You only get ONE golden birthday so I had to throw a golden birthday party for my daughter and she absolutely LOVED it! Here’s how I pulled it off, step by step.
Location
First, if you’re not having the party at home, reserve the venue! Due to the small size of my house and my overly territorial dog, it was best to not have the party at home, so my wonderful church was kind enough to let me use the facility! Because I am a member there was no charge, but if you’re not a member, most churches only have a small fee. It was perfect because there was plenty of space, a kitchen and a playground, plus if you’re inviting people you don’t know yet, it can be a bit more comfortable for them to come to a more neutral ground (and not get harassed by your adorable yet messed-up rescue dog). Just get the request in early so you can reserve the day you want!
The Birthday Girl Outfit
I let Lily choose her party dress. I simply went on Poshmark, saved a bunch of gold dresses that were good prices, and let her pick her favorite. She chose a lovely pink dress from H&M with gold sequins. Then I found her a gold tiara at Claire’s.
Invitations
Most people don’t print physical invitations anymore, but I personally love them. And I figured it would probably be the last time I would ever print invitations again. It ended up being around $40 on Shutterfly (even with a sale) which is more than I would have liked but I really wanted the gold foil print and gold-lined envelopes. It required a bit of a hack because only a birth announcement card had everything I wanted, and I used this one. It took a while to find because most have text you can’t modify, but this template was perfect, already with the pink color I wanted, and 2 lines of changeable text in a foil print. So instead of the baby’s first and middle name, I put “Lily’s Golden” on one line and “Birthday” on the other. I went with the ‘Beloved Script’ font for more elegance. You can even choose from gold or rose gold foil print! I snapped a quick pic of her with my phone, uploaded it, and adjusted the Color Tone to look more sepia tone (golden). I also bought metallic gold butterfly stickers at Dollar Tree to give them an extra special touch (I also put some in the party favor bags). But the post office didn’t like that they were 3D stickers, so I should have removed the top layer. And as I mentioned on her last birthday party post, no matter what kind of invites you do, get them out early!
Cake & Food
For the birthday cake I made vanilla cupcakes with pink frosting (strawberry cream cheese), gold sprinkles, and metallic gold liners. I do not recommend the gold food spray because it contains mica, and I don’t know how that can be safe for consumption. Don’t forget the candles, and a lighter!
I also served lunch which was all gold-colored: apple juice (in clear cups so you can see it), chicken nuggets, and fries. If I had done honey mustard or honey for the dipping sauce instead of ketchup, it would have been entirely golden!
I bought pink & gold cups, at Hobby Lobby for the nuggets and plates for the fries. I also bought matching napkins but one thing I didn’t have to worry about was silverware!
Do not buy gold table cloths at Dollar Tree…they rip when you try to unfold them and smell fishy. I returned them and bought 3 gold table cloths at Walmart instead (from the party section).
Decorations
I went with gold, pink, and rose gold for the color theme. I found this great set of confetti balloons on Amazon and used them all except for the white, and I got gold number balloons from Dollar Tree. If you want to use helium, make sure ahead of time that you can get a tank or have a place that will do it for you because I wasn’t aware of the helium shortage. I blew them all up myself and taped them onto wooden dowels that I bought at Hobby Lobby. I painted the dowels gold and had long, curled ribbon hanging down so it looked wonderful, but the dowels were too thin to be sturdy, so I recommend at least 1/4″ wide. For big, loose ribbon curls, only apply light pressure with the scissors. The more pressure, the tighter the curl!
We also blew up balloons to leave loose on the floor for the kids to play with. But beware, if the confetti balloons get popped, you will need a vacuum!
I bought a bunch of pink vases at a consignment store, put gold wrapping paper inside, then filled them with feed corn to stick the balloon dowels into. It took a fair bit of time to complete so I am quite glad I did it the day before. I recommend getting as much completed as possible before showtime!
Party Favors
I filled small gold gift bags (from Dollar Tree) with:
– Gold butterfly stickers (from Dollar Tree)
– Gold-wrapped candy (Twix, Werther’s, chocolate coins, Hershey golden nuggets)
– Goldfish crackers snack pack
– Gold butterfly hair clips (from Amazon)… I love how the wings flutter!
Games / Activities
I played some party music (my go-to is the Curious George soundtrack by Jack Johnson) and had only a few games, as food, gifts, and playing outside were already 3 big activities.
We played pin the horn on the unicorn, which I made myself with white poster board and gold wrapping paper from Dollar Tree. I drew out the design, painted it, cut it out, and made a bunch of gold horns with double-stick tape on them. I also added gold for the hooves and the “cutie mark” (as it’s called in My Little Pony) with her number 5. Then all you need is a bandanna to tie over their eyes!
I made a simple dress-up photo booth and it was a hit! I bought a gold backdrop from Walmart and made my own props (I think gold streamers would have made a better backdrop because this one stayed creased and just looked kind of cheapy). A gold Christmas tree garland cut in half made 2 fun boas, and I made lips and sunglasses props out of gold wrapping paper (and clear straws for the handles). We took lots and lots of pictures since everyone wanted to try each prop!
Bracelet-making was the final activity, and I think the kids would have loved it if only the beads would have been large enough. It was too hard for their little fingers to string tiny beads. I was so excited too because I ordered gold and rose gold-colored beads and letter beads so they could do their own names. So just check that they are pony-bead size if you want to do that with a younger group! To keep the beads from rolling around, I put out pieces of felt (or you can just use placemats).
Shopping List/Check List
Many of these items are available at Dollar Tree!
Invitations, Thank you notes
Party Favors: bags, candy, stickers, hair clips
Balloons, ribbon, weights or vases
Food: cupcakes/liners, candles, lighter, lunch foods
Cake plates (optional), doilies, table cloths
Paper cups, paper plates, paper napkins, clear plastic cups
Activity supplies: Beads/string/scissors, pin the tail w/ bandanna, photo booth backdrop & props
Follow-Up
Finally, don’t forget the thank you cards…I found a nice set of gold thank you notes from Dollar Tree.
I can see why party-planning is a full-time job, but hopefully I could save you a little time or headache with these tips and tricks! What about your party? Tell me about it with a comment!
