I'll start this blog with a disclaimer, I did not fully listen to my mother when she said "No Surprises," but it was for the greater good. I did promise my mom that it would not be a big surprise party with a bunch of tacky birthday decorations. I rounded up the troops to plan an intimate, classy and Pooh Bear themed birthday for Mama Katz. Huge shout out to my dad, Patrick (my brother) & Ana (brother's gf), my Aunt Maryland and my grandma for all of their help. I let my mom control [most] of the guest list, but I also invited some relatives who don't live in Virginia weeks ago to surprise her. Everyone deserves to be surrounded by people who love them on their special day.
My dad helped me decide on a winery and he booked a private room complete with an indoor and outdoor area. Since we weren't doing a typical 50-themed birthday, we kept it simple, classy and surrounded by things and people that she loves. Pooh Bear is very special to my mom, but we were very specific with using the classic Pooh versus the modern day one. We went with soft yellow decor pieces, glass votives with candles and vases with fresh yellow and white flowers as the center pieces for tables. My grandma and I got really lucky because we stopped by a yard sale and we grabbed 4 vases and 11 votives, then at the dollar store I got 10 more votives. My mom loves candles and fresh flowers, so I knew this had to be apart of the theme. I also saw this idea on Pinterest where the vases were sitting on top of Pooh Bear books. So I went to a used book store and grabbed some Pooh books. Between yard sales and the thrift store I was able to find a ton of Pooh Bear stuffed animals and spread them throughout the party.
Another thing we did was focus on the food. We didn't want my mom to worry about anything so we got one of her favorite restaurants catered and Patrick & Ana were on cake duty. We also got a whole case (12 bottles) of wine from the winery with our reservation which was amazing. I also grabbed a cheese flight, grapes, crackers and prosciutto from Costco for a nice charcuterie board. We saw a lot of cake inspo on Pinterest because again, it had to be Pooh Bear themed. Ana's friend made the cake and it came out so incredible (View Sandra's Instagram for custom cakes). The cake was actually my mom's favorite, German Chocolate Cake, and it was bomb af!
We also set up a table for presents, a polaroid picture station and a goodie bag table. All of these tables were complete with a Pooh-themed piece. The polaroid picture station was filled with polaroid cameras, film and a flip desk calendar that you can put polaroid pictures in. Ana also put together this "guestbook" of sorts. It's hard to explain, but basically everyone signs a piece of paper and we put it them as balloons on this Pooh Bear picture (see image below). She also made character headbands for people to wear and take pictures with, Pooh's classic HUNNY pot and a wooden sign that said, "Tracy's Hundred Acre Woods." So on theme and creative (thanks Ana!). The one thing I was very, very excited about was the goodie bags. I kind of hate calling them "goodie bags" because that sounds childish, but I wanted to add another special thing to the party that my mom didn't have to worry about, but I knew she would love. My grandma helped so much with this part. We ordered a ton of my mom's favorite things off of Amazon including candles, perfumes/colognes, chocolate, cookies, mini wine bottles and to go with the Pooh Bear theme we got honey dippers and honey sticks for each bag. I also created these "Thank You" stickers to go on each bag. I loved these, it was just the right touch.
Polaroid Camera | Polaroid Film | Polaroid Calendar | Homesick Pennsylvania Candle | Candle Warmer | Bags | Honey Sticks | Honey Dippers | Chocolates | Hello Panda Cookies | Candles | Perfumes | Mini Wine Bottles
Another surprise I had for my mom was a birthday message video. So all her friends and family sent me a video wishing her a happy birthday and I showed it to her at the party. My goal may, or may not have, been to make her cry, but happy tears of course.
So even though my mom told me no surprises, they were only good surprises and she loved them. Thank you to everyone who helped bring this party to life, I couldn't have done it without your help. Happy birthday Mama Katz, I love you!
xoxo, Michele
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Awesome blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
ReplyDeleteA design like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog jump
out. Please let me know where you got your design. Thank you
fotbollströjor barn ShirleySl maglie calcio poco prezzo VioletGen
EvelyneMc maglie calcio poco prezzo MonteBayn
Hey there! I worked with a designer on Etsy called Theme Shine. She was able to customize it to get exactly what I was looking for. xo
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