Christchurch mum Gerardine doesn’t do things by halves when it comes to kids’ parties. Describing herself as “hardworking and creative,” the mum of three has created a beautiful online guide dedicated to party planning, and she’s been kind enough to share it with us.
In this first installment, Gerardine shares her guide to creating an Easter bunny themed party, complete with decor ideas, food and entertainment.
Here’s her go-to guide.
Decorations
I wanted a natural feel to the decorations with lots of greens, browns, wood and white. The ‘Happy Birthday’ banner looked so gorgeous and I loved it. I cut the letters from artificial grass from Bunnings. The net hanging over the table was perfect to soften the look and the vines, white hydrangeas, carrots, wooden slaps, leaves and foliage added a lovely natural element.
What a spread
Bunny details
I purchased some lovely bits from Dots and Spots; moss bunnies, moss balls and two ceramic white bunnies. I had also purchased some gorgeous tiny blackboards to label the food and a beautiful tassel garland in lovely greens but I sadly didn’t have the energy to get them out of the box. Dots and Spots is a fabulous online party store based in Palmerston North. Lots of gorgeous boutique products and excellent delivery service and price.
I used some brown wrapping paper to cover the kid’s table and decorated it with a grass table runner. I’d been gathering a collection of beautiful vintage plates from op-shops and these were perfect to serve the kids food. A great option for sustainable kids parties. I glued some fabric bunnies to my milk bottles from lovely material purchased at Spotlight. I looped a tie of black wool on them, labeled them with the kids names using a black sticker and popped a black straw in to match.
The table
Bunny drinking jars
Food
With each of my kids parties I’m learning more about how much food to prepare, what party food works best, what actually gets eaten and some ‘healthier options’. It’s awful to see food wasted at kids parties, especially when a lot of time, money and love has gone into it. I’ve learnt to leave the kids plates out on the table allowing them to return during the party to graze when they feel like it. I was going to write the kids names on the brown paper table cover for their place setting.
We made delicious mini carrot cupcakes and topped them with cute homemade little icing carrots
I used small waffle cones perfect size for kids to hold fresh fruit; grapes, blueberries and pineapple.
In glasses, fancied up with a tie of black wool, we served chocolate mousse for ‘dirt’ with green jelly ‘grass’ and a chocolate bunny sitting on top. These were a hit.
I popped a scatter of chocolate raisins out for a wee laugh…
The highlight of the party was the arrival of ‘The Bunnies’. Bronwyn from Pony Parties came with our new family bunny and a few of her own bunny friends for the kids to cuddle and pet. The children had a lovely time with the rabbits. The cutest thing was when the kids used their own initiative to run inside and grab a carrot off the table to feed the bunnies. Bronwyn gave us a lesson on how to care for our new pet rabbit. Pony Parties is based in Christchurch and offers lots of different animal and party options. Bronwyn is awesome with the kids and shares her passion for animals so well.
The arrival of the bunnies
Cake
I’ve been admiring semi-nude cakes lately and love the use of natural foliage with them. We made two vanilla cakes cut in half to make the four layers and iced them in a buttercream frosting. A chocolate ganache was drizzled over the top. ‘Daddy Cake Baker’ worked his magic to make the cake look stunning. The custom-made cake topper from clever mum Kylie at Love From Seventeen finished it off perfectly. Love From Seventeen offers ‘stylish family-crafted children’s and interior décor, dreamt up and designed in the heart of Southland, New Zealand.’
The amazing cake
Favours
The kids all got some bunny ears and tails purchased from Spotlight (which I attempted to dye black but failed) and the squeaky bunnies from the scavenger hunt. Our party guests also took home some carrot seeds to plant and they could ‘adopt a soft toy bunny’.
Take a look at Gerardine’s amazing party blog here. Or stay tuned for the next installment, right here on Now To Love.
