Fab Frugal Mama

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Fancy Nancy Party DIY

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My daughter loves books… and one of her favourite characters is Fancy Nancy. If you’ve never heard of her, you should check out her books! She is an amazingly bright little girl who loves butterflies, speaking French (everything sounds fancier in French!) and dressing up – the more accessories, the better. My daughter is very much like Nancy, so when it came time to decide on a theme for her birthday party, Fancy Nancy was the perfect choice.

Now there’s one thing you should know about me – I LOVE parties! I love planning them, going to them, and pretty much everything about them… the decorations, cake, the singing and celebration. Ever since I was little, I’ve adored them. And when it comes time to plan my kids’ parties each year, I go into overdrive, because it’s just so much fun! It’s also a lot of work, but I try to spread it out over the course of a few weeks, so it’s not as chaotic.

Pictures speak louder than words, so instead of describing it, here’s what the party looked like…

The invitation

 

Clockwise, from top left:
 – My daughter helped me design the menu; note the use of fancy French words!
– Tea sandwiches with butterfly toothpick decorations to make them extra fancy.
– Chocolate-dipped nail polish bottle marshmallow treats and creme cookies with sprinkles (instructions on how to make them can be found here)
– Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese icing and butterfly toppers. This is the best chocolate cake recipe I’ve ever tried; it’s from the amazing Eat, Shrink & Be Merry cookbook by Janet & Greta Podleski. You can find the recipe here.

Top:
– Tissue paper Pom Poms; these were easy and inexpensive… each cost 50¢ and took about 10 minutes to make. I hung them using fishing wire and sticky tack. Instructions to make them are found here.
– Mini grilled cheese tea sandwiches, decorated with butterfly-adorned toothpicks. I cut the butterflies out of all different kinds of colourful card stock using a paper punch, then hot-glued them to sucker sticks and toothpicks to decorate different food items (sandwiches, cupcakes, etc.) Here’s a close-up…
Middle:
– The table; since Nancy loves everything French (and the colour pink), the plates and napkins had a French theme and plastic punch glasses were dressed up with name tags for each of the guests. Here’s a close-up…

 

 

Bottom:

–  Chocolate creme cookies were dipped in coloured melting chocolate and rainbow sprinkles. (YUM!!)
– Loot bag tags were made using sparkle cardstock, white cardstock, and a few craft punches (flourish square, scalloped circle and butterfly); everything was assembled with hot glue and tied to the bags with a piece of ribbon.

Top:
– Old-fashioned candy sticks in a bright blue fluted glass add a pretty touch of colour
– The chocolate-dipped creme cookies and nail polish marshmallows displayed in an antique milk glass stand.
Middle:
– Pom poms shown in hot pink and white
– A close-up of the place settings; all of the boys in attendance received a DIY felt clip-on bow tie – just in case they wanted to be fancy, too!
Bottom:
– Loot bag
– I surprised my daughter with a Fancy Nancy wall decal – she was blown away! (It served as a great party decoration and is now on her bedroom wall.)In case you would like to know how to make the cute marshmallow nail polish bottles, you can click on the picture below for a full tutorial.

There were lots of fun activities for the kids to do, too. The girls made hair clips – sparkle foam crowns and butterflies decorated with assorted jewels and hot-glued onto metal hair clips like this; and bottle cap necklaces (I bought this kit from Michaels) that were a huge hit. The boys assembled and decorated these cool foam airplanes.

We capped off the party by taking a picture of the birthday girl with each of her guests before they left. It’s a fun tradition that we do every year, and we email each guest the picture with a nice thank-you message a few days (or weeks, if I’m disorganized!) after the party.

Let me know if you try any of these ideas… I’d love to see pictures! Feel free to post them on my Facebook wall or Google+ page, tweet me or pin them on Pinterest (don’t forget to tag me!).

Happy party planning!

 

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