One of our favourite party themes ever is a unicorn party theme.  We adore all the beautiful magical colours and how much fun you can have with this magical theme.

A mom booking a beading party was doing a unicorn theme and asked us if we could design a custom beading project for her party, of course we said yes, and we were thrilled with how it turned out and wanted to share this awesome party theme with you!

Party Invitations:
This is such an easy theme to choose invites for because there are so many beautiful unicorn invitations to choose from.  You can also download a printable invitation online such as this one.
 

Party Decor:
We adore the colour scheme that you would use for this party.  All pastel colours, such as pastel blue, pastel pink, pastel purple, pastel pink, pastel green and pastel yellow.  You would also use gold and gold glitter.

Blow up balloons in pastal colours and blow up clear balloons and fill them with glitter see here for instructions. 

Hang up dreamcatchers in pastel colours, you can make these yourself, like this beautiful one from Kara's party ideas. 

You can also make your own garland like this one in pastel colours to match your theme.

Party Food:
For a unicorn party you want the food to look as beautiful as possible and in pastel colours, such as marshmallows, chocolate covered pretzels, and unicorn bark (click here for recipe).  

When making your cake or cupcake, make the inside of the cake rainbow, this is such a fun surprise for the guests.  When making the cake or cupcakes, use pastel colours and lots of gold glitter.

Party Activities:
This party is all about magical fun.  Hand out unicorn horns to all of the guests to wear during the party.  Have them decorate ice cream cones with icing and sprinkles to make their own unicorn themed treat.  You can also play pin the horn on the unicorn and have a unicorn pinata.  Another fun idea is to have the girls make jewelry with a unicorn charm.  For more information about our fancy bracelet birthday party packages.

We hope that you have as much fun planning your unicorn themed birthday party as we had doing this post. 

Last spring, after receiving so many requests for sparkly beads, we decided to create our sparkliest package yet and we are so excited to announce that this package, our fancy bracelet package, is a huge hit!  We are very proud to say that our little beaders are loving it and it has become our most requested package.

One of our favourite parts of doing what we do is seeing the expressions of absolute delight when the guests at our parties see what they are making, and see all the beads and charms that they get to work with. 

Our little beaders (and their moms!) love the wide selection of charms, such as unicorn, fairy, ballet, hearts, snowflakes and even sport themed charms.  We made this package with a girl's hockey theme and they were so excited to have beautiful sparkly bracelet with a cool hockey charm.

Our biggest reward is seeing the joy that our service brings.  If you or your little crafter have a party theme in mind, let us know and we can order charms in to match your party theme.

Thank you to all of our wonderful customers for allowing us to keep doing what we do.

When we book our birthday parties, moms often ask us for tips for planning their jewelry making birthday party.  One of our favourite suggestions is for the mom to make a jewelry box birthday cake.  Here is the perfect jewelry box cake recipe.

Ingredients

Lid:

• 8 whole graham crackers (2 squares each)
• 10 oz. white baking chocolate

Jewelry Box Cake:

• 2 box poundcake mix (preferably Betty Crocker)
• 2 can strawberry frosting
• 1 can Vanilla Frosting

Compartments & Drawer:

• 4 whole graham crackers
• 9 creme-filled sugar wafer cookies
• 1 white gumball

Jewelry:

• Assorted edible jewelry such as rings, necklaces, bracelets, and gumballs
• You also need: 1 icing bag with a small star tip and a writing tip

