A Party for a Princess

Hello!
I wanted to share some pictures (ok, ALOT of pictures) from my granddaughter's 1st birthday party. My daughter is very creative (and loves Pinterest), and decided to do a winter themed party for her daughter Sophie. She decided to have a Hot Cocoa Bar, a Smore Bar, and other platters of appetizers. The party was from 1:30-4:00pm. so we figured we didn't need to do a full lunch menu. One of the things I love, is that Katie involves me in her party planning. It gives me a chance to use the TONS of paper resources I have, and to feel a part of the festivities.

Hot Cocoa Bar

I gave Katie a recipe for a hot cocoa mix that I had used to send care packages to the kids when they were in college. It consists of varying amounts of powdered sugar, non-dairy creamer, cocoa, malted milk and powdered milk. We mixed up a huge batch, and set some aside for the party and put 2 servings in little half-pint jars for party favors. We also added extra chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, and a chocolate dipped spoon to the party favor. The hot cocoa turned out wonderful. Everyone said it was the best cocoa they ever tasted. I made homemade peppermint marshmallows, and chocolate dipped spoons and we had chocolate chips to add to your cup of cocoa. Here are some pictures of it.

 The half-pint jar with 2 servings of the mix, extra chocolate chips and mini marshmallows, plus a chocolate dipped peppermint spoon to stir it with.
 These were the tags I created and printed and cut using my Silhouette, which were attached to the jars.

Yum! Homemade peppermint marshmallows! They were sooo good!









The cocoa cups with sleeves, adorned with little circle tags that said "one".

And the toppings for the cups of cocoa.

These are all the little jars lined up on the counter ready to hand out to each family.

Smore Bar

We had little clay pots (which Katie painted) out on Katie's kitchen counter, that had Sterno cans in them. These were lit (with LOTS of adult supervision), and then marshmallows (we used store bought ones for these) were roasted to perfection, then sandwiched in between two graham cracker halves and a chocolate bar. Classic yummy goodness!

 Label for the Smore bar above, the marshmallows on a silver platter (actually from the dollar store!)

 The graham crackers on another expensive platter :)

 And the infamous Hershey bars (what would a smore be like without them?). There were also sticks to roast the marshmallows on.

The flower pot and the sterno can to roast the marshmallows. These sterno cans are made for doing this kind of thing - safe for indoors.

A picture of the roasting. That's my daughter Katie on the right in the blue. What a good mom she is!

Other snacks and table decorations

 Purple and white were the party colors.

 Fruit cups for the kids

 Chocolate covered pretzels and star candy.

 Water and sparkling beverages.
 

 Katie purchased the cake pops. These turned out awesome! They matched the party colors and even added a sparkle. Very pretty! There were also several platters from Chilck-Fila to munch on.

 Party Banner and Hat

Here are some pictures of the banner and party hat I made Sophie. I did a post on the Princess book I made her here.

 The party hat. Try keeping a hat with an elastic band on a one year old for more than one minute!

 Sophie's banner - designed and cut on my Silhouette. Each letter has chunky white glitter on it. Vellum snowflakes behind each letter. I think Katie is going to hang this in her room now.

 A Happy Birthday banner for the entrance way. Also designed and cut on my Silhouette.

 Sophie's smash cake - BEFORE

 DURING

AND AFTER! She really got into it - you should have seen her squishing her fingers in it!

Wow! That was alot of pictures! Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this post! It was a great party and worth every minute we spent preparing for it. There were about 50 people (adults and kids) at the party and everyone had a great time.