When my son was around 18 months old he was obsessed with the color yellow. So, when it came time to plan his 2nd birthday party, it was a no-brainer what the theme should be: YELLOW
Coming from a graphic design background, I was excited to create an event purely around a color instead of an object, character or holiday. Yellow decor, yellow food, yellow attire, it was gonna be festive!
Invitation & Thank You Notes: I ordered smiley face cards from
Zazzle and customized the back of the invitation with a photograph of my son in one of his many yellow shirts. The invitation text was in yellow and I explained the party's theme, requested that the guests wear yellow and said that a prize would be awarded to the adult guest wearing the most yellow (I didn't want the kids to be in competition with one another and have any tears of loss at the party).
The prize was a
Kleen Kanteen "solar yellow" water bottle (and I got one for my son as well!)
A great shirt for a kid who loves yellow (my son wore his to the party)
Chasing Fireflies
Note about invitations: One of my favorite things to do is coordinate the postage stamp with the party's theme. While you can get smiley face postage stamps on
Zazzle, I didn't want to spend the extra money for them, so instead, the
USPS had abstract expressionist stamps at the time, and I used ones that were of a predominantly yellow painting.
Music: I burned a CD of songs that all had the word yellow in their title and then gave another solar yellow Kleen Kanteen to the person who could figure out the specific theme of the party music.
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| Invitation with Yellow text inside |
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| Deviled eggs, yellow peppers & dip, and banana, mango & pineapple salad (Yum!) |
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| Acrylic glasses are a great way to go green for any color party |
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| Lemonade, of course! |
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| Who doesn't like a candy lemon wedge? |
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| Banana shaped Runts were a hit with the kids |
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Chocolate smileys!
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| I had these delicious, mini chocolate, foil taxis in a bowl and they were scooped up so fast, I didn't get a pic! |
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| Sparkling limonata (in a yellow ice bucket) for some class |
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Lemon Bars
Recipe from All Recipes.com
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| Paper lanterns make any event more festive |
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| Useful canvas loot bag |
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Loot: water bottle, bubbles, play-doh, squishy ball, reusable sack & stickers |
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| Some yellow balls (and hula hoops) for outdoor fun |
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Giant smiley beach ball to toss around
Wearing Claire's shimmery, "Daisy" was a fun accent for my daughter's
hands and my feet (in my yellow, strappy, wedge sandals)
Note: These are not my fingers. I thought I'd spare you the shot I took
of my toes. |
Here are some other food and beverage ideas for a yellow party:
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Corn and Scallion Salad |
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Yellow Rice Pilaf
Recipe from Martha Stewart |
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Sunny Lemon Cake-in-a-Jar Recipe from The Naptime Chef via Babble |
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Smiley Face Cake Pops
Recipe from Bakerella |
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Lemon Sorbet in Lemon Cups
Recipe from Cuisine Magazine/What's Cooking America |
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Frozen Lemonade
Recipe from My Recipes |
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The Leland Palmer
Recipe from Bon Appetite |
Addendum:
A few people have asked what my party play list was, so here it is:
Yellow Sun (The Raconteurs)
Yellow Submarine (Ringo Starr)
Yellow Cat (Slash) Red Cat (Say Anything)
Yellow Angels (Senses Fall)
Yellow (Sheila E.)
Yellow Submarine (The Studio Sound Ensemble)
Yellow (The Teeth)
Yellow Light (feat. R. Kelly) (Twista)
Blue and Yellow (The Used)
Yellow (Vitamin String Quartet)
Follow the Yellow Brick Road / You're Off to See the Wizard (Judy Garland & The Munchkins)
Yellow (Yann Tiersen)
Yellow Submarine (#1 Beatles Cover Band)
Yellow (Ken Nordine)
Yellow River (Christie)
Yellow (Coldplay)
The Yellow Rose of Texas (Countdown Kids)
Big Yellow Taxi (Counting Crows & Vanessa Carlton)
Mellow Yellow (Donovan)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
Yellow (India.Arie & Terrell Carter)
Yellow Taxi (Matt Costa)
Yellow Moon (The Neville Brothers)
Yellow Ledbetter (Pearl Jam)
The Yellow Ones (Pinback)
Truckdrivin Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat) (Beck)
Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini (Brian Hyland)
This was such a great idea! What if I wanted to do a pink party? How many pink foods could we come up with?
