Let the Party Planning BEGIN.....again!

Spring is here and my mind has begun mulling over preparations for Lydia's birthday party. Yes it is still 4 months away, but this gives me something to hunt for in my various thrift store shopping sessions. Much like shopping for Lydia's cloths, I can't expect to find everything I need instantly and I enjoy having time to hunt for a bargain and to plan what I want to create. First a few generic party items. I can not get enough bell jars (for displaying candy, flowers, whatever). After Lydia's party, these will probably become specimen jars for the next Halloween party. At $1 to $3 each, I think I will get my money out of them. The candle stick is just asking for a nice coat of white paint so that it can become the base to a cake plate. I don't even secure the plate to something like this. It is large enough to be sturdy and if I just set one of my white dinner plates on it, it does the job, but can disassemble for washing and storage. At $3 it was a little pricey for thrift, but considering what I would pay for a similarly shaped cake stand that wouldn't separate for storage, (oh, and considering that I have a 15% off coupon) I decided to splurge!

Have I mentioned the theme yet? Lydia will be turning 3..... "Under the SEA"! So that makes the $1.75 loot pictured above pretty much PERFECTION! I am going with a glitzy mermaid meets shabby chic look (and NO Ariel, Sebastian, or other cartoon characters).

This is some sort of cake plate, but wire... with pearls? Pretty un-practical (either the food falls through the holes or you cover up the details with a plate)...but also pretty much mermaid shabby chic perfect. I figure I can find a glass plate to go on top of it to make it function while not hiding it's unique form. At $2 I figure I can make it work.

A plastic starfish bowl holds some glass globs that will be strewn about. Those 6 ceramic shell plates are so great, and I found them on Goodwill half price day (the last weekend of the month here) so they went fro $6 for all 6 down to $3. Finally, that clown dolly with the painted face? She mistakenly ran away to join the circus, but later realized she was born to be a mermaid. So for $5, I think she is deserving of a new outfit with a lovely long tail.

So that's it for now. I think we have a date and location selected (a Friday night...... is that wrong for a toddler party?). I have a few projects to start on and a color scheme (light and dark aqua, green, white bubbles and orange accents) to guide my collecting. The general feel of what I am looking for is beginning to materialize and I am already having a whole lot of fun.

I told Lydia I had started planning her birthday party and she yelled out "No you not. You planning your birthday party." Ummm.... She may have me on that one! Smart kid!