Golden Birthday (party)

Our girl turned FIVE last fall and I'm finally able to share a few details from her sweet and special birthday party - her first party with friends! It was her golden birthday (five on the 5th) so we celebrated with all things gold and sparkly. We kept it pretty simple. Friends were invited to wear something gold or sparkly to paint pumpkins, take pictures, have faces and fingernails painted and, of course, eat cake. Strawberry and buttercream with gold sprinkles, of course! Each girl took home a helium balloon with several gold gumballs as a weight and a handmade golden/pearl tiara.

I originally wanted all things champagne gold (prettiest gold, in my opinion) but it was quite difficult to find and I was limited in my ability to find them both because of new baby at home and budget. So I compromised and there were several shades of gold - and no one cared. It was beautiful! And fun.

* tutorial for super fun, easy and super cheap photo backdrop found here.
* I made a glitter paper (glitter cardstock from local hobby store) Happy Birthday banner inspired by Miss Mustard Seed's Merry and Bright banners
* my attempt at tulle covered balloons failed, so we used the tulle on the chairs instead.
* Parties don't have to be expensive to be fun and special! I did this party really cheaply, except for the cake. Normally I would've made it myself, but I needed to give myself a break - like I mentioned before, new baby home - and didn't want the stress of baking/decorating a cake so we paid a friend with a small cake business to do it. That was the most expensive part! And completely worth it, it was so pretty! And tasty too. (Support small business!)