I LOVE planning parties! Setting the scene in my apartment for an event is like a magical adventure for me where I imagine all sorts of fantastical things. Sometimes it's not always possible to pull off the picture in my head, but I'm always happy when bits and pieces of it come together. I started early in the year gathering ideas. Pinterest is a dream for this, just click, save, come back a few months later and think, "oh, yeah - THAT!"

I'm not all that into theme-ey things, although sometimes (like my Oscar parties, hello?) they can be cool. I wanted the theme to just be LUCY. If I had to draw a picture of what I think "Lucy" means, it would be an explosion of happy colors - yellow like daffodils, pink like cotton candy and blue like the sky on a perfect day. There would be pretty things galore - flowers, balloons and music in the air.

This is a snippet of this year's inspiration board:

I loved the art idea that I saw on jandjhome. The party that her sister put together was super cute! The boxes she lined up like easels looked amazing. Lucy loves art and I knew painting would be a huge hit amongst the kids and fun for the adults to watch.
Bunting cakes! I pinned one of these randomly like 4 months ago and now I'm seeing them everywhere. A few of my favorites are on Design Sponge, Bump Smitten and Joy the Baker. I fell in love with bunting the moment I laid eyes on my crafty sister's nursery. Can you believe she sewed that all herself!? Fracking cool.
I loved this party spread on Sweet Designs. So summery and pretty. Perfect for a little girl's birthday party!

And so here was what I was able to pull off from the picture in my head:

Rather than find canvases or boxes that I thought might be really expensive, I just got a roll of paper from the teacher supply store. It was super cheap and easy to put up as well as clean up.
Cake! It came out really cute and I splurged by buying the cake and then decorated it myself.
The table also looked good. The party was scattered with mason jars filled with goodies inside as well as outside where I mixed tempera paint with water for the painting wall.

I thought the party was awesome (despite being 95 DEGREES that day). Here are my takeaway tips:

Buy the cake: I know I tend to over-plan, so I made some shortcuts that cost me a little bit more money-wise, but saved me a great deal of mental sanity. If you're good at baking - go for it, but I had to have some "real talk" with myself. Buying the cake was totally worth it. It tasted and looked amazing and I didn't stress myself out the night before the party worrying over a possibly burnt, ghetto-looking cake.
Take the weather into account: I knew it was going to be hot so I thought about ways to make things slightly more comfortable. There was a wading pool for the kids which was easy. We also borrowed extra patio umbrellas, didn't serve any heated food and had a fully stocked drinking station:

Don't BBQ: This sounds crazy as I type it because I LOVE barbecued food, but this only applies in this very specific situation... On super hot days - when you would rather not have smoke enveloping your yard - coming from a hot grill with small children running around - when you're hosting a bunch of people - and would rather have your husband co-host than stand over a grill thinking about sausage. Otherwise barbecuing is 100% a must in my book because it's yummaroo.
Serve easy food: In addition to splurging on the cake, and because of the no-go BBQ, we got finger sandwiches from a bakery. All the other food was either open and serve, brought by guests or prepared in advance; like fruit salad, crackers and cheese, cookies, cucumber salad and chips and dip - not to mention all the little treats in the mason jars like strawberry Pocky, lemon pirouettes and vanilla filled wafers.
Combine store-bought and handmade decorations: I started buying bunting garlands at Target several months ago when they popped up in the store. Almost every time I went (which is like twice a week, ha!) I would buy another until I had about 10 to line our long fence on both sides as well as hang inside. The rest of the decor was all me - just simple ribbons and raffia tied onto things and then the cake embellishments:

Lucy had a super fun time. The day ended with her covered in melted chocolate, stripped down to her pull-ups.

It was a great day.

xo Becky