{Real Parties} Jackson’s ROCKSTAR Birthday Party-Part 1

***AS SEEN on HOSTESS BLOG, Look for Part 2 Coming Soon****

Can I get a drum roll please? I’m so excited to finally share all of the details with you. If you follow my blog, you know that my son Jackson was having a ROCKSTAR Fourth Birthday Party!!! Well, that day as come and gone!

Here are all the details that you’ve been dying to know. . .

{THE PHOTOS THAT STARTED IT ALL}
I’m going to start at the beginning for all my new followers. If you’ve already read The Wilcox Family is Taking Over Courtney Jade Photography, then feel free to skip this! If not, you’re in for a treat! Jackson is our middle son! If any of you have a “middle” child, I’m sure you can relate to Jackson! He is one wild and crazy kiddo, bursting with personality! He wanted to have a Rock Star Birthday Party and I couldn’t wait to get my creative wheels-a-turin’.

First things first, design an amazing invitation! This amazing invitation needed even more AMAZING photos to accompany it. So, I turned to none other than Miss Courtney with Courtney Jade Photography! If you’ve been following my blog, then you know she is my latest girl crush and my long lost BFF!!! I just can’t say enough nice things about her. She kindly agreed to take Jackson’s photos. It didn’t hurt that Jackson has a major crush on her too!! I dressed him in PINK (his favorite color), a leather jacket, and some distressed jeans! He even had an outfit change mid-session. Total rocker! We shot his photos in downtown Portland and I was more than happy with how they turned out. I LOVED the photos so much I used them throughout the whole party! They were too cute not to. To see some of his outrageous Rock Star Photos, check out Courtney’s Blog.

{THE INVITATION}
Now, where was I? Right, an amazing invitation! I’m always trying to push the limits with my invitations. I don’t ever want any of my designs to look the same. I want each of them to be unique and different. Once I decided on a layout, everything fell into place. I knew I wanted to use as many photos as I could, so I designed a tri-fold invitation. These were printed on smooth card stock and I added a UV coat to the front of the invite. This just made it extra shinny and cool! For the inside, I tracked down foam CD hubs and attached a “Rock Star” CD in the center of each invite with Jackson’s favorite songs. The first track was, of course, Pink’s “So What, I’m Still a Rock Star.”

{VENUE}
Photos. Check! Invitation! Check. Check!!! Now, find the PERFECT party venue. Some day when I am rich, I will be able to build the ultimate party house! Luckily, I live in an amazing city and was able to find the perfect music school. Sound Roots is a school for modern music. The party was ultra relaxed. The kids basically had a jam session with our amazing music teacher, Mo Phillips. Think Jack Black, but thinner and more handsome. He was so energetic, funny, and incredibly talented. The kids weren’t the only ones having a good time, all the parents were rockin’ out too.

The venue was totally urban. I wanted to keep the “garage band/basement rock band” feel. Instead of a “traditional” backdrop, I used three 36″ balloons from Shop Sweet Lu Lu. The lighting wasn’t great for photos, but it was really cool (new light fixtures had just been installed!). They had also just put down amazing looking bamboo wood floors! I can’t wait to see the place when the renovations are complete with a rocking stage too.

{COLORS}
I was most excited about the color palette we (Jackson and I) selected! We went with pink, teal, black, and white. Since I am a Mom of three boys, getting to design in pink was a dream come true! Plus, Jackson’s party was a few days before Valentine’s Day and there was a ton of pink items to choose from. You can’t go wrong with black and white and bursts of color. I also pulled inspiration from Jackson’s black and white striped hat (purchased at H&M).

{WELCOME TO THE PARTY}
I made custom “Backstage Passes” for each of the kids who attended. As soon as they arrive, they received their backstage pass with their name on it (on the invitation I wrote, “Backstage Passes At the Door”). I made them for the teacher, everyone who helped setup for the party (ours said “Event Staff”), and I included one on the dessert table. All the kids loved them. My boys are still wearing them around the house almost two weeks later. These were so simple to make, but really set the tone for the party!

{DESSERT TABLE}
What are my three favorite ingredients? 1. Sugar 2. Corn Syrup 3. Fructose. In no particular order. Don’t come to one of my parties and plan on eating healthy. It’s a party after all!!! No heathy eating here! I love to use candies, cookies, and cupcakes throughout my dessert tables. You can’t go wrong with bright colored candies! Stay tuned for more details. . .

{THE DECOR}
The Decor was pretty simple. I used clusters of balloons on each side of the doors that had Jackson’s Rock Star Posters on them. I wanted these to look like rock band posters. The Dessert table was the focal point for the party! I used black bread boxes that I purchased at Target on clearance to hold the candy. We had an open guitar case on another table that had the adorable polka dot gable boxes (also from Shop Sweet Lu Lu) and extra drinks.

Stay tuned for more details about the Dessert Table, DIY Drum Set, DIY Custom Guitar Picks, Printables and more photos like these. . .

*****

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