{REAL PARTIES} Jackson’s ROCKSTAR Party-Part 2

Are you ready for Part 2 of Jackson’s awesome Rock Star Birthday Party?? I know, you’ve been dying to see the rest of the photos and to get every last detail, right? I won’t keep you waiting any longer.

{DIY FAUX DRUM SET}
I wanted to include some other “rock” elements in the party! I first saw this DIY Drum Set on Oh Dee Doh. I thought it was such cool way to add a bit of height and functionality to the Dessert Table. For the “Faux” Drum Set, I sent my hubby to Ace Hardware to pick up some empty paint cans. I had originally thought about painting them, but I love the look of the shinny metallic metal. The large bucket in the middle was white and we (my husband does all the spray painting because I tend to be a little wild and untrustworthy with spray paint) painted that to match. Then I cut out some nautical rock stars with my vinyl cutter and used them to embellish the buckets.

{DIY CUSTOM GUITAR PICKS}
These have to be one of my favorite elements from the party! I looked into having custom guitar picks made, but it was way out of my budget. My husband mentioned he had heard about a “guitar pick punch” and I knew I had to track it down. To my surprise and delight, I found a Pick Punch and all the supplies at a really reasonable price. I printed out photos and other designs that matched the theme on full sheet label stock. I trimmed the sheet into strips (I could fit two rows across) and applied the full sheet label stock to the pick plastic. Then I used the pick punch, just like you would a paper punch, and punched out each pick! I loved each and every one. Now if you were really going to strum with them, the label stock may not hold up, but because I was just decorating with them they were perfect! These were scattered throughout the party! We used them almost like confetti! We also taped them to the front of the acrylic serving trays to add a touch of color and detail.

{DETAILED DESSERT TABLE}
The Dessert Table is always the focal point and “wow” factor at my parties. I love creating dessert tables that are a bit out of the ordinary! First, I always start off with my Table Vogue table cloth. It’s my “staple” for any party! It provides a nice clean slate to build from. I love it so much and I am considering buying the red one. Next, I used shiny stars in pink, teal, and black that I purchased at The Lippman Co. and scattered them across the table to add some color and visual elements.

I placed two of my acrylic serving trays that were featured in my wine club party and Lincoln’s Circa 1980’s Surprise Birthday party in the center of the table. I simply flipped them over and they became the perfect riser. Next, I staggered my “Faux” Drum Set on top. Inside the drum buckets, I placed Rockin’ Rubber Ducks, Good N’ Plenties, Pop Rocks, Grapefruit Slices, and bags of Cotton Candy. I also scattered cupcakes across the acrylic trays. In a glass vase filled with Good N’ Plenties, I added the black and white stripe candy bags with a metal candy scoop. On the bags which I purchase from Shop Sweet Lu Lu, I created a label that read “Swag Bag, candy for the soul.” Can I just say I wanted to purchase everything in Shop Sweet Lu Lu’s shop? Jessie, from Shop Sweet Lu Lu was incredible to work with. She was so helpful and had a ton of ideas that really made this party special! Thanks Jessie.

{SUGAR ROCKS}
The only thing Jackson asked for was a guitar cake. I had already ordered the super cute guitar cupcake toppers from Two Sugar Babies. Charynn is amazing to work with too! She is always willing to work with me on custom designs that match my parties. It totally takes the stress out of decorating cupcakes the morning of the big event! Just bake, frost, and apply! It’s as easy as that! Now back to Jackson’s Guitar Cake request. . . I called my Aunt Honey with Cakes by Taste of Honey and she came through for me. She made this epic guitar cake complete with guitar strings. It was awesome! Jackson loved it and that’s what really matters, right?

I’ve been blog stalking Bakerella for a long while now. I even got her amazing Cake Pop Cookbook for Christmas from my darling Mother-in-law. Believe it or not, I haven’t included cake pops in any of my parties until now. I experimented with making guitars, but they looked too phallic for a kids party. I decided to make stars instead. My Mom and Sister were nice enough to draw stripes on them with an edible food marker. My Dad made me two wooden Cake Pop Stands too. My parties are family affairs. All hands on deck. I take/steal/borrow all the help I can get.

A party isn’t complete without cookies. Well this party was definitely complete because we had two different kinds of cookies. Renee from Bee’s Knees Creative made the PERFECT cookies. They seriously matched everything perfectly! They were almost too pretty to eat, so I just closed my eyes and took a huge bite. Hahaha! The other cookies I made. My dear friend Jennifer just started Frost Edible Designs. She printed these edible frosting sheets for me. I was her first customer! I made shortbread cookies and used Marian from Sweetopia’s Royal Icing Recipe. I added some disco dust, maybe a tab too much. Is that possible? Whatever! They were sparkly and I liked them!

