I *heart* birthday parties...

If you know me at all, you know that I love a theme and things that come full circle. And if you think I love a theme, you should meet my sister! So with that in mind, she and I recently did an adorable party for my 8 year old niece, Caroline. Liney's birthday is a few days before Christmas, so she usually opts to do a party some other time of year which means you can do any theme you want!

This year, we did a Valentine's theme for a party last Saturday, February 6th. So with Valentines day being our inspiration, we ended up moving in the direction of 8 Things I Love... It turned out so cute and the invitation set the tone for the whole party. Check out the pictures below:


Here is the invite, showing the cover and inside. I also lined the turquoise blue envelopes with a red & pink heart pattern.

For 8-year old girls, crafts is a big part of a birthday party. The main project was making this candy necklace:

This was such a cute necklace made from hard candies, saran wrap and ribbon. You can find the directions here. I think they may be right on the "1 hour" time needed, as she said it took some of the girls a little bit to get the hang of it, but having everything prepared at each craft spot helped to speed up the process.

We also had a "Things I *Heart*..." journal for every girl. Each book was personalized with the girl's monogram initial. The pages all had a little prompt written in such as, My favorite food is... My favorite singer is... etc. We found the books in the $1 bin at Target, and the blinged-up letters are stickers from Michaels.

The craft table with all of the supplies set out. You can find directions for the crepe paper flowers in the center of the table and the fun pom-poms in the next picture here. The flowers are just mini versions with pipe cleaners for stems.

The lunch table was adorable, and she also used the Wilton cupcake tree that I gave her last year. It's one of my favorite birthday party accessories...

After Shirley Temples and pizza for lunch, it was time to go home. Each girl left with this gift bag, bringing everything back full circle, with the colors, peace signs, and using an "8" in the message!

I think this same idea could easily be translated into an adult Valentine's celebration, too. Of course you'd have to take a more sophisticated approach, but it could still be fun and full of whimsy. If I were doing a Girls Night Out for Valentine's Day, I think my list would have to include: Anything pink and red with hearts, Pink Shadys (without the vodka), a mani/pedi, George Clooney, entertaining... You can just see how this girls night out would shape up, can't you?

P.S. Doesn't it look like my sister painted her house just for this party? I promise she didn't, but it sure did make everything look uber-coordinated!