Plaid Party or Playdate with Bright Starts Toys #BabyLOLL

Even for something as simple as a play date get together, I like to incorporate a theme and sometimes ask guests to dress in theme.  For my holiday play date, I hosted a plaid party and asked everyone to dress in plaid for pictures under the Christmas tree.  My friend and I love a theme and a styling challenge!

plaid party, gingerbread decorating party, gingerbread cookie making, plaid themed party

Here’s my modern, minimalist take on the Christmas tree, perfect for my NYC apartment.

modern christmas tree

It doesn’t take up any room, I can still place presents or a food and beverage display under it, and after the holidays, I can put it away without taking up any coveted storage space.  For snacks, I had animal crackers, a ‘little fingers fruit salad’ made with holiday themed colored fruits as well as golden wrapped chocolates, gingerbread round cookies, and white chocolate pocky stick treats. white christmas decor

The dining table where us moms gathered to share parenting notes and holiday updates, featured a rice salad, hummus and chips as well as a festive gingerbread decorating station.  Guests were also served hot apple cider or hot chocolate with choice of fun toppings.

white decor

cookie decorating with kids

SAMSUNG CSC

SAMSUNG CSC

gingerbread cookie decorating party

What really made the play date fun though was that Bright Starts toys were awaiting them under another Christmas tree!  These colorful, interactive toys are such a hit amongst youngsters and being that they’re truly educational, they’re popular amongst parents too!

 

babyLOLL

bright starts toys

The toys were suggested for kids 6months – 3years which was the perfect age range for our play group.

SAMSUNG CSC

SAMSUNG CSC

You’d be surprised at how even the simplest of the packages, the “bunch of balls” 16 ball set captured their fancy. (MRSP: $7.99) As a toddler, you can roll them, throw them, catch them, try to juggle them, balance them and share them.  Plus they’re compatible with all the Bright Starts Having a Ball toys like the Spin & Giggle Puppy or Having a ball jungle fun ball climber which are my personal favorites. The whirling wobble bobble fun is absolutely mezmerizing.  Check it out in this video montage below!

 

As you can see, we had a ball!  How do you like to host your play dates?  And what are your fun holiday play date ideas? Please share!

Disclosure: I received free products in order to host the Bright Starts sponsored Play Date. The opinions expressed here are my own.

brightstarts toys

Spin & Giggle puppy (purchase here)
Learn & Giggle fish (purchase here)
Learn & Giggle activity station (purchase here)
Giggables (purchase here)
Bunch of Balls (purchase here)
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Fab Fete: How to Throw a Party Animal Themed Kid’s Birthday

We’ve jokingly called Juliet a party animal ever since she was born because she has been a night owl going to bed anywhere between 10pm (nowadays) to as late as midnight during her first year of life.  So it was only fitting (and such a cute unisex party theme) to make “party animal” her 2nd birthday theme.  Get inspired as this post shows you how to incorporate the party animal theme into everything from the fashions to the decor to the entertainment to the food!

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Let’s start with the fashion.  Juliet wore a bear necklace and (sometimes) wore / carried her lion backpack (perfect since her birthday invite introduced her as “Leo the lion”.  I wore my party animal necklaces from Mustard Dandelion’s cute Etsy shop with my leopard Banana Republic heels.

Juliet-8853animal masks

3rd birthday party Juliet-8867

The birthday invite (from Paperless Post) encouraged guests to come dressed in their wildest fashions.

animal inviteJuliet’s fashionable friends did NOT disappoint!

animal party ideas

We were happy to see lots of animal print, fur, animal faces, and bunny ears!  My friends are always up for a fun fashion challenge and luckily, they’re as crazy committed to themed parties as I am.  I find that it just adds another level of excitement, enthusiasm and involvement into a party.  How cute are they all?!!

animal themed party

The party animal decor consisted of a yellow, orange and baby blue color theme.  And animals were incorporated wherever possible.  (masks, plates, centerpieces, signage, and stickers for example).  Here’s the gift table that sat conveniently right next to the entrance’s coat check-in.

favor bags

Those 3 teddy bears are actually bears from my own childhood.  I just added the ribbon and party hats to align them more with the theme. I used them at Juliet’s 1st birthday party too and love that they represent daddy, mommy and Juliet.

Underneath the table, we stored all of Juliet’s presents.  And on top of the table, we featured the favor bags which included:  stickered go go squeezes, organic gummy bunnies, stickered Ziploc full of animal crackers and goldfish, a rubber duck, a book about animals and animal stickers.  Additionally, each child went home with one of the giant, yellow balloons featured at the kids table.

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dessert bar

The framed sign and favor bag stickers were custom created with my direction by That Party Chick , the silk flowers were bought on sale at Michaels, the riser was a diaper box that I covered in fabric and ribbon and the white topper is a shower curtain that I only use for special events.  If you follow my blog, you’ve seen it re-purposed in 3 other events.  And the yellow tulle fabric is just taped directly onto the table’s perimeter.

animal themed party

Every kids’ birthday should feature some photos.  I incorporated photos of Juliet holding different stuffed animals and/or costumed as an animal herself and created a consistent look and feel by printing them all the same size, posting them to card stock and adding a label to each one to continue the animal theme across the mirrored wall.   birthday partyThe food station was split into the sweets and snacks tables.  The sweets table included:

  • a macaron tower from The Macaron Cafe
  • frosted animal cookies from Elinis
  • organic animal cookies
  • bunny chocolates
  • organic bunny gummy pouches
  • vanilla cupcakes
  • candy balls
  • animal shaped suckers with “happy birthday Juliet!” stickered on the back
  • yellow gummy bears
  • stickered applesauces

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IMG_2751dessert bar Juliet-8884 Juliet-8889

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The snack side of the table featured:

  • snake sub (with olive eyes and red Twizzler tongue)
  • safari salad
  • monkey food (bananas)
  • hungry hippo hummus and veggies
  • bear nutella sandwiches
  • coffees teas, waters and jungle juices
  • parrot pineapples

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menu

And the entertainment consisted of:

  • musical performers singing animal themed songs (Think “in the jungle”, “itsy bitsy spider”)
  • Pin the Tail on the Elephant
  • stuffed animals, animal books and puzzles and animals that you could ride on

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And the animal decor included animal masks for the kids, plastic animal centerpieces (which you can read more about in my earlier post), and animal chair covers which were a big hit.

animal parade

animal parade masks

It was a lively party that kids and adults all enjoyed.  And Juliet was so happy to celebrate with all her little friends.  It was the first year she really understood what it meant to have a birthday.  I’ll always remember her cute voice saying, “I’m TWO! Happy birthday!!”

kids birthday party ideas Juliet-9168 Juliet-9219IMG_5902

 

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