Paige's Library Party!


Here they are! Photos from Paige's library-themed (or book themed?)party we had last weekend! It turned out pretty good, I was really delighted. I mentioned before that I actually felt prepared for this party for once--amazing! However, I wasn't counting on the 20mph winds we had that day. Yikes! It really wouldn't have been so bad if all my decorations weren't made of paper. All the cute little book pages hanging sweetly from the giant lilac bushes turned into crazy looking paper twisted and stuck between the branches. So we moved the food and some of the decor inside. Not the end of the world!

We had the party at a friend's house from church. She's a sweet and generous grandma type who loves kids. Which is good, because I think we had 16 there. Also, she has a giant trampoline, and I discovered that if you have one of those, you don't need party games. Awesome! The kids played on it the. entire. time. They didn't even want to stop to see Paige open her presents! So they were happily entertained and the adults got to visit pleasantly. It was great!

Now for the important part! Crafty details! Here's what I did:

We already talked about the invitations, plain card stock covered with vintage paperback books. With enveloped lined from the same book.

The color scheme was a little random because everything was vintage, but I did focus on blue, cherry red, sea foam green and light pink.

For favor bags, I sewed two pages together and trimmed the top with scalloped scissors. I filled them with a few cute stickers, a paper doll(a different toy for boys), "reading glasses", gummy worms and their own book about themselves.


For the little bags of "book worms", I added little glasses to the "o"s and made the "s" a worm. They turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself!


The personalized coloring books were made from Crayola's Story Studio website.


We also had bubbles for everyone, which I covered with-what else?-book pages.


For decorations, I cut a giant "5" out of some pink foam board (Walmart) and colored green and blue polka dots on it.

Then I made a "Happy Birthday Paige" banner, which I didn't get a good photo of. The papers were stapled together two at a time to look like open books and then I hand cut the letters and glued them on. Then it was beat to death by the wind. :o)


Stacks of Paige's books from home, wrapped with pink polka dot ribbon and a balloon tied on top were set on the balcony railing.

With a sea foam and cherry red scalloped banner along the deck. I cut out large green circles, then cut them in half and stapled them to red bulletin board trim.


Book page accordion flowers. (My tutorial for these here.)

And old fashioned paper chains from book pages as well!

 Behind the food table was a wall of vintage children's book pages and balloons with the letters"READ" on them. I confess that this area looked a lot better in my head, but oh well. Still cute. Just a little busy for my taste.

P.S. Did you catch Paige's mismatched shoe look in that photo? I let her pick her outfit that day. She's so eccentric. :o)

The foods were all story-themed. 

We also had "Olivia's Pigs in a Blanket" and "Big Dog Little Dog Hot Dogs" and "Pinkalicious' Pink Lemonade" and "Elephant and Piggie's Ice Cream"!


I just made a simple cake from scratch (ok, from a box...but that is "from scratch" for me) and decorated it as an open book.

And a friend made a gluten-dairy-sugar free cake for Paige. Isn't it adorable? It was tasty, too!

After that we opened presents! Mostly Paige got books (yay!) but she did get a few other sweet things as well. I have to say that my favorite was probably this gorgeous Asian doll a friend got for her from the Ashton Drake Galleries. She's adorable!


And now we come to my favorite photo from that day: one of Paige's presents was wrapped in a Clorox toilet cleaner box and when she opened it she was so confused! She said "For chores??"
The look says it all.

Haha.

Then Paige got to hand out" presents" to her guests! She really enjoyed that.

The rest of the time was spent playing and being crazy and cute! It was a lot of fun.


It was really a fantastic day. 
...And then there was clean up! 
:o/
 Luckily I had some great helpers. (Thanks, guys!)

Hope that inspires you if you're looking for party ideas! I had almost everything on hand, so it was pretty economical. I think the food was most of the cost! 
Oh, and I did get Paige a special book for the party, but I'll post about that later. :O)

Have a great day, guys!!

