Pink Zebra Christening!

I have always been into planning parties but in the last 6-9 months I have really been getting into it and I started following party blogs and have found inspiration everywhere. My DD’s Christening was on 10/3. We had the party catered at our home. We had about 40 adults and around 10 kids. The highlight of the party was the dessert bar that I created. I started planning it while I was on maternity leave. It was so much fun and so easy!

Here are the details:

ALL PHOTOGRAPHY TAKEN BY MICHELLE MCFADDEN PHOTOGRAPHY http://michellemcfaddenphotography.com/ 

Michelle did an amazing job!  I have used her before and she is incredibly talented.  She is a busy mom of 3 small children! I don't know how she does it!

Dress – it was DD#1’s gown. We got it at Little Dickens in Lake Grove, NY 3 years ago.








My favorite pic of the day!



Party Décor
Tissue Poms – I am so glad I got these. I think they looked really cute and were easy to pouf out and set up. There are a ton of etsy vendors who sell them, but I got them from A Dash of Color
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ADashOfColor






Signs – I ordered printables on Etsy and then I used Photoshop elements to put all the words on them. Again, I think they added a lot to the overall look and feel. Seller is Posh Pixels Designs. Kristy has some really great stuff! http://www.etsy.com/shop/PoshPixels I got a bunch of stuff from her. She also has a great website: http://www.poshpixelsstudio.com/



Napkin ring holders




Banner – I made this myself with a glue gun and some paper. I used a couple of designs I got from Posh Pixels in the background.




Backdrop – Since my dining room décor totally clashed with the party theme, I bought 4 white sheers at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Cake Plates & Dishes – All of the white dishes with ribbon were bought at Home Goods. They originally came with black ribbon and I changed it to pink. Nothing was more than $12.99. I already had the 2 apothecary containers and the rest of the clear glass containers I bought at Michael’s. Everything was in the $2.99 - $3.99 range.

Centerpieces - I made them.




Custom Zebra Runners - I had about 8 of them made by My Little Obsession on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/MyLittleObsession


Desserts– this was a really time consuming process. First deciding what I wanted and then to find it at a reasonable price. A lot of the quantities available at the bulk candy sites were too big for me. Oh Nuts! Sells a lot of candy at lower quantities at decent prices. I got the Rock Candy and Lollipops from them.  The products were packaged extremely well. They shipped fast and nothing was broken .













Bubblegum – I bought a pack of white and a pack of pink at Party City.




M&M’s – I had White, Light pink and Hot Pink. I bought most of them at Party City and some at Dylan’s Candy Bar.

Kisses - you can't really see them, but there are really cute stickers on the bottom of the kisses that I got from Posh Pixels.



Pink & White Fudge – I bought this at Dylan’s Candy bar in a whim the Friday before the party. I saw the pink and white and HAD to have it.  I quartered each piece. 




Mini Cupcakes – I used Cupcakes Catering. I have used them a bunch of times and they didn’t disappoint. In fact – they were the first dessert on the table to go followed by the chocolate covered oreos. www.cupcakescatering.com



My Cupcake Monster - she scarfed down about 6 of them as soon as we got home from church!

Custom Oreos - I got them from Sweeties by Kim http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetiesbykim 
Kim's oreos and other treats are seriously a work of art.  Check out her Etsy Shop and see her incredible work.



French Macarons – I have been obsessed with them ever since I saw my first dessert bar. The pink ones were Rose Litchi and the white ones were vanilla. They were amazingly delicious! I got them from Petites Bouchees http://www.petitesbouchees.com/index.php

Veronica was really nice to work with.  They came all the way from Virgina.  They transported really well and I got to sample a few that were cracked ;) 





Cake Pops - I made them. I got the candy coating and sprinkles at Michael's.They are really easy to make.  Check out Bakerella's blog for directions. 








Cake - I used  a local woman who has a cake business.  Her name is Dawn Olson.   It was really pretty, delicious and affordable!. I did a different flavor on each tier:

• Vanilla with fresh strawberries
• Chocolate with peanut butter ganache
• Red Velvet with Cream Cheese filling

And no review would be complete without some pics of the kiddies!!








Party dress from the Gap




Serving Grandpa fake cookies. E's dress is from Janie & Jack circa 2005 - I got it on Ebay.