I don’t know how or why, but Isabel fell in love with Paris a long time ago. To be more specific, she fell in love with the idea of Paris. After all, she’s never actually been! We hope to rectify this one day and I cannot wait to see her face when she finally visits the locations and landmarks that have captured her imagination so completely.
Her request for a Paris themed party to celebrate her 10th birthday came as no surprise. Resolute in her aversion to the colour pink, we found little inspiration online, but quickly settled on an opulent gold colour scheme after bagging a bevy of bargainous party supplies in the Paperchase sale! A flash of red, white and blue completed the look.
Aside from the birthday girl herself, the star of the party was definitely the incredible sequin tablecloth we hired from Pudding Bridge. It sparkled brilliantly, dazzling our young guests and creating an air of effortless glamour as they all settled down for their party tea. Izzy was thrilled!
Confetti balloons from Bubblegum Balloons, streamers from Pearl & Earl and pinwheels from Party Pieces provided additional decoration, along with a few of those giant helium balloons I can never seem to resist.
Izzy chose a few games for her friends to play. Pin the French flag on the Eiffel Tower {skilfully drawn by my sister’s boyfriend, Andrew} was particularly popular. We laid out some colouring sheets for the girls as they arrived, half expecting them to deem the task too childish, but they all sat around drawing quite happily.
I kept the food fairly simple, using mini croissants to make sandwiches while also providing the usual party fare like crisps and cocktail sausages. For added decadence, we popped the cork on a bottle of nonalcoholic sparkling wine. Convinced I was serving Champagne, the children thought this was a fabulous touch. I promised them the real deal in 8 years time. Now there’s a scary thought!
I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes that I was able to decorate using an amazing kit sourced from The Rustic Rabbit. The mini Moulin Rouge might just be the cutest cupcake topper I’ve ever seen! 
Izzy’s birthday cake took the form of a caramel layer cake topped with crushed Daim bars. It was heavenly {even if I do say so myself}!
The gold glitter Eiffel Tower cake topper was from Miss Sarah Cake on Etsy. 
Opting for favours over traditional party bags, I enlisted the help of another colleague from the wedding industry, Anna Tyler Cakes. The stunning iced biscuits she created exceeded my expectations and I was delighted to discover they tasted as good as they looked!
Considering I was emerging from a stressful few days and running on very little sleep, I think everything came together brilliantly. I did have a lot of help from my family though, I’m not sure I could have done it without them!
Most importantly, Izzy was over the moon. Her friends certainly seemed to enjoy themselves too. As my little girl careers towards her teen years at alarming speed, I’m not sure how many times I’ll get to throw her a party like this again. Having said that, she’s already asking for a Japanese theme next year…
Love Audrey xxx
Oh Franky that looks terrific, what a brilliant party! I love that Izzy is obsessed with Paris despite never having been, I kind of feel that way about Vienna haha! Also many many thanks for linking to a sequin tablecloth – I really want one for our top table and have been struggling to track any nice ones down! xx
Honestly, she’s already dreamt up a whole life for herself living in the city as an adult! It’s wonderful.
I’ve worked with Helen at Pudding Bridge {it’s my copy you’ll see on the website}, and she is SO lovely. The sequins are truly stunning too, I highly recommend!
xxx
Oh my wow… THAT sequin table cloth! The link has been saved in my wedding folder!
What a cutie for being in love with Paris! Has she read the Madeline books / watched the cartoon? She’s probably a little old for them but they were my absolute favourite when I was young!
I knew the sequins would be popular. They’re even more sparkly in real life!
Izzy’s read one of the Madeline books {I think it must be the first one}. She loved it, I really must find the others. I think she’s seen the cartoon too, I’ll have to check. She keeps asking to watch Amelie because she knows it’s set in Paris! I might have to give in, but skip the rude bits!
xxx
What a beautiful party, you thought of everything, Franky! It makes me want to go back to my birthday parties as a kid and redo them in a Parisian theme 🙂 We had a Moulin Rouge sort of theme at my highschool graduation party but it was put together very poorly, completely unlike your party. And Izzy looks gorgeous in her dress!
Thank you Monika! I wish I’d thought of it for myself too. Izzy’s full of good ideas! 😀
xxx
I have been waiting for this post! It looks like such a wonderful party. My daughter, Winnie, is 6 on the 21st and she’s having a tea party at home. This too is influenced by the paperchase sale…she’s having a mermaid theme after grabbing all the goods half price. She having croissant sandwiches, but made to look like crabs
Thank you Leeanne! I spotted the mermaid stuff in Paperchase, it’s SO cute. I’d have definitely gone for that a few years ago! I also saw the croissant crabs on Pinterest, such a good idea. I hope Winnie has a fabulous day!
xxx
P.S the Madeline film is on Netflix…Winnie loved it.
I really must try that cake, it looks amazing.
The cake recipe is great. This was the second time I’ve baked it and it’s a real showstopper. I just need to learn to trust that the icing for the top is runny enough. Both times I’ve made it I’ve added extra water at the last minute and then it’s dribbled a little too much! Still tasted amazing though 🙂
It looks like a truly wonderful party – Izzy is very lucky!
This all looks so perfectly elegant, no wonder the children were delighted. I love that Izzy hates pink and loves Paris.