The Dress

When Zoë's first birthday rolled around, I wanted it to be girly. After five years of planning little boy parties ( in order from 1st-5th: puppies, Elmo, trains, Sponge Bob and Star Wars) I was ready to add a little sugar and spice (and pink) to the festivities. I browsed catalogs and internet ideas but nothing stood out. That is, until one day, while searching for cute little dresses on ebay, I came across this dress:

...and suddenly, I had a theme. I built her entire first birthday party around this dress. I was elated to find out that they actually sell a "Pink Poodles in Paris" party set at an online party store.

(cups, plates, napkins, topper and Eiffel Tower centerpiece)
I made the little hatboxes by covering Christmas cookie tins with scrapbook paper and filled them with dogbone shaped sugar cookies. I know what you're thinking, " Wait a minute, what is Darth Vader doing at this party?" Well, Noah's and Zoë's birthdays are only a week apart, so I had a combo Pink Poodles/ Star Wars party this year and I thought I merged the two themes well.

That was the first time I centered an entire party theme around a dress.

This year will be the second.

While online shopping one day, I came across this beautiful gem:

... and thought, "What a beautiful dress! It reminds me of neapolitan ice cream."

*BING*

And there was my idea. I suddenly had visions of ice cream socials from years past with ice cream sodas, pretty soda glasses, and jars filled with brightly colored candy toppings for sundaes.

Now you know. That is how my idea for this year's party began- back in May. I have been planning ever since and have just started making decorations. I will have a post just for the decorations when I am finished. But for now, you will have to settle for the invitation. As I mentioned in the previous post, I really enjoy making these invitations for them each year with Photoshop. Before I show you, I will show you what I used. I took this photo (which you saw in my previous post)

...edited it to give it a vintage feel and then built the invitation around it.

(back:)