Our Little Lisette [My Little Pony Themed Party]

On By ganeeban
Full of color and a little magic…

Photo by UVVisions Photography (Cropped)

…”Our Little Lisette’s” 8th birthday needed to be as Ponyriffic as she is…AND it was!

Like my post last week said, I’m all about being the faux Hostess with the Hostess. Thanks to Pinterest and the Dollar Tree, anyone can pretty much be now.

That being said, we let L pick out the theme of her party. She knew right away, My Little Pony was exactly what she wanted. I, for sure, thought she’d change her mind by the time the party came around, but she didn’t. She was excited and happy about the theme.

Of course, once I knew the theme, I immediately ran to Pinterest to see what the world of craftier people than I had up their sleeves. Thus the creation of the My Little Pony Party board was created. Thank goodness people capture their genius crafting and party planning moments and share them with people like ME, who completely copy them.

Also, I immediately sent my friend Liz Bassey, whom I’ve come to consider my personal graphic designer, an email request for invites and party essentials 😉 Not only is she a long time friend and fellow baller (which I’ve already said multiple times), but she does great work and has knack for killing kids theme parties. She also made some stuff for L’s 7th birthday watermelon party — One in a Melon! Her sons can’t appreciate her artistry yet, but they will when they are older — their parties are so cool! Also, I pay for all (well most) of the work she does for me. So, there is no touting her because she does things for free for me, she is good at what she does and I love to share good and local vendors if I can!

Liz Bassey Studios – Photography
All that being said, we didn’t really start planning until really close to the party. What else is new, though? J thought it would be a smart move to call me ‘controlling,’ so I decided to let him plan the party. But then the ‘controlling’ party planner in me, had to help him out. He was struggling with all the details and I wanted this party to be a little extra special for L, so I kinda weaseled my way back into the planner, which he was totally fine with him by the way.
Originally we were going to just have pizza and cupcakes and keep it low key. J’s Mom wanted to contribute Mexican food — asada, chicken, beans, Spanish rice, and salsa — so we we changed up the menu. We did order two cheese and one pepperoni pizza, mostly for the kids coming. Also, Poppa Bear wanted to make something, so he made ribs and cut them smaller, so he could call them ‘appetizers!’ Also, we had nachos, the simple kind, for everybody as well. There was also fruit, various chips, and a bunch of drinks to wash it all down.
Asada con arroz
My pre-party planning stops had me at Costco (Silverware, drinks, chips, and nacho cheese), Hobby Lobby (decoration supplies), Michael’s (decoration supplies), Dollar Tree (decoration supplies), Target (decoration & goody bag supplies), and Party City (decoration supplies). Pretty basic spots when planning a party. J and I used Google Sheets to keep track of the guest list and RSVP’s, which was also helpful to bring up when we needed to see how many utensils, plates, and goody bags we’d need to make/have on hand. 
We rented space at the same local, private pool that we did last year. The space is perfect and the kids absolutely love the pool and play area, so it’s really a win-win for everyone. Not to mention they have an ice machine, huge outdoor BBQ’s, picnic tables, lounge chairs, life guards on duty, and tons of space to share with all the other members. I think we should have every party here, it’s way better than some indoor germ laden play place or at a restaurant!

I wasn’t going to do it and literally two days before the party, I decided I’d really theme it up and grab myself a T-shirt. I checked out the Girls section in Target and they had the largest size in a couple MLP tops. So I tried them on right there in the aisle and decided I’d be that cheesy girl and really support the theme. Who am I kidding, I love me a theme party and dressing up, partially! By dressing up, I just mean wearing a themed tee, not a whole costume!

 
It was really fun to be able to be creative and also not be limited to
any colors. My Little Pony lends itself to being very magical, colorful,
and fun. From Rainbow Dash’s array of the rainbow colors to Pinkie
Pie’s more girly colors, we could incorporate pretty much any color
scheme we wanted too. Purple, Pink, and Blue were the main colors and we
accented with a rainbow theme.

Liz did an amazing job bringing our idea to fruition with her invitation design. She went on very little and designed the perfect invite for L’s 8th birthday. Also, she is the one that coined the phrase “Our Little Lisette,” which is a play on “My Little Pony.” I thought it was genius…and still do!

 

Very close to the party, I decided to ask her to do a few more accents for the party. I literally asked her about 4 days before the party and she did them super fast and they were super cute. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate her help with all the small details. She helped me with tags for the goody bags, which we borrowed from a Pinterest idea — “Rainbow Seeds” consisted of Skittles and Sprees. PS – Does anyone eat Sprees anymore, I forgot how tasty they are, chewy and tart? Yum! She also made us a sign for our fruit platter and our Rainbow Pony Tail treats. 

I cut these out, hole punched them, and tied them around the good bags!
Put this in a frame next to the fruit platter laid out in rainbow color coordination.
Cut out and added to the jar of Twizzlers.

I thought I’d share what I/we made, but also show you the PINspiration where the idea started…because credit is given where credit is due! I also wanted to share some of the decorations we bought, cause making everything just isn’t our ideal situation. It turned out to be a good blend of Pinterest and purchased decorations.

PINspiration

PINspiration & PINspiration
PINspiration
PINspiration
PINspiration
Decoration from Target
8 Balloon from Party City (recycled from family photos) // Star Balloons from the Dollar Store

Funny thing about the deccos, was that I didn’t think anyone would actually eat the candy in the decorations. I took them as a (financial) loss. This was super dumb on my part, it was a kids party for goodness sakes! Kids and adults, all the the same, were ruining the decorations to get to the candy. I gave up after trying to stop a few of them and just let everyone enjoy the candy. By the end, every jar was cleared of its candy contents and in someones goody bag or belly. Sorry y’all, didn’t mean to sugar overload your kids!


I was bummed that the Guidette couldn’t make L’s cupcakes, because I know with this theme she would have made something amazing and colorful. She recommended Raley’s cupcakes, so I ordered them from there. It was really convenient and they aren’t too expensive. Cupcakes are really the way to go for larger parties, no messy cake cutting, just handing them out with minimal frosting all over your hands! I would have much rather had the Guidette’s one-of-a-kind creations, but Raley’s was a decent runner up! 

Cupcake Stand & Candle from Party City // Cupcakes from Raley’s 12 for $7.99

I can’t thank our family and friends enough for making L smile so big that day. She was so excited to share the theme with everyone, but even more excited when everyone was there enjoying the afternoon. For me, however, these moments show her how loved she is by J’s family, which she has always known,  BUT by my family, my entire family. They go above and beyond for her and treat her as if she was actually my daughter, which is more than I could have ever hoped for from them (and friends). In addition, my friends have also taken her in as if she were my own, just like my family! They love her so much and spoil her with their love and support, all of the time. I am so grateful to have such strong, smart, and beautiful women around her, whom she can look up to as role models. But also, I get to show her what healthy, strong female friendships look like. The support and love these gals (and a few guys) have show me, now extends to J and L…which makes my heart smile!

Summer Sister & I
Girls, pool side chillin’
Sissy’s
None of this would have come together without the help of our family and friends. Each one of them were super helpful, contributed food and time, and made our little girl smile so bright for her 8th birthday! I love being able to do these parties for her, but finding ways for them to fit in our budget and still be cute is always a fun task to take on. This year ran a little more smoothly than last year, but both years were still fun and memorable! I know sooner or later she won’t want themes like this, so kiddish if you will, so for now I’m going to go as all out as we can (afford), until she’s too ‘old’ for themes 😉 We couldn’t have been any happier, and tired, by the end of a lovely afternoon of “Our Little Lisette”!
Always hoping “Our Little Lisette” stays little…

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