Love,
Disney

Comments

  1. Happy birthday Paige! Love the foods. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are the best mom ever! Paige is such a beautiful girl and happy birthday to her! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are the best mom ever! Paige is such a beautiful girl and happy birthday to her! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. oH, I love this party!
    the theme is perfect and so unique! Love the invitations, the loot bags, everything is so magical!

    love it!
    Andrea

    ReplyDelete
  5. oH, I love this party!
    the theme is perfect and so unique! Love the invitations, the loot bags, everything is so magical!

    love it!
    Andrea

    ReplyDelete
  6. oH, I love this party!
    the theme is perfect and so unique! Love the invitations, the loot bags, everything is so magical!

    love it!
    Andrea

    ReplyDelete
  7. oH, I love this party!
    the theme is perfect and so unique! Love the invitations, the loot bags, everything is so magical!

    love it!
    Andrea

    ReplyDelete
  8. Don't leave us hanging. What was in the Clorox box?

    ReplyDelete
  9. so cute! love how you used the bookpages in various ways--and those invitations are awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow ! you did an amazing party... I guess it was a lot of work.
    Congrats !!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beautiful.. Carmela's 5 b'day party was Cinderella themed... She's now obsessed with blue color, and Cinderella is the only Disney's princess in blue (well, Jasmine is also in blue, but she doesn't wear a puffy dress... so Carmela is doesn't interested on her.. :o) I can't believe how much we worked on the decoration, presents, on the cake... But, everything for my pricess... Congrats Disney.. and give some hughs and kisses to Paige for her 5..

    ReplyDelete
  12. Won't you come to Germany and host a party like that for me as well?
    If I say "please"?

    :o)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love what you did! You are so creative and I know (because I am too) that it is so fun to be able to actually use that creativity, especially for our sweet little ones. Sometimes I get to thinking I had other gifts (like organization...ha!) but always come back to the fact that God gave me creativity and I want keep exercising it! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh my! What a fabulous party! Thanks for all the inspiration!

    Genevieve

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh my gosh! What an adorable party theme!!! I love your idea of sewing together book pages to make little party favor bags :) Wherever did you get all the vintage books?

    ReplyDelete
  16. I absolutely love the ideas and thoughts that went into this party! Definitely inspired me to have a book-related party for my future children :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Haha, Georgine: it was a sparkly pink purse!

    ReplyDelete
  18. So lovely, Disney! I just love it - the whole thing, and especially the thought that went into the treat bags - love the librarian glasses and book worms. Beautiful. I'm also wondering where you got all the great vintage books and how you brought yourself to take them all apart. I don't know if I could bring myself to do it. Maybe if I had a backup of all of them. Happy Birthday, Paige!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks, Steph! I got them at a local thrift store for fifteen cents each. They were already colored on or had water damage, so I didn't mind repurposing them!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I want to have this birthday party for my birthday! Absolutely beautiful! Happy Birthday, Paige!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I love it! that is the cutest idea I have ever seen!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Gorgeous party. I love the lined envelopes, must figure out how to do that.

    ReplyDelete
  23. This is so cute! I love this idea... so chic :]

    ReplyDelete
  24. This is adorable, and I absolutely love your color scheme! The party favors are my absolute favorites, and I love that you lined the envelopes with matching pages from the book! Mostly, I love that you did liners for the envelopes. I swear, liners are one of the easiest ways to make anything you're sending in the mail instantly look ten million times classier. I just did my sister's wedding invitations and strong armed her into agreeing with my about adding vellum envelop liners (we used matching vellum as one of her coordinating papers on her invites) and she was so glad she did it.

    I didn't realize I felt so strongly about liners, but there you have it.

    C Marcia (Sequins)

    ReplyDelete
  25. So cute Disney! You did really well! It was FREEZING for our party, so I put all my decorations up inside. I even had the fishing game all ready in a nice warm bath so they wouldn't be cold if they accidentally got splashed.

    Then it got a bit warmer outside so i moved it all outside.

    Semi-dramatic haah. never planning a party that RELIES on all my ideas being outside! I need to remember to be more flexible with the set up!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Love the idea of using pages for Paige's party :) I would have loved that party and kept the decorations for years when I was a kid. Such a sweet memory for her. She's a luck gal

    ReplyDelete
  27. what charming details! :) happy birthday dear paige!!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Ugh. I absolutely hate this new trend of cutting up vintage (and non-vintage) books for decorations, etc. It's just too sad to see all those beautiful books WASTED when there are so many needy children/schools who could make good use of them. It's a great idea for a party (love the playhouse from Etsy, by the way, too bad it was on a table half the size it should be with no link to the shop, especially since I remember when you won it) but I just don't like all the ruined books. I think you are more interested in getting in magazines than doing the right thing lately. I used to love your blog and now I just think it's sort of....trite.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I LOVE THIS. I want to have a book-themed party! I adore children's books and have quite the collection -- even though I don't have any kids yet. Thanks for fabulous ideas!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Oh, Anon: I love you. I hope you're having a better day tommorow. :o)

    ReplyDelete
  31. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I agree that anonymously lady was too mean and from what she said it is obvious she is the etsy felt house seller. I agree that lady was mean and belittling. Despite her thoughts I love Disney's blog, so pretty and positive! ;) You keep a craftin' girl and don't let mean people bother you!

