13!!! I feel like I just blogged about her 12th birthday party and here I am already blogging her 13th! I wish someone could seriously answer the "Where does the time go?" question. So I'm pretty sure it was the day after her 12th birthday party when she she asked me if she could have her 13th birthday at a hotel. My first reaction was "Absolutely not!" We literally just celebrated her 12th, I definitely did not want to talk about her next party, especially her 13th party, never mind the fact that hotels can be kind of pricey and I just paid for her and a bunch of friends to go to the movies! But I sat there and thought about it, and realized that is exactly what my mother did for me for my 13th birthday! It was me and my sister and like 6 of my best friends, we went shopping at a mall and then had a hotel sleepover where we swam, had pizza, cake, and stayed up all night! I remember it being my best birthday ever and so "absolutely not" turned into I absolutely have to do it!
I've wanted to do a flamingo themed party for sometime now, but only one daughter with an October birthday, it didn't really seem to go. But flamingos and water go together, and there would definitely be a pool at whatever hotel we'd end up at because that's one detail she was really excited about! So when I did show her flamingo party ideas she was on board!
The cake was the first thing I got really excited about, I loved the designs I was seeing with multiple colors blended together and pretty tropical looking flowers on top. I knew I wanted Alana from Cake and Crumb to do her cake because I've seen similar cakes she's done in this style and they're always gorgeous!
We had to have macaroons! Jaya loved the cookies and cream ones we got for Lenox's last party! The cake came out so pretty, I loved every detail and made the flamingo topper to complete it! The number candles came from Ellie and Piper Co and are the same type we had on her cake last year. I love the simple look they add to the cake!
This cute flamingo plate came from Ellie and Piper Co as well.
The 2 things I knew I wanted to include on the cake table were "flamingo fluff" and "flocktails." So I got pink cotton candy from Target when their Halloween stuff first hit the shelves and small self sealed bags off of Amazon. I had the tag (as well as her invitation, and the flocktail sign) made by Stacy's Sweet Stuff on Etsy. The flocktails were just raspberry Gingerale and I found the umbrellas and stir sticks at Target and Walgreens in the beginning of the summer when flamingos were "in."
The adorable flamingo lollipops are from Oriental trading. I also added some to the girls' favor bags!
I wanted to put things on the dessert table that she loves! So I went with chocolate covered strawberries and per her request...cheesecake! (Definitely my child haha!) I made mini cheesecakes from scratch that came out so delicious, we were sad when they were gone! I topped them with strawberries and tinted cool whip pink and then topped them with fondant flamingo toppers that I also made.
I added sugar flamingos that I found at Walmart and absolutely loved how the strawberries turned out! I even tinted some of the white candy melts peach to match the color scheme with a peach food coloring I found at Hobby Lobby.
So the gorgeous back drop came from Glamfete. Her tablecloth fringe backdrops are everything! They are so pretty, well made, and easy to hang! I loved it so much we decided to hang it up in Jaya's room!
I added the thirteen I cut out with my cricut made from gold foil card stock and I think it added the perfect touch to this teen's party!
The cute pinata is from Meri Meri of course! One of my go-to brands for pretty party tableware/decor!
Besides the rude staff at the hotel (which I won't even go into) the girls had a blast swimming, filling up on pizza and sugar, and the photo booth I set up for them! I used an iridescent fringe backdrop and party props I found at Five Below and Michaels and also added a flamingo lighted garland for fun photos! We used Jaya's pink Polaroid pink camera so the girls could have printed pictures right away!
For the favors I added her friend's names onto small palm leaves with vinyl and then clipped them to the bags. I filled it with the excess flamingo lollipops, a fluffy flamingo pen, a pink loofa, and a bath bomb! The hotel room had this little cutout area with a bench that was perfect for setting up the photo booth area! That's also where I put the favor bags and extra flamingo plates and decor.
Overall I was happy with the set up and more importantly Jaya and her friends had a lot of fun! I hope she remembers this party and the fun she had like I remembered my 13th birthday party!
I have an "offical teenager!"