Reach 4 the Sky…it’s Miles’ 4th Story! I cannot believe I have a four year old you guys. It is crazy how fast the time has gone and crazy to see how grown up he is these days. He definitely has a mind and personality of his own and that showed when it came to planning his birthday party.
A couple months back, I started to ask Miles what kind of party he wanted for his 4th birthday. Transparently, I had already planned a really cute LEGO themed party in my head and was really excited about it but my guy was NOT feeling that idea. All he wanted was a Toy Story birthday. I waited a few weeks to see if he would change his mind then tried again…same thing: Toy Story. This time I gave it a few more days but yet again, he had his mind made up. He wanted to celebrate with Buzz and Woody. So that was the plan.
Now, if you know me, you know this was hard because I do not enjoy primary colors haha I love an aesthetically pleasing party and this one was going to be tough for sure. To get things started, I reached out to The Keeping Room to help me bring my invitation vision to life. I loved the idea of sketched (almost watercolor) characters to bring a unique touch. With that also meant lighter tones/colors so that things were not so bold. After several discussions and a lot of my crazy requests, they created the perfect save-the-date and invite for our theme!
Once the invite was finalized, we created all of the supporting designs as well – menus, thank you tags, etc. I also loved the characters they drew so much that I wanted to use them as decoration at the party as well. We printed large foam cutouts of each character and they were the perfect additions to the balloons and photo backdrops!
While the invitation design was happening, I decided not to host this shindig at our house this year. As Miles and his friends are getting older, I am running out of space, to I reached out to The Gilmour as a spot to host the party. I am IN LOVE with this venue and have used them before for gender reveals/baby showers and thought it would be great space wise for the party. The large green space gave the kids a great area to run around and they are the best to work with.
Now, on to design for the party! So by now, we all know I love to throw a bash haha Thankfully, I connected with Jeaux Jumps here in Baton Rouge a few years ago and have fallen in love with them. Sunny and Tre always go above and beyond to help people accomplish their vision and I appreciate that so much. When I am in party planning mode and my themed is locked in, I begin to sketch out visions. Every single time, Jeaux Jumps has what I need or even creates it for me! The kids tables for Miles’ party were a new concept and they built them to add to their inventory! Again, above and beyond.
We secured the bounce house, photo back drop, party favor walls, kids table and chairs and letters from Jeaux Jumps and that point it became time to decorate/fill in the space. I admittedly always have a big vision for balloons and this was no different. Again, with being SO specific with the colors, Lagniappe Balloon Designs were so great to work with and made sure I had the PERFECT colors for the party. Another vendor who appreciated the vision and did everything they could to help me bring it to life!
For other décor, I leaned heavily on Etsy for this event and surprisingly, there was a ton of cute Toy Story ideas out there. The thank you boxes, coloring pages and Build Your Own Forky were solid Etsy finds and as I mentioned earlier, character cut outs were designed by The Keeping Room and printed here in Baton Rouge. For the centerpieces, I wanted something simple and unique so I went with the boxes of toys similar to the movie. They were easy to make as I just used the toys we had!
Next, let’s talk about food. First, my go-to for every party is cookies from Rem and Bee Bakery. I have been working with them for years and can always count on beautiful designs AND tasty cookies! Most of the time, I order enough cookies to serve as the main sweet for the party, but for the birthday/making a wish component, I added a cake from Gourmet Girls. I am a believer of wanting beautiful food but also good food and Gourmet Girls definitely delivered with the cake! And because it was so hot outside, I thought a little ice cream would be a fun treat for the kids. Scooped Up joined us for the party and served ice cream to help keep everyone cool and let me say, they were a hit. For the rest of the food, I worked with Bacon & Fig here in Baton Rouge and they were great. The food was so tasty and they were nice enough to put all of the pizzas into the pizza planet boxes I found on Etsy…it was perfect!
I joked with my friends leading up to this party that I was planning a small wedding and it really was kind of true haha BUT, planning a party is my love language and I LOVED seeing how much fun Miles had! He has not stopped talking about it and that alone is worth every minute (and penny) it took to make it happen. Hope this is helpful for those of you who are planning events in the Baton Rouge area…and if you ever need help, let me know! Like I said, I love to plan a party!
Happy planning!