    I think I will use the book idea for my Little Madison's summer birthday party coming up! Thanks for the post!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Disney you are so sweet to that anonymous person. A quote from Bambi comes to mind...
    Love the party- I've decided to make a new rule- if I pin it I have to leave a comment- not enough comment love going around.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I love all of these ideas soo much! My sister wants to have a vintage nursery rhyme and fairytale nursery so I think I'm going throw a children's book themed baby shower and use most of these ideas, especially the invitations and all you did with the inside pages!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Happy birthday to adorable Paige! The kids look like they really enjoyed the party! Such a pool of great ideas!

    ReplyDelete
  36. I read all your posts Disney but rarely give feedback. I would like to thank Anonymous for giving me the impetus to comment.

    Thank you for sharing your crafting world with us. Every time I read your blog I feel I'm being allowed a privileged glimpse into your life. It has given me inspiration for projects to make with love for family and friends and happiness to be able to make them.

    You don't have to write your blog, but you do. So thank you. Emma x

    ReplyDelete
  37. Darling! I wish I had been invited.

    ReplyDelete
  38. So, what are your thoughts on me basically copying this entire party and all its decorations and favors and food EXACTLY? Cuz I'm probably gonna do it :) The glasses are killing me. Everything you touch turns into awesome. You think of everything!

    (including helping children in need. Hello, anon, by shopping at thrift stores you *are* giving to charity!)

    ReplyDelete
  39. I love this! Thanks for sharing! I might try this for an adult party!

    ReplyDelete
  40. i want to throw myself a birthday party now just so i can use this theme! sometimes other folks don't get why some of us are so meticulous about details but i think that's part of the love we give to our little ones. it's a way to reveal how much they inspire us. yard sales season is just beginning around here and i'll have some very used up vintage books on my list. :)

    ReplyDelete
  41. OMG, you went all out, Disney. It looks like all the kids had a lot of fun. You're such a great hostess. And your favorite photo of the day is such a crack up. Yes, Paige's face does say it all. I don't even have to imagine what was going through her mind.

    ReplyDelete
  42. you did a great job!!! looks really fun, espically for an 'off the wall' theme! lol

    ReplyDelete
  43. Awesome job! I love how personalized the theme was to fit your special little one! I hope she had a lovely day. You are so creative. And what a nice friend you have!

    ReplyDelete
  44. So cute! I always wanted to decorate my kids' rooms with my favorite children's story pictures and such. I think you have pushed me to (finally actually) do it! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  45. I love the party theme, but it's so sad that you cut up all those vintage books! It seems that this post is inspiring other people to seek out and destroy old books, and that's not cool.

    It's great that you are encouraging children to read books, but I believe that part of being a book lover is taking good care of your books so that they can be passed on to future readers.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Dear Kim, as I've said before, these were damaged books to begin with, that is why I didn't mind cutting them up. I don't know if I could have otherwise! But even if I did, they belong to me. I am free to do whatever I choose with them. :o) things are just things, after all! I think this post is very cool.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Disney, what a beautiful party you did for Paige! Love everything! Love you honoring her love of books! The only downside I see is that after going to this party, the mother's of Paige's friends might be too intimidated to invite y'all to their kid's party where they went to Walmart and bought all of the Cars 2 themed stuff in the party aisle and called it a day! (guilty!)

    P.S. to the Anonymous Hater and Kim...you could also make color copies of the books if you have issues with using DAMAGED books that would more than likely be thrown out but are instead being used for something as inspiring as this great party... jeesh.

    P.P.S. Anonymous, If you can't post with your name, don't bother to post, no one wants to hear from you.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Wonderful! Paige is blessed to have a mom like you. Can you plan my next party, Disney? Pretty please? :)

    ReplyDelete
  49. This is party perfection. Thank you for posting this! Books are the best!

