wildflower birthday party
well folks, we officially have a three-year-old. my eyes are heavy from exhaustion but my heart is full from all of the love our friends and family showed to our girl this past week.
margot loves birthdays. i mean seriously — she sings happy birthday to me, her sister and her baby dolls several times a week. so i wanted to make sure her birthday party was awesome. we decided on a wildflower theme, “young, wild & three.” i felt like it would be simple, sweet and perfect for spring!
the party turned out so cute (watch my reel if you haven’t already), and I wanted to share all my party tips, must-haves and links to everything we bought! first up, here are some tips i’ve learned that will save you time and money when your throw parties:
don’t plan your party during mealtime (unless you feel like feeding everyone a full meal)! we planned for 3 pm and it was perfect. we had a chick fil a nugget tray, fruit and veggie trays, cake, cupcakes, and drinks. it was easy, budget-friendly and everyone got plenty to eat!
on the topic of feeding everyone a full meal — buy small plates & cups. this was revolutionary for me! we are all naturally inclined to fill our plates & cups. if you’re on a budget (who isn’t?!) buying small plates and cups will make the food and drinks go a longer way and less food will be wasted.
make cupcakes for the kiddos. this advice was given to me by my mother-in-law and it was genius. so much less MESS. no throwing away 20 plates of half-eaten cake, no forks, and spoons. i popped those baby’s on a tray and brought them out for all the kiddos after Margot blew out her candles. and i saved the fancy cake for the adults.
premake your cake — another gem of advice from my MIL. we made the cake several nights before the party and stuck it in the freezer. took it out the morning of the party to thaw, frosted, and decorated it, and it saved me SO much time and stress!
skip the public present opening 😮 i know…makes me sound like an evil mom. but Margot gets overwhelmed enough as it is when opening gifts. add 20 other kids into the mix and chaos ensues. we took videos of her opening each gift and thanking whoever gifted it to her, and we plan to send them the video and thank them again for coming to the party. it was also really special to watch Margot open all of her gifts with just her family after the party was over, and it gave her something fun to look forward to after everyone left!
lastly, always put an end time on your invitations. decreases your likelihood of lingerers ;)
okay, recipes and decor. i kept it super simple with the decor and basically just bought flowers! trader joe’s is THE best place to get fresh flowers. i got 20 bundles for $118 and they turned out sooo beautiful! that was really all we put around the house for party decor. i bought wildflower napkins and straws, and some beige gingham plates, and i put joy, envision, grapefruit and bergamot in every diffuser. it seriously leveled up the whole wildflower theme — joy is a blend of ylang-ylang, geranium, jasmine, and rose (and more) in it, and envision has black spruce, geranium, lavender, orange and rose. our house straight up smelled like a field of wildflowers 🪴
since we were buying most of the food premade, i wanted to do something special for the cake, so i found a recipe for a strawberry chamomile naked cake….it was insanely good. i mean, i didn’t expect anything less because half-baked harvest never fails me but i’m telling you, you HAVE to make this! it would be the perfect cake for easter! here’s the recipe.
like i mentioned above, we made the cakes earlier in the week and stuck them in the freezer. i knew i’d be too busy the day of to make an entire cake, and my mother-in-law is the queen of freezing things, so she told me that after i made the cake to let it cool, wrap it in saran wrap and stick it in the freezer. the morning of the party, i took the three layers of individually wrapped cake out and set them on the counter to thaw while i made the chamomile frosting (which i also could have done beforehand, but ended up having plenty of time to do the day of!)
ps: it’s muchhhh easier to frost a cold cake. so for the sake of easy frosting, i will be refrigerating or freezing all of my future cakes!
okay, the other recipe i have to share is the wildflower sangria. oh my gosh…i could’ve drank a gallon (but that would’ve been bad 😬). here’s how i made it:
4 bottles of sauvignon blanc
2 cups of Cointreau
3 cups elderflower liqueur
4 cans of sparkling water
1 sliced orange
1 sliced lemon
1 tub of raspberries
half a container of strawberries slices
rose petals
seriously, it was the perfect adult touch to the party. and it was so pretty with the rose petals in it! (here’s the original recipe, I changed mine up a bit)
okay, lastly. here are links to everything we bought for the party! the linen outfits for the girls were so cute and I loved how my dress and shoes turned out. if you’re looking for something that I missed, DM me!
overall, it was such a special and perfect day and the party was the cherry on top. so thankful for our friends, family, and the military community we live in for making our girl feel so special and loved on her birthday <3