I remember quite clearly when my Valentine’s baby turned eight, it made me feel dreadfully old. I’m even saying things like ‘dreadfully old’ now!
Her request was for a Bellawood party. I can hear your eyebrows shoot up in confusion (as did mine). Apparently that’s what a girl named Bella has instead of a Hollywood party. Why an eight year old even wants a Hollywood party is beyond me. What happened to Dora, Barbie and Hi5? Yes, I’m holding onto something that’s not there!
So, I set about searching Pinterest and Google for foods to serve at a tween party, and any inspiration for party games. I stuck to the basic colour scheme of pink and black and kept the food pretty basic. It was an after school party, so not a full meal.
Luckily Mother Nature smiled down on us, and the sun was shining so the kids spent a great deal of the party in the pool. Win!
We had some watermelon hearts. These were simply cut out with a playdough shape and the remnants were frozen to make a watermelon and raspberry slushie. This was made from the frozen watermelon, some frozen raspberries, a dash of berry mineral water all blended together.
This is a really simple idea that the kids all loved. I wanted the marshmallows in a glass vase but ours was too big. I just stuffed some pink tissue paper in the base to bulk it up a bit.
This was the easiest option for the birthday cake. I picked up these cases at the local cake store, made some sponge mix and tinged it pink then just topped them with pink icing. They are a little fiddly to eat, but not everything Hollywood is supposed to be easy, right?
My favourite thing to make was the high-heeled cookies pictured on the purple platter. The cutter was $3 at the local cake store, I made a basic butter cookie and used the same icing used on the cakes. I would recommend using a shortbread cookie instead of the butter cookie mix, they lost shape a little.
Each place setting was a black plate, pink napkin and plastic champagne flute. Hidden in the bottom of each champagne flute is a drop of pink food colouring. When you fill the glass with water, it changes from clear to pink. My kids call this ‘magic water’ and it gets a few stunned reactions every time.
The lolly bags were just black noodle boxes from Spotlight with each child’s initial in pink stuck to the front.
Below is the finished table. The girls all had a blast, we added some nail polish and glitter hairspray for fun then the girls put on a catwalk in some dress ups. I caught it all on tape (including Mr3 doing the moonwalk) and that recording will be a fabulous addition to their 21st videos!
It was a really simple party, not a lot of cooking or preparation, yet the birthday girl had a lovely time. I think I had just as much fun as the little guests.