Mackenzie’s Unicorn Party

Unicorns, rainbows and glitter, oh my!!

There was no hesitation when I asked Mackenzie what theme she wanted for her fifth birthday – “UNICORNS!!!!”, she said and I said, “ABSOLUTELY!!”.

Now I must say I was not disappointed with her choice, and I immediately had a ton of ideas flood my brain. Then starts the process. Usually I begin with some inspiration from Pinterest and I keep an eye out while I’m shopping for things that match my colour choice and theme.

The colours I chose were pastel pink, teal, purple, yellow, and of course, gold glitter. In order to save some cash, I usually make my own decorations using my Cricut Explore Air 2.  After I design a few things, I’m off to get some materials to decide how this is all going come together.  This means a trip (or two, or three….or four) to Michael’s. The paper aisle and I are very well acquainted at this point.

For this party I hit the jackpot. I found the cutest unicorns and mermaids themed paper pad which I knew I would make great use out of. It also happened to be 50% off. (Side note: I have to say, Michael’s has THE best sales… and if the item you find isn’t on sale, there is always a coupon for at least 45% – 50% off a regular priced item.)

One of my favourite backdrop pieces is bunting. I LOVE bunting. There was a day where I had to measure and cut every piece out by hand, but now… oh my gosh, my Cricut has saved me soooo much time. Not only does it cut everything out perfectly, it sorts by colour so I also save a lot of paper. The circle bunting is especially difficult to do by hand so I was thankful to have it. The unicorn face was my focal point of the whole thing. I found the image through a google search and uploaded the file to my Circut software. My dilemma was how to get it to hang with so many detached pieces. Well, the dollar store saved me this time. I bought some sort of swirly wall décor piece and put all my unicorn parts on it. Unfortunately the texture was way too bold for what I wanted, but the box…. the box that it came in would be a perfect shape and size. I racked my brain to think of something subtle I could cover it with and finally remembered I had some paper doilies in my craft cupboard. After some glue tape wielding I had a perfect background to attached the pieces to.

All in all I was super happy with the backdrop….

This brings us to the food!! I found the cutest idea on Pinterest  – a waffle bar! I was sold. A brunch party it would be…

As for the cake, well, it helps when your husband’s sister is a professional cake decorator. All I have to do is tell her the theme and the colors and voila! I am NEVER disappointed. I couldn’t have been happier with this cake. To top it all off, the inside was rainbow layers in bright vibrant colours. In the words of Mackenzie when I asked what some of her favourite parts of the day were – “Mom! I almost couldn’t eat the cake, it was just so “be-you-tee-ful”!

Finishing touches were some props for the table. Again, the dollar store is so great for this. I found the pink light up unicorn, the waffle bar light up letter sign, and even the buckets for the utensils from there. Another must go location for party décor for me is Party Packagers. It is great if you need a great variety of plain colours for plates, cups, straws, etc. Sometimes if you’re lucky you’ll find a section of things from your theme. I found super cute unicorn napkins there, which were a really nice touch.

Mackenzie asked me what my favourite part of the day was. Before I could answer she said, “The coffee mom? ‘cuz I know coffee is your favourite..” And while I do love coffee, nothing makes the work more worthwhile than seeing the joy on your child’s face when they see it all come together. So Mackenzie, my favourite part of the day was… YOU!