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A few weeks ago I co-hosted a birthday party with my best friend…for our daughters, who are also best friends!
In the spirit of friendship and their love for American Girl, Adalyn and Stella invited a close group of girlfriends for a “Little Ladies Who Lunch” afternoon including a delicious menu from some of our favorite local bakers, flower-crown making, goody bag unveiling (thanks to American Girl!) and plenty of play.
To keep with the American Girl theme, we went with the traditional pink and red…which also happened to match their rose dresses (which we scored on clearance at Gymboree during Christmas!).
Adalyn’s newest American Girl, Nanea Mitchell made an appearance at the party. She is part of the BEFOREVER collection, based in the 1940’s era, growing up in Hawaii. She is the second Polynesian doll from American Girl and comes with an inspiring story of courage and kindness. I actually lived a teeny portion of my childhood in Hawaii, so she is already so special to us!
Back to party details…
To make it easy we only coordinated one activity – the rest was free play which is PERFECT for a group of 5-7 year old girls. They are more than willing to create their own fun using their sweet little imaginations.
I actually debated having the party elsewhere…versus our backyard (which as you can see is a big hayfield this time of year!)…but it couldn’t have been more perfect. There was ample room for the girls to roam, whether they’re on the swing set, in the bouncy house or playing a game of badminton. Sometimes as moms we overthink birthdays…and really they just want to hang with their girlfriends, just like us.
Once their tummies started rumbling we gathered the girls around the picnic table for lunch + dessert…
The menu included mini star pb&j sandwiches, fresh strawberries and raspberries and pink lemonade. (We also had mini pizza slices as a back-up since we underestimated their growing appetites!) :)
The Snohomish Pie Company provided these darling raspberry pop tarts and mini raspberry pies…
And The Hutch Oven made the sweetest cookies that were a perfect theme match!
The party decor including the balloons, plates, napkins, straws and candy dish were from Hoopla Events (a locally-based Etsy shop!).
The American Girl theme was one of the easiest to pull together and it turned out absolutely perfect…just like these two…
For the cake toppers we used two characters from the American Girl Mega Construx collection that resembled our little blonde and brunette.
After dessert we headed inside for the craft, making flower crowns for their American Girl dolls!
This project was sooooo simple!
Here’s the instructions – go to Hobby Lobby, head to the floral aisle, find a 15ft Linear Mini Leaf Wired Garland ($3.99) and a 6ft Pink Mini Rose Garland ($9.99) and you have the supplies needed for 12 doll flower crowns! Don’t forget to use the 40% off coupon found on their website to cut your cost even more.
Here’s how to assemble: I cut and pre-measured the leaf garland and hand-tied the wire to make the crown. I had the flowers in cupcake cups (Hoopla Events) for the girls to design their flower arrangements. Some spread them out and others clustered together…and then the moms hot glued the flowers on. We set them on a plate with their names until the glue set. It literally took seconds to create and turned out so CUTE!
After the craft the girls dove right into their goody bags full of American Girl magazines, a Z Yang book and a Mega Construx set!
Presents!
And we concluded the party with a round of selfies…because is there anything better than having photos of your favorite people?
American Girl birthday party success!
This was my first party style post – what do you think? And if you have any questions or need links let me know!
Cheers!
XoXo Portia
*Photos by Jasmine Klein Photography
Disclosure: American Girl, Snohomish Pie Company, Hoopla Events and The Hutch Oven graciously provided product. The opinions expressed here represent my own, which I take great pride in providing pure honesty…because I’m OBSESSED with sharing the Good!