Olivia's Frozen 3rd Birthday Party

Up until Olivia was 2 she really didn’t care much about TV or movies. That all changed when the world shutdown and we were forced to all stay home and pull out alllllll the stops to try and keep her busy while we both worked from home. Enter: Frozen. Frozen 2 had just come out, but we hadn’t seen the OG yet, and we heard so many kids her age were obsessed with it, but we had our doubts. And were oh so wrong. What is it about this movie that just captivates everyone? Derek and I are even obsessed with it and I always have the songs in my head.

Anyway, ever since last spring Olivia has requested an “Anna Elsa” (that’s what she calls it) birthday party. The party planner in my cringed a bit picturing all of the Disney branded plates and napkins and everything cheesy. So I decided that I would embrace her theme, but make it modern and more my style ha. Even though we couldn’t have a full blown party with all of her friends (it’s okay she had one with her class at school), we still wanted to make her day special. And you know I don’t hold back when it comes to parties. So we kept it to immediate family only, which for two only children our immediate family is 5 people lol. We also required that everyone wear masks the whole time and everyone was always socially distant throughout the party. And honestly who knows isolation better than Anna and Elsa? This whole party was so on brand.

Once again it all started with the invitation. I threw in lots of inside jokes from both movies for all of the true Frozen fans out there. I couldn’t help myself.

In true form I stayed up allllll night baking and getting everything setup. And Olivia slept until 10am and honestly would have kept sleeping but Geoffrey woke her up with his barking.

I’ve tagged all of the sources at the end of the post in case you’re curious about where anything is from. I mostly focused on the large blank wall in our living room where I hung lots of iridescent streamers, balloons, stars, you name it. Part of her gift from Derek and I were the Anna and Elsa dresses, so I had Derek build a small dress up rack for her to hang everything on in her playroom. What’s nice is it can fold up when not in use, and we can always lengthen it as her dress up wardrobe increases.

Obviously all of the snacks had to follow the theme so I made snowflake cookies, a very magical Elsa cake, the most delish rice crispy treats, and even included carrots for Sven! I even cut the cheese into snowflakes because I’m crazy.

Olivia was just beside herself and immediately hugged Olaf and then just bopped balloons around for a very long time. All while wearing one glove just like Elsa. There was even a bowl of snowballs for a snowball fight, which she was all about getting to throw things in the house without getting in trouble.

THEN! A surprise guest arrived!

Sidenote: Olivia has loved Anna from the first time she saw her. I mean lets face it. She’s the real hero of both movies, why does Elsa get all the credit? Anyway. I was super pumped because my friend at work looks EXACTLY like Anna and this was going to be a huge hit until about a month before her party when Olivia wouldn’t stop raving about Elsa and how Anna was old news. Shoot! Considering I didn’t have any blonde friends (and the wigs totally look so fake, Olivia wouldn’t buy it) I stuck with the original plan and I was so nervous that she’d be like “not you! where is Elsa??” But boy was I wrong.

Olivia wasn’t shy or scared or mad it wasn’t Elsa, she was just smitten that Anna would come all the way from Arendelle for her birthday party. She was such a good little hostess and immediately made sure Anna had a plate of snacks, and lots of balloons to play with. Then promptly asked her if she wanted to color.

Olaf had to color too ha.

Then it was time for cake and presents! I was very impressed that Olivia blew out all of her candles in one puff.

When you love Anna, but love tools a little bit more.

Then it was more dancing with balloons and Anna recounting her adventures as we watched them on the big screen. Which was just cracking everyone up. “Oh man I remember that! Don’t worry I’m really fast, see the snow monster can’t catch me!”

She seriously had the very best day ever! I’m not sure how I’ll be able to top this next year!

