{Party like a Pineapple} DIY everything

My little miss sweet pea loves turtles and pineapples. I was rather relieved when she wanted a pineapple themed birthday party. Pineapples are fun and colourful and so easy to craft. Before preparing to style a party I like to use Pinterest as a reference and a place to pin my inspiration. This was a fun and engaging project to do together. There really were not many cute ideas to be found on Pinterest or the web for that matter.

One idea was to make little pineapples from cardboard. This was a disaster well maybe not quite a disaster but time consuming. Imagine making 8 pineapples with a zillion little folds it was a literally a technical feat and not so pretty!. A good lesson in math and geometry. Not my favourite subjects at school or ever really. With a couple of test invitations made from cardboard we decided to go back to the drawing board. I had an idea to make an invitation in the shape of a pineapple – a little coloured tissue, special fringing scissors and some twine and voila! This was the end result. I had my husband on the hunt for Allen’s pineapple gummy candy to no avail. He came home with something even sweeter – little hard rock candy with a tiny pineapple in the centre by Sticky. Inside the little paper crafted pineapples was a glass jar filled with these tropical flavoured delights!

Handmade details add a personal touch to a celebration. I played around with watercolours when I studied fashion so I decided to have a go at making place cards with of course pineapples! Handwritten names completed the bespoke details.

There are so many lovely tea towels at Williams & Sonoma. They are a good size and a good thickness so they hold their shape. I wanted the girls to wear aprons while crafting and eating and along my regular pop ins to W&S found these beauties! They were in the perfect colours to complement our pineapple theme. The size of my ‘tea towel’ aprons would fit 5-12 year olds.  They were super easy and quick to whip up on the machine because all the edges are already hemmed…..I call that WINNING!!! A couple of metres of cotton ribbon, tea towel and thread made an economical apron for the girls. Coming in at around $8 a piece plus the time to make them.

Are you ready to party like a P I N E A P P L E? This was the question! For seven eleven year old giggling girls a crafternoon, movie night and sleepover was planned. Little miss sweet pea was thrilled everyone could make her little celebration.

I kept the menu pretty simple. We made the cupcakes together and topped them with green pineapple leaves made from a delightful green tissue paper. My darling husband was a star and made the popcorn and the breakfast pancakes and both were a big hit!

PARTY MENU

CRAFTERNOON  TEA

Pineapple and Coconut Cupcakes

Pineapple and Apple Punch

MOVIE NIGHT

Buttered Popcorn and Sea Salt

Cheese and Tomato Spelt Pizzas

Ham and Pineapple Spelt Pizzas

Banana Split, Vanilla Ice Cream, Butterscotch Sauce and Sprinkles

BREAKFAST

Spelt Pancakes, Blueberries, Raspberries and Vanilla Ice Cream

 

I am a big list maker. This helps me keep everything in order and not feel overwhelmed. My tip for throwing a party is to be organised, backward schedule and plan your menu so some things can be prepared earlier so you are not stuck in the kitchen the whole time! Not a good place to be when you are hosting a party.

MY PARTY PLANNING TICK LIST

# guest list

# invitations + place cards

# party schedule

# menu planning

# diy preparations for crafternoon

# dividing tasks with husband and the little miss

A craft party whether you are still at school or a retiree is such a great way to celebrate with your girlfriends. You get to chill out, chatter away and end up with something that you made yourslef. Its a win win! I put a call out on facebook and messaged my friends for any old jeans that were ready to be tossed. My idea was to make bags for the girls to decorate. They had a fabulous afternoon laughing, teasing, singing along to pop music and crafting pom poms. On each bespoke denim bag I embroidered the girls initial – they loved their bags and I think it will be something that they will use for many years to come. I even made one for myself!

All the girls left happy with their creative efforts, full bellies and time with their besties. When a party is over it is never really over until the clean up is done. We had a few hours of chill out time before tackling the kitchen and general tidying up. I believe it is important to include the children in this so they value and appreciate the effort and responsibilities when hosting a party. Now, we were ready for party number two that night with Nana and Pa coming to celebrate a very special and sweet young lady who is growing up way too fast.

I will be posting recipes and the crafty diy projects from the PARTY LIKE A PINEAPPLE PARTY very soon.

In all things beautiful,

Lyn xx

ps The true star of the show was my fur baby. He was in heaven with seven girls fawning over him…..I am sure he thought it was his party! Here he is being a good sport. OSCAR we love you xxx

{Party like a Pineapple} DIY everything

August 20, 2015 | 4 Comments