Our “berry” sweet Aubrey turned 4 and wanted a Strawberry Shortcake themed birthday party.
I love Strawberry Shortcake, but I am not a huge fan of the “new” SS and I’m not into using all the character party supplies from the party store. That takes all the fun out of planning and throwing a party…which I LOVE doing!
I found the cutest printables from Dimple Prints and decided to build everything around that. I couldn’t believe how much stuff was included in the printable package (over 150 pages!) and they were quick and wonderful to work with! The best part is I can reuse many of the elements we included in the birthday party again for a summer picnic, mother-daughter tea, ect..
The invitations set the tone and let everyone know we were going to have a “Berry” good time.
Every girl needs a special outfit for her big day so I made Aubrey a new dress with the yummiest fabric! And to complete her look I found the cutest green and white striped ruffle pants from the Momi Boutique on Etsy. She looked so sweet in her new “Strawberry Shortcake” outfit.
Now we are ready to party! For decorations I made lots of pink and red pom poms, picked up frames from the dollar store and spray painted them red and filled them with various signs.
I made party hats for each kid and added a ruffle to the birthday girls for that extra special touch. These were put on the table at each kids place setting. I used small tin buckets, filled them with candy and stuck big lollipops in them for table centerpieces. Tip: These lollipops are from Valentine’s & Christmas last year. I made the hearts look like Strawberries by adding “tops” cut out of paper. I have used these in several centerpieces, let’s face it the kids are never going to eat them and they will last forever.. put them to good use!
We were blessed with gorgeous weather so I took advantage and set up the kids table outside.
The food table was simple with LOTS of pink goodies for the kids to enjoy and I love how pretty it turned out. I made a banner and food labels from the party package to complete the look.
One of my favorite elements of this party were the cupcakes! I found the idea for them here and decided I was going to make my first attempt at using fondant to recreate the look. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how they turned out, they were super yummy too!
We also had PB&J sandwiches, strawberry parfaits, strawberry cookies and strawberry lemonade (oops…I forgot to fill up the bottles before I took the picture)
Every party needs something to keep the kiddos entertained so I had several activities planned to keep them busy. The beanbag toss at the Twins birthday was a big hit so I decided to do it again at this party, but made strawberry shaped bean bags to go with the theme (I used scraps from Aubrey’s dress.)
Since we were having a strawberry party I knew that making strawberry jam had to be one of the activities. Since there would be lots of kids and they are all young I opted for making freezer jam, which wouldn’t involve a hot stove. We split the kids into two groups to make it easier. While one group made jam the other decorated strawberry buckets to take home all their goodies.
I found pink, red and green buckets at Party City for $1 and then cut each kids name out in vinyl on my Cricut. I didn’t want this activity to be messy so we filled each bucket with a variety of stickers and let the kids customize their bucket.
Making strawberry jam was the perfect activity for a sweet party and the kids loved it! Because jam can be messy I made each kid an apron and embroidered their names on it, you can see how I made them here.
The kids took turn mashing berries, dumping in sugar and then filling their jam jars. There may have been a taste test or two in the process. 🙂
Finally each guest was sent home with fabulous party favors. They took home their aprons, strawberry buckets, strawberry jam and these cute paper strawberries filled with strawberry candy.
We had so much fun enjoying the day with our sweet Aubrey and her friends. Happy Birthday to a “berry” special girl!
Emily and Jaime at Everyday Art says
Ah! THat is THE CUTEST little party I've ever seen! We threw a SScake party for my little girl's second bday and it was cute, but not THAT absolutely adorable. 🙂 Makes me smile–I love the little party hats and her little outfit. good job.
Jaime
FirstCommunionSupplies says
Strawberry's are cute! How I wish I can have my daughter's first communion favors.
Kelsey says
So cute! I love it!
Jayna Rae says
This is one of the cutest parties I've ever seen.
PACountry says
I am already planning a Strawberry Shortcake party for when my red-headed daughter turns 3 in May! I am bookmarking this for inspiration, although I don‘t usually go all out for birthdays- just cute cake and a few decorations since we invite our very large families and end up with a LOT of people!
Oh, and I don’t like the new computer-animated Strawberry Shortcake either.
Christina @ It's a Keeper says
Hi! I host a weekly blog hop — It's a Keeper Thursdays. I'd love for you to stop by and link up!
Thanks!
Christina @ It's a Keeper
http://www.everydaytastes.com/
http://twitter.com/itsakeeperblog
http://www.facebook.com/ItsAKeeper
Tammy says
that is the best party ever! you did a fabulous job, it's just perfect. thanks for sharing it at my party!
Carli says
Great job!! Love it. Thanks, Carli-DimplePrints
Rebecca says
LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
Mrs.D says
Amazing party!