Sources

invitations - DIY

three balloon

happy birthday headband

olivia’s pajamas

olivia’s dress - old navy last season

balloon arch

iridescent stars

happy birthday banner

fringe backdrop

snowflake garland

light up snowflake - decade old outdoor christmas decor I borrowed from my parents

olaf balloon

cake - homemade

cake topper

brown butter raspberry marshmallow treats

snowflake cookies - secret family recipe

powdered donuts

iridescent plates

iridescent cups

snowballs

elsa dress + accessories

elsa shoes

anna dress

adult anna dress (seriously blown away by the quality!)

garment rack - DIY

coloring book

Olivia's 2nd Birthday Paw-ty

Well this post is only 6 months late, but if that isn’t the theme of 2020 I don’t know what is. Back in JANUARY Olivia turned 2, so it seems appropriate that I finally share her adorable puppy party with you all the week she turns 2.5. AKA When I start planning her 3rd birthday ;)

For most of Olivia’s life she has been beyond obsessed with puppies. She will wave to any puppy over a person when we’re out in public. Puppy was even one of her very first words. So I just new her second birthday had to revolve around puppies. Enter the Puppy Paw-ty.

It all started with the invitations (as it usually does) and then just snowballed from there. I found this cute little assortment of watercolor puppies which I used throughout all of the stationary and signage I designed for her special day.

I stuck to a simple color palette of kraft paper, black, white, pink, and hunter green throughout all of the decor and snacks. Minus the goldfish because let’s face it. You can’t have a toddler party without goldfish at your disposal.

The Olivia sign was reused from her Rainbow 1st Birthday Party, and I picked up the little black houses (which I felt looked like little dog houses) at Target from the Hearth and Hand collection during the holidays. I made the kraft paper banner by typing up letters and hollowing them out in photoshop, then just cutting them out and stringing them on some light pink yarn.

For the balloon arch I did a lot of research before tackling this. I saw all of the pre-made kits you can get online, but none of them came with the exact colors we wanted (plus the paw print balloons). So I ended up getting some 25’ balloon tape and used about 2/3 of it. I picked up a mix of 6” and 12” balloons and bullied my family into helping me blow them up in varying sizes so that it would fill out the arch nicely without looking like we were setting up a prom photo op.

Being a party planning hoarder comes in handy to spruce up toddler parties because I always have cute little buckets, cake stands, and color coordinating plates and napkins on hand. When I found these adorable Meri Meri puppy plates I just knew I had to recreate that little guy for the cake. Which gave me way too much anxiety but I love how he turned out.

I decided to have a cute cake for the table which would be served for the adults, and then cupcakes in the same flavor and icing for the kids. For the cupcakes I just iced on vanilla buttercream and topped them with little plastic puppies I had leftover from my gold animal painting days of yore.

For the food, you know I had to stick with the theme so even for the foods that weren’t obvious to the theme, I made them theme-y. Plus I served everything out of dog bowls of course. I cut out a variety of cheeses with a bone shaped cookie cutter to pair with crackers. I had to include toddler crack (I mean veggie straws) and called them fetch sticks. The goldfish crackers were cat food lol. We had puppy chow (my fave), scooby snacks (which are basically just bone shaped cinnamon graham crackers, who knew?), and I used the same bone cookie cutter to make my family’s famous sugar cookies. Which most kids took one bite out of and set back on the platter. Toddlers am I right? I also included some toddler faves like pouches and Honest juice boxes.

For the party favors I picked up a zillion of these golden retriever puppies for each child to adopt on their way out. There were even adoption certificates where they promised to take care of their new furry friend. I also had a little station where they could name their puppy and make it a cute collar to wear. I’m sure the parents loved this ;) Olivia still sleeps with her puppy every night and named him Roo Roo after my parent’s dog Rupert.

Olivia’s outfit was so HER. It was cold out (her party was the first weekend of February) so she sported her I love puppies tshirt over a watercolor dress that perfectly matched the party palette and leggings. Oh and rain boots because she would wear these 24/7 if we’d let her. Also that random dino favor bag was given to her at another party and she hasn’t set it down since.

I wasn’t sure how to entertain a gaggle of toddlers in the dead of winter, but it ended up being such a beautiful day, so I hired her old Little Gym teacher Mr. Barry (IYKYK) to come sing songs, blow bubbles, and entertain the little ones while the adults had a chance to visit. I called it the Dog Park.