ReplyDeletePink party food & drink: pink lemonade, pink grapefruit, raspberries, bologna, hot dogs, SPAM (just kidding!) raspberry Jell-O, pink Jelly Bellies or jelly beans, cotton candy, bubble gum, pink foiled Hershey Kisses, cans of raspberry flavored seltzer, pink M&M's, PINK FROSTED CUPCAKES! :)
ReplyDeleteMore pink party food & drink: ham, strawberry ice cream, sorbet or frozen yogurt, cosmopolitans, strawberry daiquiris, pink watermelon...
ReplyDeleteLook what I just found:
http://www.food.com/cookbook/pretty-in-pink-foods-109850
Ooooooh! Great ideas!
ReplyDeleteLaura,
ReplyDeleteI love all of your ideas! Everything looks so festive and fun!
You are really an artist at heart. If I choose a "color" theme, is it better to use different tones of the same color, or keep the same exact color and then use accenting colors to add contrast?
Jess
I'm doing my sister birthday on Sunday theme is yellow she wanted for her party
DeleteI am hosting a Fourth of July party. Any suggestions as to how to turn the traditional Red, White and Blue into something fun and different?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
I can't wait for more photos and party information! You can put Party City out of business....
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jessica! I think a color theme has the most impact when you don't introduce other colors. White, silver or clear serving ware and linens help to eliminate other colors from the event and highlight the theme.
ReplyDeleteHey Jessica! Fourth of July parties have infinite possibilities and can be a ton of fun to plan. While red, white and blue certainly represents the day, you can focus your theme on a graphic element like stars, flags, fireworks, or a combination of the three. Also, not every element needs to be red, white AND blue. You can go for a more subtle look by using two of the colors as the main focus and the third as an accent. For example: a white and blue table scape with red flowers, votives or lanterns. Happy planning!
ReplyDeleteI love your mellow yellow party! Well, maybe not so mellow with a bunch of two year olds racing around.
ReplyDeleteWhat if I want to do a blue party to fit my mood and favorite color? Let's see, there's blueberry pie, blueberry pancakes, blueberry Jelly Bellies. Sounds like a yummy party and mood changer to me!
Seriously, your creativity is amazing! I especially love the yellow-themed
music. What were the tunes?
Hey Susan! Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteYes, the mellow party was anything but mellow but it was definitely FUN!
How about some blue margarita's?!
Here's the set list I created for the party:
(I downloaded all the songs from iTunes)
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Yellow Sun (The Raconteurs)
Yellow Submarine (Ringo Starr)
Yellow Cat (Slash) Red Cat (Say Anything)
Yellow Angels (Senses Fall)
Yellow (Sheila E.)
Yellow Submarine (The Studio Sound Ensemble)
Yellow (The Teeth)
Yellow Light (feat. R. Kelly) (Twista)
Blue and Yellow (The Used)
Yellow (Vitamin String Quartet)
Follow the Yellow Brick Road / You're Off to See the Wizard (Judy Garland & The Munchkins)
Yellow (Yann Tiersen)
Yellow Submarine (#1 Beatles Cover Band)
Yellow (Ken Nordine)
Yellow River (Christie)
Yellow (Coldplay)
The Yellow Rose of Texas (Countdown Kids)
Big Yellow Taxi (Counting Crows & Vanessa Carlton)
Mellow Yellow (Donovan)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
Yellow (India.Arie & Terrell Carter)
Yellow Taxi (Matt Costa)
Yellow Moon (The Neville Brothers)
Yellow Ledbetter (Pearl Jam)
The Yellow Ones (Pinback)
Truckdrivin Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat) (Beck)
Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini (Brian Hyland)
Holy Crap!
ReplyDeleteI thought there would only be 5 songs!
You should add DJ in Chief to your resume.
Love this Laura! I'm thinking I could do a pink party!!
ReplyDelete