Lynn says
Love this!
Ashlee @ I'm Topsy Turvy says
Soooo cute! I love the aprons and the pillows! And you did a great job on the cupcakes! The whole treat table just looks wonderful!
Stephanie Smith says
This is so cute. I love the colors. I loved Strawberry Shortcake when I was little. I recently had a Tangled Party for my little girl. It's a recent post on my blog.
Nicolette @ Momnivore's Dilemma says
Your attention to detail is staggering. The tablescape alone, wow. I wish all birthday parties could be like this! {I agree, as a child of the mid80s, the vintage Strawberry Shortcake is much better}…
If you have a moment this weekend, please link up and share this party with my readers!
Creative Juice
The Princess and the Tot says
I am inviting myself to your next party! LOL! j/k, of course, but you did a FANTASTIC job on this party!
Wendy@Craft Goodies says
You are one awesome momma! What a lucky little munchkin you have. I'm featuring this tomorrow, come grab a button! And thanks for linking-
Wendy
http://www.wmcraftgoodies.blogspot.com
Nicolette @ Momnivore's Dilemma says
Your work ethic on this party has me already dreaming up a party for my son's 2nd this July…
Thanks for linking to Creative Juice! Hope to see you back this Thursday.
<3
nicolette
Mariah says
Posted by: Alicia @ littlesprinklesoffun
You did a wonderful job!!! My daughter will be turning 3 soon and Strawberry Shortcake is on the list. Where did you get or order your strawberry fabric? The dress is adorable!!! 🙂
Nicole says
I love your ideas!! My daughters birthday is coming up and she wants a SS party! Would you be interested in making the strawberry bean bags to sell? If so, email me at knwalker@hotmail.com
Thx!!
Rachael says
Your children are very lucky to have you!
Victoria says
wow!!! Awesome job momma! Can you help me think of ideas for my daughters first birthday in may???
Mariah says
Thanks Victoria! I think there are so many fun themes for 1st birthday! I'd be more than happy to send you some ideas, just email me at mariahleeson at gmail dot com.
Angie Bartos says
Planning my daughter's Strawberry Shortcake 4th Birthday Party… thanks for the great ideas!!
Valerie Williams says
Love this! My own Aubrey is turning 4 and we are doing a Strawberry Shortcake party as well! Would you be interested in selling your banner? If not, I totally understand! I am not very good at DIY crafts like this!! 😉 You can email me at vwilliams20@gmail.com Thank you!
Hospitality Wholesale says
Selection of party supplies ranging from decorations for classic party themes, I really like this
Kristen says
How u do the paper strawberries for favors?
Mariah says
Hi Kristen, they were part of the party package I purchased from DimplePrints. You can purchase the package at http://www.dimpleprints.com.
Kayleigh says
Wonderful, I can’t wait to see how my daughters turns out. But I did want to know how you made your daughters dress its really cute!
Mariah says
I used the Apron Knot Dress pattern from Little Lizard King http://www.littlelizardking.com/ to make her dress.
Angie Egan says
Where did you find the strawberry plates at
Mariah says
Angie, I’m not sure which plates you are referring too. The plates I used on the kids table were from Hobby Lobby and I used the printables from Dimpleprints to add details to the napkins. 🙂
Val says
Hi Mariah,
I loooved your party, it’s so perfect! I am planning my baby’s first birthday for August 29th. I wanted to ask you what kind of paper you used for the party hats and if you got this printed professionally. I bought the strawberry party package but I think it won’t be very good quality if I print it in my home printer. Also, did you get the invitation already personalized for your daughter? I really love the invitation but I am pretty bummed it cannot be edited on the computer. Thanks for the ideas and inspiration!
Mariah says
Hi Val, so fun planning that special 1st birthday party! I took the files for this party package to my local Staples and had it printed on white card stock in color. I wanted to the colors to be bright and bold and knew my home printer couldn’t do it. If you take in your own paper they will usually print it at half the price which can save you money. 🙂 I had the invitation customized when I bought the package, I am sure you can contact the Etsy seller to have them do the same. Have fun planning your party, we would love to see pictures if you post any online, just tag @Giggles_Galore on social media.
Tracey Gross says
Hi there! While searching a Strawberry Shortcake themed birthday party,I came across your blog. This is so amazing! Could you tell me where to find your milk bottles? Thanks so much for the link to the printables. So adorable!
Mariah says
Hi Tracey, thanks so much for stopping by! I actually used Starbucks frappuccino bottles at this party, that was long before you could readily purchase the milk bottles. 🙂 Now you can find the milk bottles at craft stores like Michael’s, Hobby Lobby or on Amazon, http://amzn.to/2qTDZVD (aff).