1. Make Lid: On a large foil-lined baking sheet arrange 4 whole graham crackers, flat sides down and long sides touching. Next to them, add 1 more row, narrow ends touching, to make a rectangle about 10 x 8 3⁄4 in. Melt white chocolate as package directs. Evenly spread over crackers to cover. (If some seeps between crackers, that's OK.) Let chocolate dry overnight.
2. Make Jewelry Box Cake: Heat oven to 325ºF. Coat a 13 x 9 x 2-in. baking pan with nonstick spray. Line bottom with wax paper; spray paper. Prepare 1 box cake mix as package directs. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake 25 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack 10 minutes before inverting on rack to cool completely. Repeat with other box of cake mix. Wrap and refrigerate.
3. To assemble: Carefully invert Lid so chocolate is underneath. Spread top with 2⁄3 cup strawberry frosting.
4. Cut a 2-in. strip from one short end of each cake. Cut a 1-in. piece crosswise off 1 strip. Set aside uncut strip and 1-in. piece for drawer (you won't need rest of cut strip).
5. Put 1 cake layer, right side up, on a flat 14 x 12-in. or larger serving surface, leaving at least 2 1⁄2 in. from front edge of serving surface for the drawer. Spread top of cake with 2⁄3 cup strawberry frosting; top with other cake, right side up. Frost top with 2⁄3 cup vanilla frosting.
6. Make Compartments: Using a sawing motion with a serrated knife, carefully cut remaining 4 crackers in half lengthwise. Frost 1 side using 2 Tbsp vanilla frosting. Put frosted sides, facing in, into frosting around top edge of cake. Set wafer cookies, long edge down, into frosting to make compartments.
7. Reserve 1⁄4 cup vanilla frosting. Place remaining vanilla frosting in pastry bag fitted with writing tip. With shorter edge of frosted lid facing you, pipe name and butterflies on top 3⁄4 of lid (when attached to box, bottom of lid won't be seen).
8. Frost sides of cake with 1 1⁄3 cup strawberry frosting. Carefully lift lid and attach to back of cake, gently pressing to adhere to frosting on cake. Stack filled food cans against back of lid to hold it in place until frosting sets.
9. Make Drawer: Press reserved cake strip A (click here for diagram ) and 1-in. piece B onto front of cake. Frost top and sides with reserved 1⁄4 cup vanilla frosting. Place remaining halved crackers, frosted sides in, around drawer. Coat with strawberry frosting. Press gumball knob in center.
10. Pipe butterflies on sides of cake. Change piping tip to star tip. Pipe stars around lid, top of box and drawer. Let set at least 4 to 6 hours. Remove cans.
11. Fill with edible jewelry.
12. To make rings & earrings: Use frosting to glue assorted rock candy or gumballs to gummy or regular Lifesavers candies.

We found the recipe here, for great cake ideas check out http://www.womansday.com.

Lately we have noticed a large trend in Shopkins themed birthday parties, and we think it's such a fun theme and goes perfectly with a beading birthday party.

Here is how to have an amazing Shopkins themed beading birthday party.

First you need some Shopkins themed party invitations.  A great way to make invitations is to use a free online printable or template to create a custom Shopkins birthday party invite.  Here is a sample of a fun and easy template.

Once the invites are sent out it is time to start planning your party decor.  Use lots of bright colours.  Use online printables to print out large Shopkins characters or banners with Shopkins characters on them.  Using marker, add faces to popcorn cups to make your own Poppy Corn.

A fun idea of what to do at your party is to make Shopkins themed bff necklaces.  Here is a link showing you how to make these necklaces.  You can add this charm to any of our amazing birthday party packages.

Another fun game is to play Shopkins trivia or provide Shopkins colour pages.  Visit shopkinsworld.com for great printables.

Make your own Shopkins themed pinata and fill it with candy and Shopkins. 

When choosing your cake, be sure to include Shopkins in the theme, the guests will be thrilled to receive their own Shopkins.  An easy and fun idea is to frost cupcakes in your favourite bright colours and then place a Shopkin on top of each cupcake.

We hope you find our Shopkins birthday party tips helpful! 

We have noticed a trend lately of moms booking Paris themed jewelry making birthday parties for their tween daughters.  After doing some research we totally understand why!  A huge part of any Paris themed party is pearls and we have so many packages where the girls make beautiful glass pearl necklaces.  To see these packages visit our birthday party page.

The first thing when planning your Paris themed party is to decide on your party decor.  From our research we have noticed that most Paris themed birthday parties include the colours of soft pink, white and black, pearls, the Eiffel tower, roses, flowers, ruffles and poodles.  Since Paris is known as the city of lights, hang up lots of lights and hang Monet inspired paintings on the walls.  

