I have been so excited to share with you a party I styled recently. Remember when I hinted at it with this photo?
Well, now you can see the whole party!!
When I was first asked to style a vintage Barbie inspired boutique birthday party for a beautiful little girl named Sophia and a few of her special friends, I tried to think about what makes Barbie so special to little girls and I realized that it is that wonderful element of make believe. You can pretend that you really are Barbie and be transported to a world full of fun adventures and fabulous fashion! I wanted the dessert table to help capture the children's imagination just a Barbie does. So, I tried to design it as though it was actually a place in Barbie's house.
For the background I found the perfect black and white striped fabric which called back to Barbie's original bathing suit. I chose a dressing table to display the sweets and used it as inspiration for many of the other elements.
First I found the most beautiful corset cookies in an Etsy shop called Lori's Place. And, inspired, I contacted Lori to see if she could use the same detailed icing work but create little dresses for me instead of corsets! Knowing, that if she pulled it off, each dress would look like a beautiful little doll dress and I didn't just want to just line them up on tray. So when they showed up and were just as lovely as I had imagined, I chose to stand them up like a wardrobe of gorgeous Barbie dresses and displayed them in and around a jewelry box.
I created a silhouette, inspired by the classic vintage Barbie silhouette, and used it as one of the icons for the party as I designed the paper goods.
It was used on everything from the invitation to the framed picture above the dessert table, all the way to the thank you tags.
Trying to find even more ways to pull the silhouette into the decor, I contacted Angela at Queen of Tarts Cakes and asked her if she could make cookies which looked like little portraits. On the day of the party I displayed them on picture easels as if they were real pictures.
Just like a yummy, sparkly lipgloss! And I was lucky enough to find the perfect marshmallow roller pops to create a "floral" centerpiece for the dressing table.
Then I rounded out the table with miniature candy jars arranged as if they held beautiful perfumes or bath salts.
For the favor table, we found the perfect accessories in the Target dollars bins... pearl necklaces, bracelets, flower headbands, gloves and even little purses to hold all the goodies!
Everything was displayed on beautiful fashion themed hat boxes which I was lucky enough to find at Michaels.
The birthday girl and her mother were thrilled with the way everything turned out. And, it was wonderful to watch the guests ooh and aah as they allowed themselves to be transported into a small corner of Barbie's house, and Barbie's glamorous, fabulous world for a few sweet (and yummy!) moments.
The Sweet Sophia - Vintage Barbie Inspired Collection in now available in the shop!!