    ReplyDelete
  50. Love your theme Disney. What wonderful ideas you had. I noticed that Paige was wearing some of her cool socks too.

    ReplyDelete
  51. What a beautiful party you arrange for your daughter. A very nice theme for a child in that age.

    ReplyDelete
  52. What a cute party! Too bad about the wind! The theme was so cute!

    I really love that scalloped banner across the deck, I need to do that too sometime.

    ReplyDelete
  53. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Love the books! I learned to give from the Giving Tree! I learned not to go and kiss boys from the Princess Kiss! I learned bad spilling from Winnie the Pooh! Absolutely love the books!

    ReplyDelete
  55. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  56. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  57. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  58. i love every single detail! i have a babe still in a bump but i hope hope hope i remember all these great ideas when she grows up and needs a great party!!

    ReplyDelete
  59. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  60. I think that's the best kids birthday party I've seen so far. Your ideas are simply amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  61. You peddling your felt playhouses is despicable and they are way way overpriced.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Anonymous: I'm going to ask you to please stop commenting on my blog. This is not a place for you to get free advertising. And whatever you are so angry about, please let it go. You're better than that! :o)

    ReplyDelete
  63. Don't ruffle your feathers book burner.

    ReplyDelete
  64. You are amazing!!!! This is one of the cutest ideas I have ever seen!!!

    ReplyDelete
  65. Disney!
    I think it's such a beatiful party. Love the "Book Worms"! the story-themed food os so cool!!! also the books with the balloons tied to them! :)

    ReplyDelete
  66. Disney!
    I think it's such a beatiful party. Love the "Book Worms"! the story-themed food os so cool!!! also the books with the balloons tied to them! :)

    ReplyDelete
  67. This is such a great party idea!! All the decorations and party gifts are awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  68. this is just great! my son wanted to have a Library party at the end of kdg.. right before we moved (we are a military family). it was a great way to get the class together.. & he got them all involved! the kids all wrote books and drew pictures. we decorated our club house and made it a library Jack and Annie (magic tree house) would have loved! well.. we are getting ready to move again and he wants to have a casino party for his class! here we go again!!

    ReplyDelete
  69. Looks like an awesome party. I don't know if you have seen this from Jewels of Sayuri/Divya, but it uses the lenses from the sunglasses and makes them into pendants
    http://jewelsofsayuri.blogspot.com/2012/03/sunglases-pendant-tutorial.html

    ReplyDelete
  70. I'm *not* the *same* "Anonymous" -puhleeze! Kudos to you for a wonderful party! What I think nobody has mentioned( or did I miss it?) is that this party would provide great impetus towards reading, or even just reading a specific book (and there were countless) featured anywhere for children at Paige's party. Is there a favor better than that?
    Happiest birthday to Paige!
    Anne

    ReplyDelete
  71. How does your pics turn out so clear? Is it all about the camera or is it something else?

    ReplyDelete
  72. I love your party theme! Where did you get those cute glasses? Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  73. Great ideas!! Love the invitations, gift bags and bubbles!

    ReplyDelete
  74. So inspiring! Thank you for sharing so many playful details. I'm especially excited to make some paper chains out of some children's books I found whose bindings are falling apart...a great way to keep the beautiful pages from going to waste. Where did you find all the black glasses? I've hunted and hunted and cannot seem to find any "reading" glasses for cheap. Thank you!!!

    ReplyDelete
  75. Thanks for sharing traditional paper chains! My little girl has fun doing this.

    ReplyDelete
  76. I love this party!! I'm throwing a book themed party for my daughter soon. I'm hoping I can find those cute glasses at my local dollar store! Thanks for all the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  77. Such a cute party! I just might steal your ideas for our next party!

    ReplyDelete
  78. Just saw this featured in November 2014 issue of Parents magazine. I organize a children's book club, and plan to use a few of your ideas for some of our meets. Especially handing out bookworms inside story book pages. Brilliant!

    ReplyDelete
  79. Adorable! Do you have a "How to" make the envelopes and invitations? They are precious!

    ReplyDelete
  80. This is really fabulous! I love every single idea here!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for leaving a comment! I just love finding them! Comments on older posts are moderated, so if your comment doesn't show up right away, it will soon! :o)