My friend Catherine and I are party buddies. This means that when her kids have parties I help her set-up and vice versa. It is AWESOME! Everyone needs a party set-up pal. You both know what needs to be done and it gets done quickly and you know that when you’re throwing a party you’ve got an extra set of hands. Catherine’s little girl Sophia, turned 3 in November and because she LOVES baking, it was a natural choice for Cath to choose a Bake Shoppe Party. Oh, and don’t forget the shabby chic part…we love shabby chic so that was combined into the theme. We used our shabby chic floral party set and converted that into a Bake Shoppe Theme – simply by modifying the editable text in the invitation. Tadaaaaaaa!

Shall we firstly look at those eclairs…..? Hello bursts of deliciousness. If this was a real bakery – those guys would be the bestsellers. Cath made those….she is a phenomenal baker.

She also made these over-sized choc-chip cookies….chewy and chocolatey and irresistible. Let me stop talking about them right now.

Whilst we are on a roll here…..She made these aprons too!!!!! Yuh, in between breastfeeding her 12 week old baby. Let’s cry together shall we??? I call Cath the woman with the magic wand. I need one of those!! 🙂

Food names were kept to the traditional ones. Usually we think of names that fit with the theme and in the case of this shabby chic bake shoppe theme, we thought the actual names would suit best.

The kitchen aid added a little burst of color to the table, as did the peonies. Aaaah Peonies, we love you!!

Doughnut anyone? When you are creating a party, don’t think you have to make e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. It is time consuming and can take some of the fun away if you are pressed for time. Sometimes, it can work out less expensive to buy items and/or outsource some catering. I usually do a mix of homemade and store bought / ordered items. And the same is true for this party, Cath spent much of her time sewing and baking the eclairs, cookies and cake, so she decided to buy some of the other baked goods you see on the table. And if you want to order all the food items and just concentrate on the decor, then that is okay too! The key here is to try and enjoy at least part of the process if not all of it! 🙂

Look at that shimmery frosting. The cake was topped with a peony, mini wooden rolling pin and wooden spoon and the cutest shabby chic cake bunting.

Activity of the day – decorate a cupcake. Round paint palettes were used to hold all the decorations with larger top-up bowls in the center.

Little printable accents helped to bring the table to life.

All wearing their little aprons!

Cutest little munchkin decorating her cupcake.

My little boy Tom joining in the cupcake decorating festivities too 🙂

Fruit infused water always looks pretty on a table. Especially in a dispenser like this one…

Bless it. The party dress, the clip in her hair, the shoes, the expression. Happy Birthday Sophia darling girl.

INCLUDED IN THE FLORAL SHABBY CHIC PARTY SET?

1. Themed Party Invitation (5″ x 7″) (Print two invitations per page) 2. 2″ Cupcake Toppers (make tags and labels with these too) 3. Decorative Food Labels (3.7″ x 4.7″) 4. Favor/Thank-you Tags (2″ x 4″) 5. ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ Banner (Each letter panel is 5.3″ x 6.2″ – Total 20 Panels) – Add name 7. Door Sign (8.5″ x 11″) 8. Cupcake Collars 9. Mini Cake Bunting 10. Mini Straw Flags 11. Water Bottle Labels (2”x8”) 12. Printable Pendant Bunting (Four Designs)

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THIS PARTY SET

MORE BAKE SHOPPE PARTY IDEAS

Superheroes are cool, so superhero parties and therefore very cool. I have listed below some ideas and names of party food and drink to use including the names mentioned above.

FOOD NAME IDEAS

We used traditional names for Sophia’s party but you can easily add cute, fun names to the food labels.

Rolling pin pies
Bakery Buns
Spoonfuls of sugar
Baking tray bars
Oven-baked breads
Patisserie pops

COLOR PALETTE

Soft Pink
Deep pink
Teal (accent)
Cream (accent)

BACKDROP IDEAS

Wide-striped fabric – pastel yellow, pink or teal would look amazing! Catherine went with a pastel pink wide stripe and it looked gorgeous. I’ve seen a pastel yellow stripe look equally cute! A narrow striped bright pink and white can also look very theme-appropriate – you could even create a scalloped awning that looks like a store front – I LOVE this idea although it does require time to make. Outsource??

PROPS AND TABLE DECOR IDEAS

Use baking equipment like rolling pins, mixers and spatulas to accent the table. Your display of baked goodies though will be the real stars of the show so try and place items symmetrically beside the cake (which will most likely be the centerpiece) and try and source beautiful, theme-appropriate cake stands.