Raegan’s Flower Market Birthday Party

Celebrating my daughter turning four seems like a total impossibility. How can it be? Yet, here we are, and she’s more beautiful, curious, and fun than ever. I usually ask her what kind of birthday party she wants sometime at the beginning of the year. That gives mama half the year to plan and pick up all of the perfect touches for her party.

When I asked her, months ago, what kind of party she wanted, she answered “a flower party with cupcakes,” and a flower party with cupcakes is what her mama created! If you know my girl, you know that flowers are her jam. She never passes an opportunity to smell the flowers in nature. She asks for them at the supermarket, she asks to plant more in our garden. She picks the prettiest dandelions and puts them in my purse for me. I really wanted to make this party special.

I decided to go out of the box, and create her party around idea of a flower market stand. Her favorite part of going to the farmers market is the flower stand (mine too)! Lovely and simple, and it all started with this fun market flyer style invitation design by Olive Fox Design.

I love how simple and fresh this design is. The black, white, and florals come into play through the party design. My husband built Raegan her very own flower stand cart using an awesome DIY plan we found HERE. This DIY cart meant a couple of trips to Lowe’s with daddy, which means my girl was in heaven. I painted the cart white and topped it with a black and white striped awning to mirror the pretty french flower carts we saw when we visited Disney’s Epcot park. Raegan thought France was just the best–probably had something to do with it being where Belle and Beast are from.

Raegan’s beautiful butterfly wing dress was chosen by her, because the wings reminded her of flower petals. You can find the dress here. Her beautiful custom made felt flower hair bow is from one of my favorite small shops, Lynne and Lee.

Her flower cart sat at the head of the room and housed Raegan’s birthday cake and cupcakes. You may recognize the cart sign from her birthday invitation. Raegan had a special dairy-free frosted cake with fresh flowers, and I baked flower pot cupcakes for her guests. I can’t say enough how in love I am with how the cupcakes turned out. I purchased the terracotta pot style baking molds from Michael’s, during Easter clearance, for less than two bucks (sorry they’re not available anymore in store or online) and used chocolate frosting, and crush Oreos to create the look of real top soil. The candy flowers are Wilton brand, and I used fresh mint to add the look of greenery.

With a threat of thunderstorms (and the insane humid heat that is summer in North Carolina), we had to have our market setup indoors, but it ended up being so incredibly cute. I wanted to stay true to the low-key feel of an outdoor marketplace, but with feminine details. I rented the sweetest white chivari chairs, and used a craft paper roll as their tablecloth. The children drank from glass milk bottles and the prettiest floral paper straws.

One of my favorite details from the party was the floral confetti balloons. These high quality clear balloons came filled with the prettiest tissue and mylar shaped flowers. After having them filled, I tied faux green vine to them instead of traditional string. It gave the balloons a fun stem-like effect. The kids loved these and asked to take them home!

Each place setting was marked with a large Meri Meri floral plate and green leaf napkin. These held our market lunch boxes that were lined with the prettiest seafoam paper food liners–a Target dollar spot find! Staying true to a real market, I wanted the guests to have a simple grab-and-go way to eat. Bonus: these craft paper market boxes closed up to take home leftovers.

From our market menu, guests enjoyed bistro sandwiches, fresh fruits and veggies, popcorn and potato chips. I transformed white herb stands into market stands for the sandwiches and snacks. I used sandwich liners and bakers twine to give these delicious sandwiches an authentic feel. I also used a flower shaped cookie cutter to press out almond butter and jelly sandwiches for the kiddos who we’re big on meat. Pickles and condiments were served in flower and garden tins that I scored at the Dollar Tree.

The fruit was served in traditional farmers market baskets lined with pink food liners (another win from the Target dollar spot.) Veggies were served up in individual pastel purple berry baskets. Guests were also able to enjoy hand painted cookies that perfectly resembled seed packets. This was one of my absolute favorite details. Cookie Crime bought my vision to life, and as always, these tasted even better than they looked.

Another one of my absolute favorite details from this party were the custom DIY chip and popcorn bags. The talented Olive Fox Design worked her magic to adapt Raegan’s flyer invitation design into the cutest black and white bag designs. The nutritional facts label is pure gold. I had these professionally printed, and I assembled them myself.

It doesn’t get much cuter than 10 grams of saturated smiles, does it? Our little guests loved munching from these fun bags, and I couldn’t get over how cute they looked on the market stand! Guests also enjoyed ice water and lemonade.

When it came time for party favors, I really debated on whether or not I wanted to send the kiddos home with traditional flower cart bouquets, while so pretty, I just wasn’t convinced that they’d really get excited about them. I wanted to stick with the theme, but send them home with something special. PLANTED FLOWERS! Her little friends are at the perfect age to really care for a living plant, and I thought it would be such a fun idea to send them home with one of their very own.

Ya’ll know I love personalization. We could not just leave the pots plain, they needed custom chalk art! Britt Co Design did an absolutely stunning job hand lettering each guest’s name onto their flower pot. I wish so badly that I had the talent to do hand lettering. It added the perfect touch to these party favors. Guests also got to take home (and wear during the party) the prettiest ribbon-tied flower crowns.

I took Raegan with me to a local nursery, and had her choose flowers for her friends. She went with a pink/purple variety (of course) and when we got home, my green thumb having dad planted each one for me. I had Raegan’s flower stand logo printed into a sheet of stickers, and I pressed toothpicks in those, to create nursery pot stakes. I love how her flower stand logo is present throughout the party.

The best part has been hearing from all of her little friends, weeks later, that their flowers have started to bloom. One mama even told me that she’s used her son’s party favor as a small way to teach him responsibility. He waters and cares for his little flower pot all by himself. I love that the kids took home something living, that they can enjoy well after the party ended.

The “market vendor” was face painting! Raegan loves to have her face painted any time the opportunity presents itself. Sarah’s Smiles was friendly, and did a fantastic job transforming the kids!

I tied rose garland on the chains of our swing set, to add a fun touch to the kids’ outdoor play. The flowers are still out there, because Raegan and I just couldn’t bare to take them down. Who doesn’t want to play on a flower swing?

I created this photo backdrop from a Target clearance “Best Day Ever” poster, and gorgeous Meri Meri floral plates.

I loved getting creative and bringing this theme to life. It always feels good to challenge myself with a unique theme. I couldn’t have asked God for a sweeter daughter, and her telling me she had “the best day” just about melted my entire heart—totally worth the work.

Thank you for stopping by Raegan’s Flower Stand! We hope you enjoyed your time looking back on this sweet day! I’d love to hear your feedback on this event!

XOXO,
Shakira

Vendors:

Graphic Design/Stationary: Olive Fox Design
Hand Lettering: Britt Co Designs
Face Painting: Sarah’s Smiles
Photography: T Windley Photography
Chair Rental: The BalloonZ Shop

Want to make sure you don’t loose all of these great party ideas?
PIN IT FOR LATER!