I've posted most of the family pictures on Facebook and wanted to post the "behind the scenes" and "craft" photos here on my blog, so lets begin!
First, lets start with decorating. I made all these signs and chandeliers with my trusty best friend...the CRICUT! I had planned on hanging 3D chandeliers under each doorway, but time was just going by to quickly, so we used each half as it's own decoration. To be honest, I enjoyed having all the chandeliers around the room, so it worked out perfect.
This chandelier I had bought for Ciara's room some time ago on clearance and had stashed it away for her birthday. At the time, it wasn't meant to be used for the party, but we hooked it up to the basketball hoop and it added some great elegance to the dance floor.
The gift table was decorated with some black and white wrapped boxes. They just brought attention to the table and added some more pizazz to that side of the room. If you are a fan of black and white paper, be on the look out at Hobby Lobby after Christmas. They always have a great selection. Most people don't buy B & W paper for Christmas, but I always buy some and use it during the year for birthdays. Love it! The rose petals all around the room, came from one bag at the dollar store.
The memory table in the foyer, turned out beautiful. The ceramic box, is a memory box from Creative Memories. The memory cards themselves were cut out from the Cricut using the kitchen cartridge and one of the recipe card options. After she was done, I added the black rhinestone hearts. The C I found at Michael's in the $2.00 section. The material was left over from a pillow project Ciara sewed a couple weeks ago.
Each table was decorated with a black picture frame, containing one of the B&W photos we shot last week and a white bow added. We also made our own little bags to use as balloon weights. I bought a package of these party favor bags from the dollar store, added a few rocks in the bottom, topped with some tissue paper, added a black bow and they were perfect to tie the balloons to that I also bought from the dollar store. Those we're probably my biggest expense for the party, but I didn't want to get tank and do it myself. 30 Mylar balloons for $30.00 is well worth not doing it yourself!
Next are the cakes. Probably, the biggest hit of the evening. We knew cupcakes were a necessity, considering the "Cupcake Gang" would be present. At first I was going to make cupcakes, then Aunt Tammy offered to purchase the cupcakes. When we found these Giant Cupcakes at The Bagel Bakery in Thornton, Ciara immediately knew what she wanted. She tossed in a couple ideas on what she wanted them to look like and a few flavors, then I surprised her with the rest. Michelle, the owner of the Bagel Bakery is a fellow Tiara Club member, so I was happy to give her the business. The kids loved the fact that they could pick out what flavor they wanted.
The center piece cake, I kept as simple as possible because I was adding the topper pieces myself. I cut out the girl and the sweet 16 from my Cricut and added them to a piece of florist wire. The feather and bead picks, I bought at Hobby Lobby. Once it was time to cut the cake, we just removed them and added the candles. This cake was Chocolate with Marshmallow filling.
This cake was Snickerdoodle with Nutter Butter Filling.
This cake was Cookies and Cream from top to bottom. Always a kids favorite.
The we had Vanilla cake with Blueberry filling.
Good old fashion German Chocolate cake and Pecan filling.
Last, but not least, this cake was Boston Cream Pie, so it was a yellow cake with a custard filling. This was Ciara's 1st choice. She LOVES Boston Cream Pie.
After we had all the decorations and cakes set up and ready to go, I headed home and Ciara went to the salon to get a little "Up Do" style going on. What we thought would take awhile, only took James 1 hour. He's done her hair for homecoming and this party now and has done a great job both times. He's a stylist at our local "FANTASTIC SAMS" around the corner...LOL
After Ciara's hair was done, we picked up Bruna and headed to the church. Ciara got ready in the "Mother's Room", which made her feel like a princess even more. Having your own little dressing room does that to a teenage girl! Bruna did an awesome job on her makeup. She's another friend of Ciara's, I'm very thankful for. She's a great girl!
While Ciara got ready, I added the final touches to the snack table. Black Licorice, Oreo Cookies and Marshmallows!
To give the cakes some variance of height, Tammy wrapped various boxes for me with black wrapping paper and we used those to prop the cakes on. My idea worked perfectly! I added the extra balloons and the table look fantastic.
Once she was ready, I gave her a special little gift. It was the first gift her father had given me. It just happened to be a black and white pearl necklace. Couldn't be more fitting for the occasion.
Although I'd given her the necklace, I knew that Uncle Byron had a great surprise up his sleeve. He had spent the last several weeks designing some jewelry for her birthday and I have to say, they are absolutely the best pieces he's ever done. Don't get me wrong, he's made a lot of beautiful stuff, but these were perfect for the occasion! Betsy Johnson is Ciara's favorite designer and they are absolute knock offs to those pieces.
The nacho bar was set up and ready to go....
Colin Lough was set up to DJ....
