Ballerina Birthday

Ok guys, you’ve been SO patient with me while I edited the 24,000,000 pictures I took at Ardyn’s 4th “Ballet” Birthday Party (…and I may have gotten a little lazy on the last 1,000,000 photos) BUT-they’re done. So without further ado, here are the deets and links!

And if you love what you see, help a girl out and go right ahead and pin that little bad boy down alllllllll the way down at the bottom! 😉

For starters I had NO idea what kind of party to throw Ardyn this year. Usually we are in California over her birthday and we skip “a party” and celebrate by doing something fun with her cousins. But this year, she actually asked for a party with her friends, for the first time. And although this may seem a bit extravagant for a four year old’s birthday, let me just say that this is actually the first real birthday party she’s ever had. (We celebrated her first birthday with a few close family friends at a play center- but I’m counting THIS as her first “real birthday party”! )

Anyways, I was calling around to local dance centers because I wanted to switch the girls’ dance studio where they take ballet. I found this local one and knew how gorgeous and bright the rooms were- so, before I hung up with the receptionist I asked if they ever host birthday parties. She said no…BUT that the studios were available to rent hourly. So…the planning began! Tip: Always ask if a place you love “rents out their space”. Just because they don’t officially “host” parties doesn’t mean you can’t make it work!

The lady told me I could hire an instructor to help run the party and we basically went from there! Our instructor ran an hour long dance class for the girls and then we followed with 30 minutes for lunch & cake! The timing was perfect & the girls were occupied the entire time! I included links to all the vendors below as well as some party planning and decor tips!

We had these gorgeous tutus from Trevi Ave Co. available for girls to put on for the party and then take home as favors! They were a hit. AND Trevi Ave Co. is offering YOU GUYS an exclusive discount: 10% off orders $26.99+, ends 4/1/18. Use code: JORDANANDCO! My girls wear these around the house for dress up and to dance class all the time! They are so adorable!

The incredibly gorgeous “Let’s Twirl” banner (along with all the food cards & wand tags) were done by the talented Alexandra over at Lady Bird Paper Co.  Seriously, go click on that link…her work is amazing!!!

The leaf garland was an old find in the Target dollar section last year. The cute little rack was an Amazon find! I loved that it had two heights. I put it on the lower one so that it was right at the kiddos level!

Ardyn’s outfit and crown are by Plum NYC. (She is wearing a size 4)

To put the main cake table together, I contacted my girl Amy from Pearl and Jane. She is my GO-TO for all garlands and all things pretty. I gave her my theme and a few inspiration pics and she put together the most gorgeous package of goodies! The pink tutu puff garland, the “Tutu cute” banner, the gold star garland, and the “Tiny Dancer” chair garland were all by Pearl & Jane!. She is SO incredibly talented and you might recognize her work from all of my monthly “Book Nook” posts!

To put the backdrop together, I use large command hooks on the studio walls (got permission first) and then hung this cheap white ruffle shower curtain up, and then this cute iridescent fringe curtain from Shop Sweet Lulu over it. Then I layered with my Pearl and Jane garlands and added some balloon arrangements from Balloons Everyday to either side!

The adorable wands pictured above were by a new little shop I discovered browsing Etsy one day. It’s called Spartan54 and they were so great to work with! I loved how these little wands came out and the girls were SO excited to take one home with their Trevi Ave Co tutus! AND, more good news…Spartan54 is offering you guys 15% off your order of $40.00 or more!! Use code: JORDANANDCO15

The perfectly dainty food name cards, and the wand favor tags, again, were by the talented Lady Bird Paper Co!

The pink letter board was a find at my local Hobby Lobby!

The tables and chairs I unfortunately had to rent. I got them from Big D Party Rentals. They were great but got stuck in traffic and arrived with all of my tables, chairs and table clothes (that needed to be decorated) TEN minutes before the party started! Thank GOD I had my whole family there to help set up!

Fake flowers, feathers, pink gauze runner – Hobby Lobby | Swan Plates | Crown Party Hats | Placemats | Pink Stripe Napkins | Confetti | Leaf Twine – old from Target | Glass milk jugs | pink paper straws | Cookie on top of milk jar for an extra little treat! 😉 | Swan centerpiece | Giant Balloons | Tiny Dancer Chair Banner | Pink Dipped Wooden Forks|

The cake was custom from Society Bakery.  HOWEVER, I’m not linking them, nor am I recommending them…I need a new cake shop. Anyone local got one for me?! The customer service was awful, the cake was not cheap, and the frosting literally started falling off the cake halfway through the party. We had to rush the girls to sing “Happy Birthday” before the cake was completely ruined. It was the craziest thing…just as if the frosting was full-on melting off of the cake. I’ve never seen anything like it- and the room was NOT hot!!!

The GORGEOUS fondant ballet slippers I ordered from Wonder Cake Deco and they literally MADE the cake!!! Society Bakery doesn’t do fondant either…another reason I need to go elsewhere!

The signed ballet slipper was from our first trip to see the Nutcracker, we bought this slipper worn & signed by the Sugar Plum Fairy. It’s one of the girls most prized possessions!Q’s outfit: Trevi Ave Co & Cute Bird Accessories Bow!

These wands from Spartan54 were totally a hit!! The tag from Lady Bird Paper Co says “you are tutu sweet for coming!”

Food Ideas:

(we did a play on words with some ballet terms)

“demi” donuts: white powdered donuts

“ballet school of fish” : pink goldfish

“pink puffs”: cotton candy on ice cream cones

“tutti frutti”: fruit platter

“tea sandwiches”: mini sandwiches from Corner Bakery

“perfectly pink popcorn”: popcorn, yogurt dipped pretzels & pink marshmallow mix,

Do you not die over the little girlies picking out their tutus?! I cannot!

A few fun images from the dance class. Our instructor was incredible!

And then it was time for lunch & cake!

(Bonus points if you can spot the “melting cake” in the pictures!!)

And then I took a million pictures with these gorgeous balloons (that were too big to come home with us) before we left. Balloons Everyday really does a superb job! We use them for all our parties! As we were leaving the girls asked if they could send one up to PopPop since he couldn’t be there to celebrate. Gah- that gets me everytime.

And there you have it! I think it’s safe to say that Cub enjoyed herself…seeing as how she fell asleep about 0.05 seconds after hitting the car!

I hope you found this party guide helpful! I know a lot of you mentioned that you were also throwing Ballerina parties and wanted all the links and inspiration you could get. Honestly, I worked with some of the most incredible vendors and I HIGHLY recommend all of them for any of your party needs…ballerina or otherwise!