beach birthday

alex's beach blanket birthday party is done and gone and she's already planning her next party (well, she has themes lined up for the next five i think.) i've already shown you the barrettes, my sailor outfit, the macrame bracelet, the modular origami balls, the invites, the pinwheels and her sparkly sequined shirt. here's pretty much everything else. the photos don't really do it justice - there were streamers everywhere in orange, blue and white as well as little balsa wood fish and seahorses. i had some fabulous marine bundle fabric that i used to make the napkins and the bunting. the napkins have a different fabric on each side (most of them anyways, i had more submarine fabric than all the others in the bundle) and are so vibrant and fun - they're going to be great summer napkins also. i just measured the size of other napkins we already had made a cardboard template, cut fabric like crazy, stitched right sides together, flipped rightside out and topstitched. oh, and the ironing...lots and lots of ironing. for the bunting, i used a quilters triangle to cut out all the pieces, stitched right sides together, flipped rightside out and topstitched. i then used baker's twine (divine twine in blue and white) and simply zig zag stitched the twine to each of the penants. the bunting is now hanging in alex's beach bedroom and it looks great. we also used the baker's twine to make the paper cloud garland in the photo beneath the bunting. i found a cloud shaped hole punch which made that garland super easy to make. i already had the paper and the twine and we used rice paper tape to attach the twine to the clouds. we also used the rice paper tape (which i had in a fun blue plaid, orange and orange dots) to hang all the streamers and bunting and signs since it does not peel paint off your walls. in the top left of the photo you can see how i wrapped alex's birthday presents. i took some graphics that i made for the invites and the kids party favors and made a wrapping paper graphic that i printed out and pieced together with rice paper tape - i didn't do anything to hide the seams, i like the look of the rice paper tape. i then made pinwheels to act as the bows on the gifts and topped them with paper daisies. i found all kinds of cheap plates and silverware holders and such in the right colors, i really love that teal metal silverware holder that is holding the napkins and paper straws. oh, and the anchor plate that was alex's special dinner plate - it matched so perfectly. i had matching candies and tic tacs and made labels for grolsh bottles. i even made alex a whale etched glass for the party - i actually broke the glass the next time she wanted to drink out of it so it's gone now. i also made appetizer cards and happy birthday signs to hang around the house along with the fun tin beach signs that i picked up over the course of last year. and finally the cakes...i made two bundt cakes in a castle bundt pan. i made an orange bundt cake and a chocolate bundt cake (since alex's favorite flavors according to her are chocolate and chocolate.) i made little penant flags for the towers of the castles and little starfish and shell shaped chocolates for around the base of the cakes. alex really enjoyed the chocolate bundt, which i can't really speak to that as i don't think i even tasted it, but the orange bundt was delicious.