After a while we went back inside to have cake and sing “Happy Yo Yo” as Olivia calls it, and snack a little more before everyone went home.

Please disregard our hideous brick and “stained” front door. We had just moved in a week before her party and didn’t have time to paint the exterior yet. More on that soon!! I also owe you a home tour. Anyway, back to the paw-ty. I printed up this fun sign on the door to welcome guests to the paw-ty.

Olivia had so much fun hanging out with all her buds and grandparents, and I was so thankful to be able to pull this whole thing together the same month that we moved into our new house! All right after the holidays and before quarantine. What a start of the year! Now that the dust has settled a bit and we’re halfway through the year, I have several blog posts lined up, so stay tuned! I’ve listed the sources for all of the party details below, but if there is anything you have questions about let me know.

Sources

Invitations - DIY using these watercolor puppies

Happy Birthday banner, Adopt a Puppy banner, Woof banner - DIY

Olivia letters - DIY using these and painting them coral

Balloons - 5” black, 12” black, 5” white, 12” white, 12” matte blush, 12” paw prints, balloon tape

Grid backdrop

Cake - I make cakes, did you know?

Cake topper - DIY using glitter paper

Cupcake toppers

Plates

Wood forks

Bone cookie cutter

Dog bowls

Tassel banner (made from recycled paper!)

Puppies

Plastic letter beads

Signage - DIY

A Boho Baby Shower

We were fortunate enough to have so many people around us that wanted to shower Baby Klepac with their love and support, that we ended up having four baby showers. One with my family and friends, one with my reps and designer friends, one with my co-workers, and one with Derek's family.

The first shower was hosted by my mom and my best friend Carrie. I'll be the first to admit that I am an OCD control freak when it comes to event planning. Luckily my mom and Carrie know this and just let me take the reigns designing the details and stationary for my shower. Don't worry, for the other three showers I was completely hands off. 

Since we weren't finding out the gender of our little one, I wanted this shower to be neutral and beautiful with lots of black, white, gold, and greenery. It quickly evolved into a Boho inspired theme.

I don't love cheesy baby showers, but I still wanted there to be activities my guests to do since no one really knew each other and I thought they would help break the ice a bit. I found a few ideas on Pinterest and then redesigned them to fit the aesthetic of the theme, and match the fonts in our stationary. Its all in the details. 

We had "Wishes for Baby" where guests would fill in the blanks to things like "I hope you learn _______" and "I hope you aren't afraid of _______". We also had a card for parenting advice. Then we had two games: "Baby Bingo" and "Mom vs. Dad". I had played both of these at previous showers and found them really fun. With "Baby Bingo" the guests were given a blank bingo card where they had to fill in gifts they thought I would receive, and when I opened that item they would mark their bingo card. With "Mom vs. Dad" I made a random list of funny things that Derek and I both said or did as kids, and each guest had to guess who said what. For example "Who's first word was kitty?" Hint: It was me.  Or "Who could do the splits by the time they were five?" That one was Derek. Fun right?

I wanted the decor to feel timeless and sophisticated rather than "baby-ish". I incorporated black and white baby photos of both Derek and I that I edited and printed using Parabo Press. I tried to keep the greenery simple by only using two different styles of eucalyptus and a bit of rosemary that I placed in clear mason jars and tied to simple wood embroidery hoops. It smelled amazing!

For the favors I made bars of lavender + vanilla soap for my guests to take home at the end of the shower. I wrapped them in parchment paper and a craft paper sleeve that included the ingedients and a clever little message. 

Carrie made all of the sweets that were served including this beautiful naked cake. Fun fact: she also made our wedding cakes. That's actually how we met!

It was such a fun event, and a great way to catch up with so many of my friends new and old. Baby Klepac was already surrounded by love from the very start. 

| SOURCES |

Stationary, games, signs, labels - Klepac & Co.

Oh Baby Balloons 

Letter Board

Black + White Photos 

Table Runner

Buffalo Check Napkins

White Napkins

Donut Board