Vintage Strawberry Shortcake Birthday

My little Gwenna Evangeline

I was so excited to plan this special party to celebrate my daughter Gwenna's 3rd birthday!  
She really loves Strawberry Shortcake episodes, so the theme was a given.  I don't like the new Strawberry Shortcake though, and loved the '80's version myself as a child, so it was the perfect opportunity to revisit the sweet innocence of Strawberry Land (I even found a DVD copy of the original episodes).  I scoured etsy.com, ebay, and local stores so that almost everything was vintage or handmade.  Enjoy!

This is the invitation:  I scanned a page of a vintage Strawberry Shortcake book onto cardstock:  They were personal and didn't cost much money.  Also, this is the inspiration for the picnic element and flag banner.

This wreath greeted the guests at the front door.  It is one of my favorite things because it was inexpensive and easy to make (straw wreath base, bags and bags of strawberry candies, and a few silk flowers) just took a bit of time with the glue-gun. 

                   Little Miss Strawberry herself!
                                                  

Here is Gwenna's party hat!  Made from vintage Strawberry Shortcake material (purchased from etsy.com) and a pair of swarovski crystal earings--backs removed--were glued on for a little sparkle.

I got the idea for the hats on a great blog called littlepumpkingrace.com. You can buy something similar at lulu and Co.

The birthday banner was a fun project.  More vintage fabric spray glued to felt, attached to strawberry ribbon from Michael's.  Gwenna's grandma ordered the letters from etsy.com and I covered them with scrapbook paper.

When I am planning an event, I see inspiration everywhere I look; the strawberry on the mantle is a little container from Bath and Body.  Gwenna uses it now for a little jewelry box.

Gwenna loves to pose for pictures!  She was very serious here...waiting for the fun to begin.  Her dress was a gift from her Grandma Jeanne, her shoes are Pedipeds, and her headband was from Christmas, but I pinned a crystal strawberry to it and it was perfect! 

All the little party hats for our special guests.

The tablecloth is a vintage Strawberry Shortcake bed sheet, and notice the picture of Gwenna when she was 14 m. old!  A little reminder to all of how much she has grown up.

The fabulous Cake!  Strawberry Shortcake house, made from marshmallow fondant, decorated with chocolate strawberries.  The cake itself was lemon (which I love in the summer) and fresh strawberry filling.  Gwenna's grandma made this cake for her and modeled it after one we saw on the same blog with the party hats--fantastic and yummy!



Mini Strawberry Shortcake figurines surround the base of the cake platter and stand in front of a little picket fence.

Here in the dining room is another banner that says, of course "Gwenna."  I made the floral strawberry topiaries out of red roses and carnations, as well as green mums for the tops.  It just isn't a party without fresh flowers.

The birthday girl needed a bib to protect her party dress, so her Grandma made this for her (her own design).  The little strawberry seeds are beads--love!

A framed picture that was sent in the invitation was framed, and sat by the vintage Strawberry Shortcake canister that held suckers.

Chocolate covered strawberry appetizer anyone?

Strawberry and angel food cake kabobs drizzled in white chocolate.

Recipe:

You will need bamboo skewers, white melting chocolate, 3 lbs of strawberries, and angel food cake (store bought is fine).  This will make about 30 skewers.   

1.) Soak bamboo skewers for 30 minutes.

2.) Cube angel food cake.

3.) Wash strawberries.  Set aside some strawberries to be used at the top of the skewer.  Slice the top off remaining strawberries.  Don't worry, they won't feel a thing.

4.) Skewer your whole strawberry first, and then alternate between angel food cake and strawberries.  I did some skewers with 2 strawberries and 2 pieces of angel food cake, and some with 3 of each.

5.) Melt the chocolate (follow the instructions on the package) and drizzle over your skewers. 

6.) Set them on a decorative platter and just wait for the compliments to come pouring in.  Seriously. 

One happy little birthday girl, racing through the house before the party on her new scooter, with baby Betsy (in her strawberry outfit too).

Playing with flower petals, while waiting for her friends.

                                                                                         

Time to do her "piggy tails"  and, yes, another outfit!  I had purchased this adorable strawberry dress from Oilily before she received the dress from her Grandma Jeanne.  I liked that it had a casual, picnic vibe that suited the mood of the party; vintage and sweet. So she got to wear both dresses!

250 ft. of flags were sewn (by grandma) to string from tree to tree.  I wish I had a detail shot of them, but they are all different fabrics, and not theme specific so they can be used in future parties.

Here the kids are playing toss the strawberry.  Little felt strawberry beanbags (made by grandma) were thrown into a strawberry basket.  So much fun.

Strawberry lemonade and water bottles with vintage Strawberry Shortcake labels; made from wrapping paper ordered from ebay.

I couldn't find Strawberry Shortcake plates I liked, so I used these gingham print ones, which suited the picnic style menu perfectly.  The napkins were vintage: wrapped in the original 80's Hallmark packaging!  So much fun, and not expensive at all.

Present time:  Gwenna got almost all of the original Strawberry Shortcake figurines; I hope she has fun with them for many years to come.

The Lunchbox too!

Cake time!

Happy Birthday Sweetie...

Gwenna Loves to do the, "Purple Pie-Man of Porcupine Peak."

All the little goodie baskets, lined up waiting to be given as a parting gift to our guests.  Boys get green and girls get pink!

The baskets include: A strawberry plant, sunglasses, natural strawberry fruit roll-up, homemade coloring book-made from copying vintage Strawberry Shortcake coloring book pages.  The "Thanks" on the front of the baskets were made from a scanned postcard that was then put through a sticker machine.  

This party was a delight to put together for my sweet little girl.  At the end of the night she was laying on the couch (her grandma told me later) and said, "my mom made me so happy."  What could be better than that?