My sweet Clara just turned two and we wanted to throw her a special birthday party, so we went with Olivia the pig, one of her favorite characters. Are you familiar with Ian Falconer’s Olivia? I can’t lie – I think I like Olivia as much as Clara does. If you haven’t read Falconer’s children’s books, you’ve got to check them out. Here’s his Olivia:

and here is my Olivia, all dressed up for her party. Clara, say hi to everyone!

I LOVE her little outfit!!! She’s wearing a special birthday dress, embroidered with a frilly cupcake and some awesome red and white striped tights that my mom came across at Target months ago. I’ve been saving them for today! And of course, just like all of our other birthday dresses (available here) this one also has embroidered bloomers that I just had to get a picture of.

I love, love little tushes. So adorable! Ok, now that you’ve met the birthday girl, let me show you all of the special little touches at this Olivia party! We put our embroidery machine to work making this Happy Birthday banner. I think the mis-matched red and white fabrics are charming, and it’s so practical because the red and white design can be used for a boy too… if we ever have one.

Our cupcakes were also a mis-match of patterns using white, chocolate, and pink (that was supposed to be red, but you know how red icing never tastes good… so we went with pink instead) icing. Now, don’t judge too harshly. I’m just a mom with some icing and a piping bag. I’ve never had a cake decorating class… although I would love to take one some day! I liked how they turned out.

I also made party hats with pig ears for all of the kiddos. Each of the girl’s hats had a little red ribbon tied on each ear… just like Olivia.

And here is Clara in her party hat. It really completes the outfit!

Here’s our baby girl, Macy Jane, in her party hat. I was very impressed that she kept it on.

I love, love, love how my girls love one another. They’re 13-1/2 months apart, and they’re already the best of friends!

We embroidered Edwin, Olivia’s kitty, on the felt goody bags for all of the kiddos and clothes-pinned a name tag to each bag.

We also had a party craft to entertain the little ones. I assembled the pieces for personalized block necklaces in little cellophane bags and let the kids put their own necklaces together. All of the components were red, black, and white to go along with the Olivia theme. I have party craft packs available in my Nanny Birds shop.

While Clara was busy opening gifts… and everyone was focused on her, Macy Jane toddled over to the picnic bench where someone left a piece of chocolate, and discovered her new favorite food!

Here are a few more pictures I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share.

It was such a fun party… but truth be told, at the end of the day I had to say, “Clara, you really wear me out. But I love you anyway!” … just like Olivia’s mom tells her in Falconer’s books.

I forgot to take pictures of the Olivia gift that I made for Clara, but I want to share it too. I’ll probably post it tomorrow.

- Brooke