Decorating for a Birthday Party

The Neon Birthday Party Bash

2K15

Good decorating is about coordinating fabrics, furnishings, curtains, flooring, and home decor to create a style and a cohesive look that is all about you! So decorating for an event like a birthday party, for instance, is really not any different. I love to plan parties and if you've read my blog for long and know me, you know that my first business was party planning! I have always planned my kids birthday parties which included baking cakes or cupcakes and coordinating the "theme" And really, what's a birthday party without a theme? Now, in my opinion, a theme could be as simple as a color combination and carrying it throughout your party supplies and treats. In fact, the color theme is usually where I like to start the planning process.

This last week my daughter turned 15! I'm still in shock as to where in the world the time has gone and I'm pretty sure I've been sucked down the rabbit hole because my brain is not comprehending that she could possibly be that old! So this week, instead of sharing with you any home decor or DIY project, I am going to share with you this really cool "Neon Dance Party" theme that we did for her party this year!

Since she wanted neon, the colors were already set with pink, orange, green, yellow and blue. If you have ever shopped for neon birthday supplies, well.....let's just say, it's a lot more tricky to find. That's why I literally hit Target, Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's, Dollar Tree, Home Depot, Party City, and Walmart last week trying to find anything that was neon that I could use for the party. Are you tired yet? That is a lot of places to shop and trust me when I say, I might need a vacation; even for a day. Of course, that will have to wait until I get the booth space ready at Daisies & Olives for the Holiday Open House this Friday. Let's just say that come Monday next week, I might be in my pj's all day with a good book! But back to the party...

Party Supplies & Shopping:

Decorating

I came up with some neon balloon's, black balloons, neon polka dots (we used the dots on the black balloons), neon Sharpie markers, black chalkboard paper, and neon cardstock at Target. I bought about 240 glow bracelets and necklaces at the Dollar Tree. They come 20 in a pack for $1 each. I bought neon plates, a black plastic table runner, and neon food coloring, neon acrylic paint and the awesome neon face paints at Hobby Lobby. I found neon cups at Party City. At Home Depot, I found the only "good" black lights. They ran about $4.78 each and I bought 5. I probably could have purchased 2 more black lights but was tired of running around and didn't want to go back. I know, sad, right? You want to buy black lights that are non incandescent that give off a more bluish black light rather than the candescent which tend to be redish purple and don't emit a lot of light. Next I bought all of my cooking supplies at Walmart for our treats and found some white treat sacks that I used for popcorn.

Food:

The Neon Treat Buffet

My idea was to create a treat buffet table with neon sugar cookies, gourmet neon rice crispy treats, and neon cake truffles. I made glow in the dark tags for each item. (The cake truffles are also called cake balls since they are not on a stick like a cake pop, but with adolescent boys coming to this party, there was no way I was going to have a tag that read "Cake Balls"!!!) Just saying! :)

I took the neon cardstock and made pinwheels, polka dots and polka dot banners! Here is what the treat table looked like before and after the neon lights:

We created an area where the kids could paint their faces with the neon face paint. Their glow bracelets and necklaces were also at the table in handpainted neon mason jars that Emily painted. We also used the same table for the neon sharpie markers that they used to write their name on the "Photo Booth". Here is a look at the neon painted faces:

Activities:

Photo Booth

The photo booth was made from the black chalkboard paper that we splattered with neon acrylic paint and taped to the wall. We also had a basket of neon props for the photo booth. Among the neon props were: hats, neon glasses, lips, and mustaches (I cut out these and put on sticks), as well as neon beads that we spray painted with neon paint. (This probably wasn't necessary so I wouldn't really recommend it as the glow sticks were enough). Here is what the Photo booth looked like:

DJ and the Dance Floor

Emily's brother Gram and his girlfriend Hayley were gracious enough to give us their time and expertise on Saturday night! We set up their DJ station on the dance floor and they did an awesome job! They also got into the neon face paint and used the neon sharpie markers to write equations on their arms. They are chemical and biomedical engineer students so the equations are normal! LOL! I ended up getting better pictures of them since they posed for them when the party goers where outside during their Neon glow stick hunt! Apparently, 15 year old girls don't necessarily want their mom and dad hanging at their "Neon Dance Party" so much, so I didn't get a lot of candids of her, but rather, I snuck downstairs to get some group shots! They turned out pretty cool looking!

We feed them pizza, popcorn, fruit in neon cups, bottled sodas and waters in buckets of ice that glowed from neon glow sticks, cookies, rice crispy treats, cake truffles, and sour patch kid candy! Yummy! I think everyone had a great time!

I'm not responsible for tummy aches! LOL!

Also last week, I painted and stained this bistro table in the photo below! It was all black before and I wanted it to match the wine serving bar I painted last year! I am still working on the bar stools, which are also black. I will be repainting them cream with dark wax, like the table. I am hoping to have them done next week so that I can show you the finished set.