Saturday, October 15, 2011

Do It Yourself Paris Party!


Viva La France!


A few months ago at Bath & Body Works
we launched a brand new Fragrance
called Paris Amour! It's Lovely, and is made of Tulips & Pink Champagne.
And I got a Brilliant (If I do say so myself!) Idea.
A Paris Themed Birthday Party for my Daughters
who were about to turn 14!


My Manager allowed me to borrow some Eiffel Towers from the store
(once they were no longer required in the Windows!) So Cute!
We used the big one to put gifts, on & around.


But, we ran into a major problem!
There is NO Paris Themed Birthday Party favors/decorations out there!
Any where.
So we improvised!
And being the Party Planning Extraordinaire that I am, :)
I had a lot of fun putting it together!


I started with my right hand man (literally,
my Graphic design loving Husband) :)
I wanted a "Postcard from Paris" for our Invitation.
And he created one!


I found the girls shirts at Target!
Lexi's has The Eiffel Tower on hers,
and Erica's says "Cest La Vie" (say la vee) which means "That's Life!"
And I had a top with Paris on it!


I Found this cute Jewelry Box at Marshalls! Cheep.
And the coffee mug I actually bought in Paris for my Dad
who collected them!
(After he passed away my Mom made sure I got it!)


The Party Favors for each guest consisted of
a purse size Paris Amour lotion,
3 Nail Files & Paris Lip Gloss!


The Treat Bags with the Eiffel Tower on them came from B&BW as well.
The adorable Hat Box I found at Ross! Score!


We made a play list of songs with or about Paris in them:

Like Yesterday: Colbie Caillat
Paris Nights/New York Mornings: Corinne Bailey Rae
Good Life: One Republic
Postcard From Paris: The Band Perry
Paris: Faith Hill
Our Last Summer: Mama Mia (or Abba) :)
Cest La Vie: Shania Twain
Pink Roses: Olivia Zelechowski :)


We also found a Tin Plate at Hobby Lobby.
Perfect.


This Eiffel Tower poster the girls found at a Boarders Closing
a few months ago! Love Great deals!
It went perfectly on the front door to welcome our Party goers!
They knew they were in Paris now!


Since there were No Paris themed table ware,
we used both Girls favorite colors;
Erica = Pink
Lexi = Green


I ordered this adorable cake from Sams Cub!
It's called Bows & Dots,
and they let us choose the colors!
How cute is that?!


The ONLY thing we did find at a Party store was these cut outs!


I placed The Arc De Triumph & Notre Dame on end tables,
& The Eiffel Tower cut out on the restroom door.


For a game I used an old French Dictionary I got in 1985
to take on my trip to France with me,
and came up with words & phrases. Then John made up these cards,
The Eiffel Tower on the French cards
& The Statue of Liberty on the English version.
And the girls had to match them up.


We had two teams & the race was on!


Some words were obvious, and others weren't.
But a lot of Laughter was going on trying to decide what meant what!


Then later we used the back of the cards to play Charades!
And a lot more Laughing ensued!


Our next game was called Mail Call,
going along with the Post Card from Paris idea.
But before we started the girls had to get ready . . .


A girl I work with gave me these Mustaches,
because all French men have them right?! :)
Left to right top row: Samantha, Mykenna, Michelle, Cailin & Lexi
bottom: Erica, Shannon, Briana & Isabeau


One person is in the middle & says "Mail Call for everyone ______"
(fill in the blank)
For example: everyone wearing make-up, or in 8th Grade, etc.
Then everyone who fits that description has to change seats,
the person in the middle takes one of the seats in the shuffle
& whoever is left without a seat is now in the middle!


Warning: It can get a little crazy! :)


Then we went back inside for some Cake
& of course French Vanilla Ice Cream!
Joyeux Anniversaire! (jwah-yurz ahnee-vair-sair)
Happy Birthday!


We gave the girls Paris Journals!
You know I LOVE Journaling!
Hoping they become Bloggers some day too! :)
And wait. What's that inside the Journals?
It must be tickets to the Breaking Dawn Midnight Movie Premier!
(Yeah, that's right! I'm a cool Mom like that!) :)


Magnifique (mahnee-feek)
"Wonderful" Erica!


Tres Joli (tray joh-lee)
"Lovely" Lexi!


"Merci!" (mar-see)
Our "Thank You" cards.
I LOVE Parties with a Theme!
And this one was one of my favorites!

9 comments:

Judy Rogers-Camel said...

Great Job!! Crafty, crafty, crafty! I LOVE IT...I think the personal touch is the best way to show your girls how much you love them..they are so lucky :)

lana_mama said...

Nice!

Khalila Adams said...

Hi there! I am throwing my daughter a Parisian Birthday Party as well and I've been desperately looking for Hot Pink Eiffel Towers. When I saw your blog I got so excited! Can you please tell me where I can find them, or even if your store manager is willing to sell them, I'm willing purchase them. I know you said you borrowed them, but I wasn't sure if you still had access to them or not.

Anonymous said...

hey !
I have the same question as Lila- I've been looking for an Eiffel tower for a very long time- where did you get yours from ? Or did you have someone make it ?

Star Forbis said...

I got the Eiffel Towers from Bath & Body Works, they were from when the fragrance Paris Amore came out. They may still have some, you can call them and ask.

Unknown said...

Enjoyed reading your blogging. Thanks for sharing.


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Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for the ideas. I'm having a Paris themed party in a few weeks aND needed some ideas.Great job!

Holly said...

Hey there! Any chance you have the cards in PDF or other format I could print? We are having a Paris themed Girl Scout event and this would be very educational! Thanks in advance!

Unknown said...

This is pretty! I liked the card that you made. I love this kind of DIY stuff. We have booked one of best Chicago venues for my daughters’ birthday and would like to decorate the venue using DIY décor. Hopefully, will be able to do it perfectly.