This past weekend we had the honor of being a part of this beautiful First Communion celebration in Vaughan, Ontario.

The mom organized such a beautiful event.  The main colours were blush, pink and gold.  From the cotton candy booth, to the stunning unicorn themed cakepops, cake and party decor, to the activities for the children, every last detail was thought of.  The guest of honor loves to craft, and so the mom incorporated our First Communion Rosary Bracelet Package into the event.  We were so happy when she wanted to put on her bracelet right away and was proudly showing all the other guests.  The children each made a rosary bracelet which then became their party favour.  We also brought a special cross colouring page which the children absolutely loved.

We truly enjoyed every moment of this incredible event, and the mother was such a pleasure to deal with, her organization, attention to detail and kindness made this an event we will never forget.

In ten years of providing jewelry making birthday parties, we have been to many dance themed birthday parties.  This is no surprise since many of our little beaders dance and often invite their whole dance group to their birthday parties.

When doing a dance themed party the first thing you do is design your invitation.  There are so many beautiful dance invitations, but the tulle invitations are our favourite, and here is a video showing you how to make it.

The decor for a dance and/or ballet themed party is so beautiful.  Lots of pink tulle, gold sparkles, and ballet dancer cutouts.  You can make pink tulle table skirts and chair covers to make the party even more magical.

Food at a dance and/or ballet themed party is all pink and cream with gold accents.  Pink cupcakes with gold sprinkles, pink macaroons, parfaits, white bread with pink cream cheese, and pink lemonade.

Activities for your dance themed party can include musical chairs, hot potato, or freeze dance to ballet music, making bracelets using pinks and creams with a dance charm.  Decorating your down dance bag, or the girls can create their own dance and preform it at the end of the party.

We hope we inspired you with our dance party ideas.  Comment with any ideas of your own.  Have a great party!

Fruit kabobs are perfect for a jewelry making birthday party because they suit the theme of beading and they are also a yummy and healthy snack that is fun to eat.

Ingredients

•  strawberries
•  cantaloupe
• pineapple
• honeydew melon
• watermelon
• bamboo skewers

Directions

• If using wooden or bamboo skewers, make sure all the splinters are off of them by rolling two together in your hands, or rub them over each other, as if you are sharpening a knife.
• Cut the fruit that is not already small into 1-inch, or bite-size, chunks.  Another fun idea is to cut out fruit using cookie cutters to make hearts, butterflies or flowers.
• Skewer the fruit.  Finish the skewer with 2 blueberries on the pointed end to hold the fruit in place. 

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.

We are in the midst of planning my six year old daughter's birthday party.  Since I am in the children's birthday party entertainment industry, I always feel that we need to come up with something unique and original as well as incorporate some beading fun for all of my daughter's friends.  This year I am also in charge of planning a shower for a very special sister, so I thought why not have a Breakfast at Tiffanys themed birthday shower and bridal shower on two separate mornings but using all the same ideas.

The main reason I love the idea of Breakfast at Tiffanys as a party theme is because it can be done earlier in the day when everyone is rested and full of energy, and you can serve brunch foods which are so much fun and a nice change from the pizza served at most parties.

Party Decor
This is such an easy party to decorate for.  Use the Tiffany blue colour as your main colour scheme.  Tie balloons to the backs of all of the chairs to make them look like pearls and beads.   Decorate with strands of pearls.  Make signs using the guests of honour's name, such as "Chloe & Co.".  Place white bows on the backs of chairs.  For more decor ideas, visit our pinterest page.

Menu
This party theme is perfect for a brunch menu.  A fun idea that both kids are adults are sure to love is a DIY crepe station.  For the perfect crepe station check out this post.  For any cakes, cupcakes or desserts use the Tiffany blue colour and decorate with candy pearl edible beads.  To drink, serve mimosas for the adults, and sparking orange juice for the children.

Dress Code
Both children and adults love to dress up.  Ask guests to wear their favourite little back dress and pearls.  If you are making loot bags and party favours, include a strand of glass pearls, sunglasses or gloves to go with the theme of the event.

Event Entertainment
Since pearls are synonymous with this theme, guests can make their own glass pearl necklaces, check out our amazing diy glass pearl necklace kits.

For more awesome party ideas, check out our pinterest page!  Have a great party.

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.

We've noticed an increasing trend in parents waiting until they give birth to find out the gender of their baby.  This can make baby shower planning more difficult because you cannot use the traditional shower decorating themes of pink and blue. 

Nancy, from Just the Facts Baby, suggests that a glamorous, glitzy and fun alternative gender neutral shower decor theme is gold and cream.  She has compiled five photos of gold and cream parties that we think are the perfect inspiration when planning a gender neutral shower.

With such a fabulous theme, we suggest that a fun baby shower activity where guests can make their own party favour is to have a jewelry making station.  We can customize their jewelry making kits to go with each shower theme, for a cream and gold themed party, guests can make beautiful cream and gold jewelry.  To order a jewelry making party kit, click here.

Have any other suggestions for a gold and cream themed baby shower?  Please let us know in the comments below.  Happy shower planning!

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.

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!