The next thing to decide is on your party activities.  Of course, jewelry making is the perfect activity (and it becomes the party lootbag).  Other fun activities are to hire a mime to perform at the party, have the children draw carton portraits of each other, or play Eiffel tower ring toss.  We also suggest that you put out a box full of feather boas, glass pearl necklaces, sunglasses and hats and have the girls do a fashion show.  You can set up a photo booth and take some photos to help you remember the party.  

Food ideas for a Paris birthday parties are croissants, cheese tray, quiche, french bread, macaroons, cream puffs, pink lemonade and fruit salad (a cute idea is to make mini fruit salads in cupcake liners).  It is always a fun idea to have a Paris themed dessert table with french themed desserts such as Macroons, Eclairs and cream puffs as well as candy, cookies and cakes decorated with pink, black and white.  Visit our Paris birthday party ideas Pinterest page for more ideas.

We hope you find our Paris Birthday Party ideas for tweens helpful!  Please leave us a comment and let us know how your party went.

One of our most popular beaded projects that we teach is our "three wishes" bracelet.  We have made this bracelet with kindergarten classes, Sparks (Girl Guides of Canada) and church  groups as a Mother's Day Workshop.  We have also made this bracelet at many of our school workshops.  This holiday season, we have been making this bracelet at all of our holiday parties, this bracelet is perfect for boys and girls, moms and dads (even though dads prefer it without a heart charm).

We love the idea behind this bracelet, the idea that the wearer has three wishes when they receive this bracelet.  We also love the simplicity of it, and how easily it can be stacked with other bracelets to have an arm party.

Materials Needed:
48-52 - 4mm glass beads
3 - 3mm silver beads
1 - lobster clasp
1 j- ump ring
1 - heart charm
2 - 2 mm crimp beads
1 - piece of tigertail the length of your
      wrist and then add one inch.
1 - flat nosed pliers.

Directions:
Using the flat nosed pliers and the first crimp bead, attach the lobster clasp to one side of the tigertail . 

String the heart charm, and then string half of your beads onto the tigertail.  String the three silver beads, these beads are the three wishes. 

String the remainder of your beads onto the tigertail.  Using the flat nosed pliers and remaining crimp bead attach the other side of the tiger tail to the jump ring.

Enjoy your beautiful new three wishes bracelet!

We recently did a bollywood themed beading birthday party where the girls made tikka headpieces.  It was such a fun party and it really goes perfectly with the theme of beading.  The party was such a hit, that we are adding this theme to our beading party packages.

Here are some tips and tricks to help you throw your own amazing bollywood beading birthday party.

A cake for a bollywood birthday party should be very colourful with lots of bold colours. 

If possible use edible beads.  The goes well with the theme of beading and the theme of bollywood.  Use lots of gold and silver to make the cake look magical.

Every party needs a few themed crafts to keep the guests busy.  A simple and fun idea with big impact is to use sticker gem beads to decorate around the girls eyes.  Purchase some henna tattoos and have the girls apply the tattoos to each other while you are doing the face stickers.  Finally, another fun use of stickers gems is to buy flip flops for each guest and have them decorate them with the sticker gems.  This also becomes a fun take home loot bag. 

Another craft that we love is to have the girls create a Tikka.  We will soon be offering kits and packages on making your own Tikka, but in the meantime, check out this link for making a diy tikka headpiece click here.

Now that the girls are all blinged out with their eye jewels, henna tattoos, new slippers and tikka headpieces, it is time for the girls to do something active. 

Purchase some glass bangles for each child.  This can also become part of their take home loot bag.  Put on a bollywood music video and let the girls have some fun dancing along.

For  more ideas and bollywood themed birthday party inspiration, check out our pinterest page click here.  We hope you enjoyed this blog post about bollywood birthday parties.  If you have any suggestions of your own, we would love to know about them in the comments below.

