Easter Theme Birthday Party

This charming BUNNY THEMED FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY was submitted by Alex Vardakis of Avie & Lulu in Australia.

I love so many things about this bunny party! It would obviously not only be great for a birthday but would work for a Easter party or a baby shower as well. A few highlights to look for are:

• The mason jars painted opaque white and used as vases
• The gorgeous glass apothecary style drink dispensers
• The bunny shaped cookies tied to the sides of milk bottles
• The stunning cake complete with cascading sugar flowers and topped with a three dimensional fondant bunny
• and MORE!

Party Styling: Avie & Lulu
Photography: Lee Bird Photography
Desserts: Sweet Tiers

Cookies: Kookie Krumbs by Kirstie

Drink dispensers and assorted Cake Stands: Leo & Bella

 

 

Alex said this about the party- “My third little girl celebrated her first birthday in April and being around Easter we thought what better than to have a gorgeous pastel themed Easter party! It was a garden party with lots of prettiness and lots of fun!

A special appearance by the Easter Bunny himself was a highlight for the kids, as was the real white fluffy bunny which spent the afternoon hoping around.

A beautiful 2 tier Cake was the show stopper of the dessert table. Made by the talented Sweet Tiers it featured a beautiful Bunny figurine topper. All of the guests were amazed it was fondant and many thought it was a real porcelain figurine. Other treats included buttercream ruffled cupcakes in pastel shades of lemon, pink, mint and blue. And the most amazing and detailed Cookies by the super amazing cookie artist Kookie Krumbs by Kirstie. They were like tiny portraits, delicately detailed and definitely too good beautiful to eat!
The children’s setting featured rattan chairs which suited the garden feel to a tea.

Each guest received a keepsake hankie designed by Ham&Pea Paperie which featured the Winnie the Pooh quote ‘You are braver then you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think’.”

Items used in this party available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop:

Striped Paper Straws

Milk Bottles 

Ribbon

Cupcake Liners

Balloons

Apothecary Jars

Source: Kara's Party Ideas

Tips For a Perfect Easter Celebration With Toddlers

By  PBK Editors

Easter is one of our favorite springtime celebrations that gives little ones the chance to welcome the new season with bright, festive colors and classic activities like egg hunts. Whether you’re hosting a small backyard celebration or throwing a larger neighborhood party, here are our favorite tips for making Easter magical.

Start off with a special basket. From a classic basket to a puffy treat bag or bucket, pick the perfect place for treats based on your little one’s interests and the theme of your celebration. For a more rustic Easter, opt for a natural woven basket with a linen liner and if your little one loves all things fanciful, try our ballerina-inspired Easter bucket.

Make it personal. Fill each of the baskets based on their theme and color. Our favorite idea is to match your dyed eggs to each individual basket for a look that’s polished and clean. Add a few additional elements that work for each basket whether it’s a small plush toy or new book.

Set a magical scene. Think outside the basket! From vine bunnies to crafty decor, fill the space with Easter decor that delights. Styling tip: Mix and match the scale of your decor pieces to add visual interest (and create more nooks for hiding eggs).

Include sweet surprises with sophistication. For a colorful springtime celebration such as Easter, opt for sophisticated sweets and treats in a neutral color palette. One of our favorite recipes of the season are these simple yet striking Vanilla Easter Cupcakes.

Dress the table. Create a destination for your celebration with a simply dressed table. Whether your Easter activities are large or small, a treat table is the perfect way to anchor your space. Styling tip: Think of your treat table from top to bottom and be sure you’ve added decor to the table as well as the wall and floor.

Mix it up. If you’re going to be dying eggs with little ones during your celebration, consider adding a few new elements like stamps, gold leaf and stencils. Not only will this add an extra layer of fun to your activities, you can even leave out an empty basket to fill with the colorful assortment as a growing centerpiece with lots of color and texture.

Source: Pottery Barn Kids

Cold Season Survival Kit For The Little Ones.

If you’re like me, it’s right around this time of year that you start to let your guard down when it comes to illness. The more warm days I see the more comfortable I get. Surely we’re almost out of the woods for cold and flu season, right? Wrong. So this year I am staying diligent until the very bitter end. July. Just kidding, but here are our favorites  for getting us through those heartbreaking days of extra cuddles and extra bowls and sheets. What we swear by in our cold and flu medicine cabinet.