Candy is a key element to any great dessert table. I love candy! I tried to use pink, black, and white candy throughout. I created custom candy wrappers for nerds, chocolate bars, and push up pops. This was the first time I’ve covered candy with custom wrappers. It was so simple and easy to do, but made a huge impact. Definitely worth the time and effort. I created labels for the cotton candy too. They came in these ugly pastic bear containers, so we repackaged them and added a label.

The black bread boxes housed the majority of the candy! These were so cool and really fit with the party theme. They also made the perfect storage and made transporting all of these items to the party really convenient. Can you believe I got them on clearance at Target for $10 each? A total steal if you ask me! Inside one of the boxes I had the nerds, pushup pops, and chocolate bars. Inside the other one, we took gum balls in pink, black, white, and teal and layered them in clear plastic tubes (also purchased from Shop Sweet Lu Lu). I used Washi Tape (also from Shop Sweet Lu Lu, do you see pattern here?) to tape of the ends for two reasons. 1. I thought it looked really cool 2. I didn’t want gum balls to go flying all over the place if the kids started shaking them. Can I just add that one of my clients was kind enough to send those gum balls to me? She knew I was throwing a party for Jackson and I couldn’t find them locally so she sent them to me! Thank you so much Jennifer!

{ROCKSTARS NEED DRINKS TOO}
One of our local grocery stores was going out of business and had discounted the entire store. I happened to see Jones Soda bottles and knew I had to include them in the party. I designed three different custom labels for the party using Jackson’s awesome photos. It wasn’t until I was done designing the labels that I realized you can get Personalized Labels direct from Jones Soda. I printed all of my labels for a lot cheaper. We attached black & white or pink & white stripy straws to the sides of all the bottles again with the Washi Tape . I also bring water for the adults too. This time I designed a label that read “This Water is Mine” and left a place for people to write in their names. That way people could keep track of them easier!

{PARTY FAVORS}
The black and white polka dot gable boxes were full of fun party favors! We had blow up microphones, blow up guitars, tattoos, rockin’ silly bands, and guitar stickers. Additional favors were scattered throughout the party like the shutter shade glasses, rockin’ rubber ducks, and of course all the candy!

{SPECIAL THANK YOUS}
I’d like to give a special thank you to my hubby for putting up with all of my shenanigans! He always pitches in to help out each and every time. Thank you to my partner in crime, Laura. She doesn’t even have any kids of her own, but she always helps me get ready for each party and provides me with amazing ideas! Thank you to my sisters for dealing with my craziness while we are setting up! I am type A and a total bossy older sister. Thank you so much! Elise, thank you for coming and helping out. We couldn’t have done it without you! Court– thanks again for the amazing photos that you took! They really were the catalyst for all of my party ideas! Ry– Thanks for slumin’ it and taking a few photos with my camera! Can’t wait to see how the photos turned out from your “real” camera. Thanks to Jenn too for providing us with Hostess Blog. It’s a constant source of inspiration and a platform to showcase amazing parties!

*****

VENDOR CREDITS

-Birthday Invitations, Return Address Label Wraps, Water Bottle Labels, Place Cards, Candy Labels, “Backstage Passes,” Posters, Soda Bottle Labels, Candy Bar Wrapper, Sucker Wrapper, Nerds Wrapper, T-shirts, Shortbread Cookies & Design, Cake Pops : Modern Moments Designs
-Stripy Straws, Clear Tubes (gum balls were featured inside), Japanese Tape, 36″ balloons, polka dot balloons, polka dot gable boxes, Divine Twine, Striped bags: Shop Sweet Lu Lu
-Black Bread Boxes: Target
-Guitar, Music Notes, & Nautical Star Cookies: Bee’s Knees Creative
-Edible Cookie Designs: Frost
– Guitar Cake: Cakes by Taste of Honey (cakebyhoney@comcast.net in the Portland & Vancouver Area)
-Guitar Fondant Cupcake Toppers: Two Sugar Babies
-Rubber Ducks, Blow up Guitars, Paper Plates, Napkins, Stickers, Tattoos, Glasses: Oriental Trading Company
-Stars, Blow Up Microphones, Birthday Candle, Nerds: The Lippman Co.
-Venue: Sound Roots
-Pick Punch (I used this to create the custom pics): Pick Punch
-Photographs of Jackson (used on invite and all printables & photos of invitation): Courtney Jade Photography
*Party Photographs were taken by Me, my hubby Lincoln, and the best photos were taken by my talented brother-in-law, Ryan Wilcox with You Look Nice Today Photography