On Mother’s Day this year, my little son
Ollie turned one.
I had been planning Ollie’s party for some
time. It meant a lot to my husband, and
me to celebrate Ollie’s birthday in a special way. He has brought so much love,
laughter and joy to our lives and we wanted to share this with our family and
friends.
Ollie loves being outdoors and also books about animals. As a baby, he
also seemed to receive many toys and books featuring owls. I decided to combine all of this with a woodland themed party.
Earthy, autumn colours formed the colour palette for the party – mainly red, green, mocha and chocolate brown as well as a hint of yellow, orange and blue.
My lovely friend Skye from Little Ladies and Little Lads created all of the party printables. The invitation featured woodland critters such as
owls, deer and squirrels as well as acorns, toadstools and bunting. The cupcake toppers, food labels and party
favour tags complimented the invitation beautifully. Skye's designs were perfect and set the scene for the party (thank you so much x)
Our guests firstly lunched on roast chicken,
chicken & pine nut and roast vegetable frittatas, pumpkin slice and a
selection of salads.
Dessert followed! The centrepiece of the dessert table was an
amazing two tiered banana cake with dark chocolate ganache by Sarah from
Vanilla Bean – Cake Design. The very
cute deer and toadstool toppers were made from icing as was the forest trees on
the bottom tier. I adored this cake and
Sarah did a fantastic job! Thank you
Sarah x
Other desserts included white chocolate
brownies, choc chip cookies, dark chocolate cupcakes, Tim Tam & Mint Slice
cookie pops and salted caramel, cherry ripe and maple & pecan
macarons. My personal favourite were the
woodland cookies by Spoon and Fork, decorated with fondant icing and hand painted and stamped
details. Just gorgeous! Our little
guests loved the strawberry jelly most. I think they really enjoyed the fun way
of eating it - from the cute decorated glass pots with stamped wooden
teaspoons!
When thirsty, guests filled mini bottles
with forest fruit punch from a glass dispenser and sipped it through green and
white striped paper straws. The dispenser and bottles were displayed on an old-fashioned
style drinks stand that was made by my dad.
We sat up late one night, designing it and it turned out perfectly. It was decorated with a hessian bunting, sewn
together by my beautiful mum. Other drinks included a variety of flavoured
mineral waters, served in a wooden barrel.
Our little guests were kept entertained
with pine cone decorating, ball games on the oval adjacent to our home and
posing for photos wearing adorable felt woodland animal masks in the photo
booth. My dad especially made the photo
booth for Ollie’s party. Little guests
entered through the black curtain at the back of the booth, popped on a mask
and struck a pose. A digital camera was
provided to take the snaps.
As a thank you gift for coming to Ollie’s
party, all of our guests were invited to fill a kraft paper bag with lollies. They scooped the lollies including apple,
raspberry and lemon bon bons, M&M’s, jellybeans, chicos and raspberries from
glass apothecary jars.
Ollie’s little friends also received a mini
terrarium (a little glass jar filled with sand, pebbles, moss and a tiny
toadstool), which were personalised with the child’s name.
Ollie had a wonderful time and Tom and I
felt so happy and lucky – to be blessed with a beautiful child and also friends
and family that care for him so much.
Vendor Credits
Design, concept & styling: Sooti & Sweet
Photography: Mel Boulden Photography
Invite, labels, cupcake toppers, name tags (party printables): Little Ladies and Little Lads
Cake & cupcakes: Vanilla Bean – Cake Design
Cookies: Spoon & Fork
Macarons: Maple Jane Macarons
Brownies: Four Seeds
Tartlets: Muratti Cakes & Gateaux
Cookie Pops & Choc Chip Cookies: Sooti & Sweet
Bunting: ChikkieMoo Designs
Mini Terrarium Jars: Sweet Style
Felt animal masks: Maholo