink, gold-embossed favor bags by Vanessa Grant Events so they could sample treats all evening long. And we all lived, happily ever after.

We are so grateful for the talents of our truly amazing photographer Lyndsey, of Lyndsey Fagerlund Photography for the time she spent taking & editing photos of our royal celebration.