My youngest daughter, Piper, turned THREE last weekend and to celebrate we decided to have a party at our house. Since visiting Hilton Head last fall and getting to ride on a pony named Cookie Piper has pretty much been obsessed with ponies. When it came time to plan her birthday party I knew just what to do – hire a pony to come to the house! My husband and I aren’t really “vintage” or “shabby chic” type people, we prefer “southern” and “preppy” so I turned to my good friend at Marie Thomas Designs to help me bring my Southern Preppy Pony party to life!
The invitation:
It all started with this amazing invitation!
We also have a deep love for the Kentucky Derby so for April 27th our house became Piper Downs! Unfortunately the rain heard about how awesome our party was going to be and decided that it wanted to be invited, too, so at the LAST moment we had to move everything inside. Everything except the pony of course. The girls (and parents) were real troopers and rode Blue in the drizzling rain before coming inside for snacks, crafts, games, and sweet treats.
The entrance:
Every equestrian loves to show off her prize ribbons and trophies so I turned to a bunch of my crafty friends to help in making Piper a bunch of unique prize ribbons for her display. Details on all these lovely ribbons and the amazing women who sent them to me will be in a follow up post! And, of course, we had to have a ribbon wreath for the occasion but this time I wanted something new and fun so I made a horseshoe shaped wreath in the party colors!
The sweet treats table:
Once again my local Publix was able to help me out by creating a gorgeous, delicious cake that I topped off with a hand made ribbon. The chocolate horse lollipops and cupcakes were both made my me and are flanked by the prettiest preppiest cookies from Goosie Girl. The banner and win, place, show ribbons were all handmade by the extremely talented Dina of Deliciously Darling.
The food table:
The backdrop for the food table was the large menu board that I created (tutorial coming soon) that looked like a chalkboard but most definitely was not. Every single adult at the party asked me how long it took me to hand letter my chalkboard so I think I did a great job at fooling everyone!
The crafts and activities:
The pony rides station was all set up with a lawn sign and hay bales to wait on while everyone took their turn (or 3) riding the pony, Blue. Once we got inside and ate each girl got to make her own Derby Hat from a selection of supplies I had picked out. The craft was simple and only took about 10 minutes, which is the perfect length of time for a 3-5 year old’s attention span. I also pre-made “pony tails” for each girl to wear while they raced around on the hobby horses. We also played “Pin the Bow on the Pony” which was tons of fun for the girls.
The favors:
I hand made a satin bow for each guest and attached them to a canvas board that I made. Each girl got a trophy, meticulously designed by Piggy Bank Parties, that she could fill up with sixlets, gumballs, kisses, and pony stickers, too.
All in all it was a great day for the birthday girl and all her guests, even with the rain and the last minute scramble to pull everything inside. I think this photo sums up just what a success the party was –
Of course none of this would be possible with out some amazing vendors:
