Party: Flower Crown Birthday Party for Tess

Our sunny Tess turned three at the end of the summer. I had been thinking of some ideas for her party and was leaning towards an intimate tea party colored in greys and fuchsia--a pretty and sophisticated event. 

Then I came to my senses. Tess is so saturated! She needed a party with bright happy colors to equal her personality.

So we threw a dinner party for family with pink, fuchsia, yellow and gold, lots of fresh flowers, and topped it off with flower crowns. 

I had some Moroccan tea glasses in gold and fuchsia, which I had been saving for some summer occasion, and I thought they were just the thing to group with other glass vases to display flowers on the serving and eating tables.

I found a great linen fabric with oversized orange and fuchsia flowers at Joann to use on the serving table. This is such a fun retro print and it was the bold look I wanted. I'm trying to decide what to do with it next!

I think flower crowns are the ultimate compliment for a young girl--so pretty and feminine and nothing frames the face in the same way. So I made one for the birthday girl and some ribbon crowns for her girl guests. You can find the tutorial here.

We served poached chicken with charmoula sauce, couscous, a chopped salad with red and yellow tomatoes, feta, almonds and this lemon vinaigrette, and grilled bread spread with heirloom tomatoes.

The grilled bread was my favorite! (Though it was all pretty and tasted good.) And it turns out it's a new "like" for my girls, which is a really nice bonus. 

For dessert I made mini bundt cakes. I used an almond cake and almond-flavored butter glaze so they were totally over-the-top if you like almond cake. And I do! I know I just mentioned a favorite, but these little cakes were the real hit!

I served them on colored glass cake stands--one purchased and two DIY (tutorial here)--and there was barely a crumb leftover! Tess probably ate the most, as was her right, being the birthday girl!

I of course couldn't resist sewing dresses for the girls to wear for the party. For Tess I made a Prairie Rose Dress with Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks Voile Coloring Garden. You may recall me sharing a few birthday outfits from this pattern-in-the-works previously (here and here) and it's finally going into testing this weekend! (Update: the pattern is available! Info here.) Scarlett wore the pretty dress, "Look Five" from Five and Ten Designs, which I shared here earlier this summer.

Audrey wore a new design I sewed with Alexander Henry Urban Garden in Lemonade (the perfect name for this party!) and a Lisette cotton print I found at Joann. I love it when you find fabrics that work together this well!

I used another cotton voile Lisette fabric paired with the Little Folks voile to create ruffled table runners for the eating tables. Seemed indulgent to use those beautiful fabrics this way but I just couldn't find something I like equally well! I wanted a full, bright, feminine look and came up with a method for sewing these that wasn't much trouble. I'll have to share it.

It was a fun, beautiful way to spend a late summer evening. An appropriate way to celebrate another year with Tess.