We have noticed that many moms booking Beading Buds jewellery making birthday parties often go with a tea party theme.  One of our favourite tea party themes is a Fancy Nancy tea party, because you can go so over the top with this theme.

Invite
Make the invite as fancy as possible using stickers, sticker gems, ribbons and glitter.  There are many websites with Fancy Nancy printables.  The official Fancy Nancy website also has lots of printables for you to use at the party as part of the party entertainment.

Party Decor
Fancy Nancy is all about being fabulous!  So this is your chance for a super girly and fancy party.  Decorate the chairs and tables with pink feather boas, tiaras, big floppy hats, fancy sunglasses and pearl necklaces (this can also double as a party loot bag). 

Hang up big bunches of gold, silver, black and pink balloons and streamers.

Cake
Do a pink cake or cupcake and decorate with pink feather boas, tiaras, big floppy hats, fancy sunglasses and pearl necklaces or any combination of these items.

Party Activities
Go to the Fancy Nancy website to get lots of great printables for the guests to use.  You can provide a box of dressup clothes and have the girls do a fashion show.  This is a great chance for you to get some great photos of the girls.  A Beading Buds jewelry making kit is also a great option, the girls can make beautiful fancy jewelry.

There are so many other great ideas for a Fancy Nancy Party.  Check out our Fancy Nancy pinterest page for more party inspiration.

My 6 soon to be 7 year old daughter has been asking for a slumber party for her 7th birthday.

I don't think that her friends (and their moms) would be ready for that yet, and I don't think I am ready to have 15 7 year olds sleeping at over at our house. 

So I decided this year to throw her a mock slumber birthday party so she can have still have some slumber party fun.

My daughter is really into American Girl and Baby Alive dolls, so to go with the theme of the party, we are asking each guest to arrive in their fanciest pajamas and to bring their favourite doll.

After the guests arrive, our first activity is going to be beading of course.  Each girl is going to make matching necklaces for herself and her doll.  We are going to do our Beading Buds package I.

After that we are going to make and eat our own pizzas.  For some additional fun activity ideas check out our pinterest board here. 

Next we are going to have some slumber party fun.  We are going to make facemasks, paint nails, give the girls and their dolls makeovers using make-up and give the girls all the best hairsyles that we can dream up.   We will also play some sleepover party games.  For ideas click here.

Finally we are going to end off the party with a movie.  Since we are having this party in November, it should be dark early enough for the girls to feel like it is a real slumber party.

I am so excited to start putting all the pieces of this party together.  We will keep you posted to see how it went!  Visit our pinterest board for more mock slumber birthday party fun.

This time of year winter themed birthday parties are so popular.  We love how pretty and magical this theme can be, with sparkly silver and blue decor, cakes and winter themed activities. 

We have snow princess beading party package that is ideal for a winter wonderland party, a Frozen party, or any other winter themed party.

Here are some ideas to  help you make your winter themed party amazing.

For inexpensive but big impact, gather up branches and spray paint them silver, then add some glue and silver glitter.  These branches can be placed all over to give the room a magical feel.

Another fun idea is to make your own paper snowflakes and hang them from the ceiling.

Blow up silver and baby blue balloons, cover the top of the balloon in glue and add glitter, and then hang from the ceiling.

Finally, use silver holiday decorations to help with the magical feel.

There are so many fun desserts that you can have at you party that help to tie in the theme of beading with the frozen winter wonderland theme.  Macaroons look like beads and they can be frosted in silver and blue.  You can have blue cupcakes with little beads on them, and you can take marshmallows and dip them in blue jello powder and cellophane wrap them.  The marshmallow looks like a bead, and is a great lootbag idea that is inexpensive, simple and perfectly themed.

Our snow princess kits are the perfect addition to any  frozen winter wonderland theme party.  The kits come packaged individually for each child with a variety of blue and white glass pearls and a stunning heart clasp starting at $6 per child.  The activity takes the girls about 30 minutes to complete is the perfect lootbag.  For more information, click here.

Happy party planning!