pink lemonade party

Well, I've been having fun not sewing lately, but planning a little party for a certain soon-to-be 5 year old. 

We used to throw a big party each year for Natalie's birthday, but as things have gotten busier we haven't had a big party for her the past couple years.  A few things I've tried to keep in mind while I've been dreaming up ideas for Natalie's party was to:
a. keep it simple, it's so easy to go overboard
b. make sure to include things that she really likes with things I think are reasonable
c. invite just a few friends

Natalie's into anything pink and can often be found in a totally pink outfit from head to toe. So to make the party less sugary sweet (and NOT completely pink) I chose yellow and pink as the colors - a pink lemonade party!

I put together this simple party invite just for fun.  We'll hopefully be partying at a local park if the weather cooperates, which should be really fun for everyone to run around and be entertained. 

I was inspired to add butterflies to the invite after purchasing this sweet little pack of butterflies from The Gilded Bee (I'm planning to use them to decorate the cake).  She runs a super cute etsy shop based in Iowa.  I love finding great shops like The Gilded Bee and when they're relatively local, it makes it even better!

I also made these ultra cute bubble gum necklaces for party favors.

I'm definitely not skilled at making jewelry, but these were just so fun and Natalie loves chewing gum.  You can follow the Valentine Gumball Necklace tutorial over at One Charming Party. 

Not sure if it's just me, but I didn't think these were the easiest things to make.  I ended up reading through the comments and a lot of people were having luck drilling holes in the gumballs with a drill, and it worked for me.  I was kind of obsessive about trying not to touch the gumballs too much, they seemed to really melt in my fingers when I first gave it a try.  I held them in a paper towel when drilling them and that seemed to help.

I've got a few more things to show you, but that'll wait for another post.