Sewing Themed Birthday Party Tour

We recently celebrated our daughter's 9th birthday and it was an extra special one since she asked for her party to be sewing themed.  That was totally in my wheelhouse and my birthday budget.  I'm thrilled to be able to share how I put it together and the final results, which were a big hit with the birthday girl - and didn't result in utter exhaustion for me.  So, c'mon and join the party!

I didn't want to stress out trying to DIY an elaborate party (which I have done many times before as seen here), so most of what I used was stuff I found around our house.  When I was looking for party ideas I actually saw a party-planner styled sewing party where each child guest was gifted a $30 kiddie Singer machine as a "favor".  Um, what???  $300+ just on favors?  Get outta here.  Ours was an extended family party, so I kept it pretty, but more realistic.    Most of us aren't looking to spend a wedding level budget on a kid's party.  

For the invitation I used some free clip art I found online here (obviously free for personal use only) and made this digital email invite using iPiccy (also free):

For the party items I utilized a lot items I already had like my great-grandmother's sewing basket and a sewing machine pincushion from my craft room.  A quick trip to Hobby Lobby got my paper products, foam flowers and felt table runner (which I scored on clearance for just $1.49!).

I found some colorful plastic button assortments that were perfect table decoration and useful since they became part of her gift of sewing notions.  One of my biggest party peeves is spending a bunch of money on themed decorations that are literally useless after the party is done.  Not this time!

Extra buttons went into this DIY'd mason jar pincushion, with a set of matching thread spool pins:

I used other glass jars I had around the house to hold some color coordinated candies:

I tweaked my Sculptable Frosting recipe to make some sweet edible button candies:

A mini dress form my daughter plays fashion design with (a gift from a few Christmases ago) plus a paper covered wood button shaped wall decoration that I'd bought years ago and never used served as other decorations, as well as a giant thread spool I crafted up for the occasion:

In keeping with my goal of saying no to useless post-party items, I made the big thread spool actually open to be a handy lidded storage container (find the tutorial for making it here):

I ordered a sewing themed cake with her party colors and a white background from our favorite local bakery and asked for it to just be frosted - no fondant.  They've always done an amazing job on previous cakes so I didn't feel like I needed to get picky with copying a cake from a photo.  That was a mistake.  They made it cream colored with brown icing and, weirdly, put black ribbon all over it. It looked a bit odd with the fondant pink and mint buttons they stuck on it. 

So at the 11th hour I peeled off the ribbon, replaced it with pink one that did match and put my silicone sewing machine usb drive on top as a decoration to help tie it all together.  Much better!

Her extra special gift from us was her own sewing machine.  She'd been wanting one for a long time and I wanted her to have a machine that will last her through adulthood.  I decided to purchase this New Home Janome model because it was all metal parts inside (= solidly built), like my Janome HD1000, and the set up and features are nearly identical.  Added bonus was that it came in her party color, Arctic Crystal! 

I also crafted up this quick heat transfer shirt present with a blank tee I had:

And since she's all about jewelry these days, I made an easy necklace with this sewing-themed silicone bead set from my shop:

Our lucky girl was also gifted this amazing sewing chest that my sister and brother-in-law put together.  He took an unfinished chest and created a custom pull out tray for it and stained it inside and out.  Since my daughter loves Legend of Zelda, they created a vinyl Zelda emblem for the outside and gifted her some Zelda-themed fabric too:

I kept waffling on making a piñata or not, because I know the kids love them, but I didn't want the hassle of an elaborate crafting project.  Literally the day before the party I caved and made one from stuff we had in the house.  On principal I can't see paying $20+ for something we're planning to destroy.  That & there are no ready-made perfectly themed versions knocking about.  It was basic, but fit with the theme, came together in 15 minutes and was sturdy enough that even a couple of teenagers gave it some serious whacks before it spilled the treats.  Win!

Each year we either get weather in the 90s and/or full on rainstorms on her party day, which isn't ideal.  I got smart this year and set up the majority of things inside.  SO much better having a pretty set-up indoors and a lot easier than hauling everything outside and then drag it all back in later.  This may be my favorite party to date!