First, PREVENTION. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say. I am a firm believer in putting my efforts in keeping my kids’ immune systems strong. Allowing and insisting that they get plenty of sleep. Disinfecting and keeping their spaces clean and aired out. Feeding them as many healthy whole foods as I can each day, and I’ve shared this before but I will share it every time because I absolutely swear by it: Buried Treasure’s Acute Cold and Flu. It’s is packed with nutrients and herbs to boost your immune system and while it’s awesome to take when you’re sick, I give it to my kids every few days to keep them extra strong when they’re well. I mix a tablespoon into a quarter cup of grape juice and then freeze it into popsicles. I can barely choke this stuff down plain, but in grape juice it tastes great. My kids will eat the whole batch in one sitting – but it has to be grape.

I don’t throw this phrase around lightly because I’m superstitious and they used to be sick all the dang time, but my kids get sick (including a runny nose) maybe once a year since I started this stuff a couple years ago. For the popsicles, I use squeezable popsicle molds, I love that I can lay them flat, stick them in whatever crevice is available in my freezer. Trying to store those upright 6 packs are nearly impossible at my house. Speaking of runny nose, a great way keep them cear while they have it is to spray this awesome Little Remedies Saline Mist in their nose and use the NoseFrida to unstuffed it. Works like a charm every time.

Second, you’ve probably read Jenna’s awesome essential oil recipes (see below), they’re another really great addition to preventing illness and also helping treat it. Diffusing oils like On Guard throughout the house is great for maintaining a strong immune system. We all have this pretty diffuser and love it!

This Melagel is not so much for illness as injury. Scrapes and cuts specifically. Another must have. The tea tree oil and other additions speeds up healing time so much and doesn’t leave a scar. So happy to see Melaleuca products on Amazon!

COLD + FEVER: For those times when we can’t avoid the illness, we were recently introduced to the Kinsa Smart Thermometer. This thermometer works in tandem with the Kinsa smart phone app. The thermometer never dies, has an extension cord and reads in 10 seconds. It stores the readings in profiles for each kid and you can keep track of their stats right in the app. We also think the “Group” feature is so cool, you can join a group like a school shown below and see what is happening, being passed around, and how long to expect an illness to last in your community.

When you have the fever and chills all you want is to get warm. Toss a blanket in the dryer for an extra kick of heat, take a bath with Babyganics Vapor Bubble Bath, use an all natural vapor rub (or Eucalpyptus or Breathe Essential Oils right into a humidifier.) This one is our favorite.

STOMACH + FLU: Heaven forbid, the flu. Where it’s not so much about treating it as just trying to help them get comfortable and cleaning up the aftermath. We love the reader suggestion to use towels instead of blankets. To lay towels underneath the kiddos in their beds on the couches, etc. They’re so much more absorbent and you’re less likely to damage more expensive textiles. 

To help settle an upset stomach from the flu or even just car sickness we love these single use Mommy’s Bliss Nausea Relief supplements. Toss one into your kiddo’s back pack for a road trip or bus ride.

We’ve all heard the BRAT diet for the flu – bananas, rice, applesauce, toast. Can we add popsicles? PRABT? It can be hard to get our kids to drink enough fluids to replace what they’ve lost with the flu. Popsicles are a comforting way to increase fluids and try to settle the stomach. These all natural fruit pops are awesome!

Anything we missed? Excited to hear all your additions, share below or on our Facebook page!

Boudoir: The New Trend for Maternity Photo Shoot

Seattle photographer Cheryl Jones has been snapping pregnancy pictures for a decade, but these definitely aren’t your typical maternity photo shoots.

There are no flowery backdrops, no misty-eyed, motherly stares off into the distance. And there’s not a maternity mumu in sight.

Cheryl’s company Belle Boudoir Photography caters to the expectant mom who’s ready to embrace her sexy side – bump and all. Her models are bold, beautiful and clad in little more than lingerie. Yes, they’re very pregnant, but they’re also seriously sexy. It seems the two aren’t mutually exclusive after all.

Boudoir photography has been on the rise for quite some time now, and it’s recently seen a surge among moms-to-be. The photos are intimate, revealing, sensual, romantic. Sometimes they’re snapped with a husband or partner in mind, a slightly naughty gift for a loved one. Other times they’re empowering, a bold boost to a woman’s self-confidence.

Cheryl gave us her take on the appeal of a boudoir-inspired pregnancy photo shoot, saying, “Traditional maternity photography aims to capture a relationship between the soon-to-be born baby, their mother, and other family members. My boudoir-inspired maternity photography aims to capture the artistry of a woman during her pregnancy. The focus is on her shape, her movements, and her beauty.”

Take a look at some of her stunning shots: