A Madeline Birthday Party

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I am THRILLED to feature a "Madeline" Birthday Party I did recently! The party theme was "Madeline in Paris", based off the birthday girl's favorite series of classic "Madeline" storybooks about that charming little redhead in Paris.

Twelve young girls (including the birthday girl) enjoyed visiting our Paris Marketplace custom created for the girls to visit. The Marketplace consisted of four shoppes, The Candy Shoppe, The Book & Toy Shoppe, The Clothing Shoppe and The Flower Shoppe (custom signs were printed up for each in a French Script).

Each shoppe was represented by its own table covered with floor length white linens and a custom made scallop-edged table topper in classic red or a magnificent blue.

The fifth table featured the "Bonjour! Welcome to Paris!" sign where the girls would begin their journey by picking up their darling red suitcase personalized with a luggage tag tied on with a double-faced red satin ribbon. This suitcase would be used to fill up with their goodies from their journey through Paris!

First stop: The Clothing Shoppe!! This shop featured twelve custom made (exclusive for Kate Landers Events, LLC) Madeline-inspired capelets (beautiful blue with a white peter pan collar and double faced red satin bow), each with a gold safety pin attaching the darling custom made tags featuring the shoppe name, location, and the individual girl's name. The Clothing Shoppe also featured custom red double-faced satin hair bows for the girls (also exclusively created for Kate Landers Events, LLC). The most charming custom tags were created for each of these as well, and the girls would look to find the one with their name on it! Now everyone would look like they stepped right out of the pages of their favorite "Madeline" tale.

Second stop: The Candy Shoppe! Nine large clear glass apothecary jars were filled with red, yellow and blue sweets (to match the color scheme of the party, of chourse!), each labeled with a custom sign identifying what candy the jar contained. From yellow gumballs and sugared lemon slices to red ribbon and rock candies--to blue old fashioned swirled lollipops and jelly beans to red licorice twists and candy coated chocolates, the candy shop was a marvel to look at! Each girl was given a personalized clear cello bag and red satin ribbon to tie up their sweets with. Scoops were provided for parents to assist in getting the candy out of the jars.

Next stop: The Flower Shoppe. The flower shop had darling red, yellow and blue tissue pom flowers hanging above to designate its location. The table featured twelve white canvases individually labeled with a custom tag featuring the shoppe name and "Masterpiece by" and the child's name, so everyone would be able to easily identify which masterpiece belonged to which child at the end of the party. Darling pre-made crepe and tissue paper as well as card stock flowers (traditionally for scrapbooking, available through Martha Stewart Crafts) had pre-adhered stickers so the children just needed to peel off the backing and begin to create their floral work of art! Every child was given their own cello bag full of their flowers, pre-counted and sorted the night before to make sure everyone had the same flowers to work with!

Last stop: The Book & Toy Shoppe. Favorite "Madeline" storybooks by Ludwig Bemelmans and a "Madeline" doll sat on this charming little table that featured "Madeline" coloring pages, red blue & yellow cardstock and crayons. Guests were able to color away creating their own "Madeline" pictures to stash in their suit cases and take home.

The Paris Marketplace was also decorated with custom made fabric bunting, a personal favorite and must in my book for birthday celebrations. It featured small red, yellow and blue flags, with red fabric tape to string the flags together and hang. It is amazing what something as simple as 8 yards of fabric bunting can do to really add festivity to a room! Custom bunting, as well as the custom capelets, bows, tags, labels and other decor for this party is all available through Kate Landers Events, LLC. Please e-mail Kate at info@katelandersevents.com to inquire as these products are not available on our website!

After their visit to the Marketplace, the girls were engaged in a game of "Pin the Tail on Genevieve"--a custom designed game for Kate Landers Events, LLC, featuring the cutest friendly pup for this very special party.

The Dining Hall was created to resemble that which "Madeline" eats in--an extra long table, tumblers and plates, cloth napkins and flatware and of course, candelabras! The ten foot long table featured a white diamond-quilted tablecloth and custom blue extra long fabric table runner (custom fabric table runners available through Kate Landers Events, LLC, please e-mail to inquire). Two silver candelabras with red taper candles were placed right next to two beautiful full arrangements of yellow tulips. The place settings consisted of custom white rick rack tricked cloth napkins, fabulous red melamine tumblers and plates, red plastic forks and custom printed red and white place cards (available through our shoppe!).

The menu consisted of French macarons, miniature croissants filled with ham & cheese, and a beautiful fruit display in the colors of the flag of France. A large silver bowl was filled to the brim with crushed ice and juice boxes. Lovely French wine and a variety of fantastic cheeses and baguettes were served to the adults, along with a beautiful tower of cream puffs. Please note: food images are not from the actual party, I did not cater the food for the event, these are images in which the menu was inspired from.

The "Madeline" hat birthday cake--oh, the cake--it was created by Sweet Cupcake Bakery in Boston. It was a large round single tier cake covered in yellow fondant and finished with a red fondant ribbon and bow. It served as the centerpiece of the table--so guests to ouuu and ahhh at its beauty until it was time for the large red twisted birthday candles to be placed in the top and lit for the birthday girl to blow out and make her wish!!!!

I included my favorite invitation for the party, which strongly resembles "an old house in Paris covered with vines," created by Sarah LeClere. I also included an image of a darling birthday party dress featuring scenes of Paris that was just too cute to resist.

I absolutely adored every moment of planning this very, very special event. It turned out to be the classic, charming, traditional, old fashioned and darling event I had dreamed it would be. The best part: the biggest smile on the birthday girl's face letting me know we accomplished our goal: to use the event as a very special way to celebrate the birthday of this darling child!

I hope you have enjoyed this feature, and I can't wait to feature more parties throughout the year.

If there a specific themed party you are planning and would like to discuss, help planning (yes, I can do this long distance believe it or not!) or see posted on our blog? Please leave us a comment, or send us an e-mail at info@katelandersevents.com, we would be DELIGHTED to chat with you!!!!