A Fun Little Flower Party

Saturday was Amelia's 7th birthday. After deliberating for months over the party theme, she finally settled on "flowers."  I was happy, because I knew I would have fun with this one, and because I was glad I could talk her out of a pajama party in the middle of the day at the end of June-- she had envisioned everyone watching a movie in a dark room all afternoon, and after so many cold, dark days here, that made my heart hurt.  I promised her an actual sleepover later in the year with all of those things, if we could do something fun in broad daylight for her party!  Once she saw the beauty in a flower-themed June afternoon, she was all-in and invited some of her classmates to come celebrate.
  

I always enjoy throwing parties, and little girls are a particularly fun demographic to make a party for.  I love setting the scene, as a special place for a special event.  As I was walking around the cheap-o store in town, looking for party supplies, I saw white cupcake and cake liners and got the idea to make a garland with them.

I dipped them in bowls of food coloring and water color paints to dye the edges, and then put them together with tape to make these big blossoms.  I strung them up on a long piece of ribbon I already had, and I was really pleased with how they came out! Total cost: £2.


Just as decorations are the first thing I think of, food is Amelia's first concern. Jeff baked her a chocolate cake, with a chocolate ganache frosting. (I may post the recipe here, it came out so well!)  To bring it into the flower theme, I decorated it with some elderflowers from our back yard.

We also served fruit, along with a probiotic Elderflower Soda (recipe coming!) and Rhubarb Cordial.  The little girl guests were skeptical about these drinks at first mention, but all decided after a couple of sips that they were "Really rather nice!"  So English!

 We set up in the conservatory, as it was raining for a good part of the day. 

 Jeff was in charge of the games, and the girls did an art project and played Pass the Parcel and Musical Chairs. 

I led a flower-tasting contest, which was my favorite part of all.  Here is how I set it up:
I gathered edible blooms from our yard, and then labeled them.

 The girls had a few minutes to inspect and sniff each kind, until they all felt familiar.


Then each took a turn with being blindfolded, while I popped the flowers in their mouths and they guessed which it was.  Amelia did very well, only missing one! 

The other girls hadn't eaten flowers before (one had tasted a daisy) but they still managed to each get some right.   
The best part came when the game was over, and I told the girls they could eat the leftover flowers!  They were all over the tray, and everything disappeared quickly. 

This made me especially happy, since a couple of them had been very skeptical about tasting flowers in the first place!

We did all of those things one does at a birthday party-- singing Happy Birthday, blowing out candles, eating cake, and opening presents.




The weather cleared enough for the kids to enjoy our garden and Amelia's playhouse, and she even managed to open her presents outside before it started raining.


We sent each guest home with prizes of lavender sachets and a fuschia geranium to plant at home in lieu of goody bags.  All of the girls had a sweet time, especially The Birthday Girl.

What a great kid!

Meanwhile, I have left the decorations up for the week, since this is my "office" and I am loving the cheery feeling in here!  If you enjoyed this party post, I think you'll love seeing Amelia's Butterfly Birthday Party, too!

This post was shared at: Party Wave Wednesday. 

PAID ENDORSEMENT DISCLOSURE: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog.