It was bound to happen soon or later – my little first born baby, the one that made me a mommy, finally turned five. If you have a five year old, especially a five year old girl, I don’t have to tell you that they have their own opinions. Opinions about everything including what they do and don’t want for their birthday parties. My sassy tot has strong opinions and loves to voice them (I have no idea who she got that from). Here were her top 2 opinions – opinion #1 – I want a Care Bear party & opinion #2 – I don’t want a party at our house. Well, okay then, challenge accepted!
We weighed a bunch of options and we went with a party at the gym where she takes weekly gymnastics lessons. The biggest challenge was that they only allow 15-20 minutes to set up in the party room, eek! (oh, and there is NO natural light in the building what so ever) Knowing that we’d only have a short window to for set up I decided that keeping things simple was the way to go. But just because you are keeping things simple doesn’t mean you have to give up details or craftiness! However, it does help if you don’t forget one of your main props at home when you only have 20 minutes to set up and don’t have time to drive home & back to get it.
Enjoy some photos and I’ll give some details and vendor information at the bottom of the post.
As you can imagine Care Bears aren’t that easy to come across in 2013 so I thought I would focus on some of the main symbols of the Care Bears, mainly the rainbow. I started by designing the invitation to resemble a Care Bear tummy. I hand made the invitation in 4 different background colors, to represent 4 different Care Bears.
I turned to my party crafting friend Jenny from Crafty That Party to make me 2 Care Bear Peg Dolls and she did a spectacular job. The pegs dolls were given as gifts to the birthday girl and she LOVES them!!
I filled push pop containers with gummy bears and used my new labels from OnlineLabels.com to print out a cute rainbow flag I designed to wrap around the container.
Maria from Love and Sugar Kisses makes the tastiest, prettiest fondant topped & non-fondant topped chocolate covered oreos. She went above and beyond by recreating 6 different Care Bear bellies as well as rainbows in fondant to go on top of the delicious oreos. They were a HUGE hit as you could imagine!
The beautiful cake was done by my local Publix bakery. I couldn’t have been more pleased and excited. My husband and I both grew up in Florida so needless to say we were beyond thrilled when we finally got a Publix in the Charlotte area! Publix also made the basic cupcakes for me, which I added the clouds and Airhead rainbow to. (original Pinterest inspiration here there were no directions so I just winged it)
Sally at Polka Dot Market always has what I need, too. Gum balls, gum balls, gum balls!!!
For the place settings I was actually able to find some Care Bear goodies by piecing together supplies from various online party stores and combine them with some hand painted wooden forks. Some of the party supply packages had copyright dates of 2002 or before on them. Inside the cloud gable boxes I gave each child a rainbow lollipop, a rainbow candy necklace, striped straws, and a Care Bear activity book that was definitely from the 90’s. I made Care Bear stickers with blank bellies for each box and hand wrote each child’s name inside the belly which also served as their place card.
At the end of the day the birthday girl and her friend had a great time running around the gym, eating yummy cupcakes, oreos, gummy bears, & Cheetos. That must mean that there was no need for a Care Bear stare and the party was a roaring success! Did I forget the shelf for the gumball jars to sit on, yes. Did all the cupcakes get their cupcake wrappers I spent so much time designing, printing, cutting, and assembling? No. Did anybody notice but me? Probably not.
Only two and a half more months until the little sister turns 3 so I better get to work. At least she doesn’t have as many opinions….yet 🙂
Stacy it’s gorgeous, I would’ve have LOVED this as a kid in the 80s during the first Care Bear hayday. My girls are now into them as well so I’m bookmarking, thank you.
We are BIG Care Bears fans here and my girls have been dying to get a peek at this party and they are in LOVE! I love how you used the rainbow as the main theme and you put together an adorable party on the road…fabulous job mama!!
SO CUTE Stacy!!! The styling, the decorations, the cake, the works of art from Maria and Jenny – I love it! I use to be such a huge care bear fan back in the day – brings back memories! 🙂 GREAT work! <3
Stacy it’s gorgeous, I would’ve have LOVED this as a kid in the 80s during the first Care Bear hayday. My girls are now into them as well so I’m bookmarking, thank you.
This is SO Adorable! Love it!
-Toni
I LOVE LOVE LOVE it Stacy! It’s amazing and adorable. <3 it. Way to rock a party for your sassy tot at a party that’s not at home!
Adore the balloon backdrop! Such a great take on a “retro” party! {giggle}
Love, love, love. Simple & crafty rocks!
We are BIG Care Bears fans here and my girls have been dying to get a peek at this party and they are in LOVE! I love how you used the rainbow as the main theme and you put together an adorable party on the road…fabulous job mama!!
XO
Absolutely adorable!!! Love the sweet deets, including the rainbows, clouds and amazing Oreos and pegs!!! Fab job on the cupcakes! Too cute! ♥
SO CUTE Stacy!!! The styling, the decorations, the cake, the works of art from Maria and Jenny – I love it!
I use to be such a huge care bear fan back in the day – brings back memories! 🙂 GREAT work! <3
Love it!
So very cute!! I miss Care Bears 🙁
I love everything about this party! 🙂
Oh my goodness–my sister would have DIED for this party! I’m pinning this for her and her future children. Great job Stacy!
Sooo cute! I love the care bear elements without using the actual toys. Certainly feeling nostalgic looking through these pictures!