Madeline Birthday Party

{I changed the address for blogging purposes and sorry for the white out!}

We love birthdays! I think everyone does. A few weeks ago, we had a fun French MADELINE themed birthday party for Linden. One of our favorite literary little girls, Madeline is a French girl who lives in "an old house in Paris" and has adventures with her school friends and Miss Clavel. Written by Ludwig Bemelmans, it's such a favorite book! Our party was inspired by her, and Linden invited little girls of all ages, as well as their mamas.

Three hats decorated the front gate, and at the front entrance, we set up Mademoiselle's Boutique. Each girl received a blue cape just like Madeline wears in the stories, and a straw hat tied with black satin ribbons. It was a very hot day, over 90 degrees {in October} so not many of our jeunes filles wanted to wear their capes for long, but they did all take them home. I made the simple capes out of blue and white felt, I stitched the white collars and red satin ribbons on my sewing machine. This whole project was quite inexpensive, I think the total cost was less than $3.00 per cape.

I made almost all the decorations. I was so lucky to find several very worn ( hopefully from being read over and over!) paperback books at the used .book store, I used the " good" pages for banners. We painted an original "masterpiece" on a square canvas of Madeline and a very simple Eiffel Tower, with the birthday girl's name on it, I glued on a craft wooden sun for a three dimensional look, and displayed it on a miniature easel. Printed circles glued {really "taped"} on lollypop sticks were placed in each little striped paper cup, which we filled with raspberries and grapes, and displayed in a cupcake stand.

Home made Palmiers { HERE is the recipe} were tucked under a glass cloche. We used white vintage milkglass pedestals to go with the Red, Blue and Yellow theme. {Madeline's colors} A glittering Eiffel stands proudly on the very top tier of pedestals holding semi home made treats. {wafer cookies dipped in chocolate and sprinkles, and marshmellows with a tiny dollop of melted chocolate and an M & M.}

The cake was made by the birthday girl's Mommy. I was supposed to make a cake topper out of fondant or gum paste, but honestly, the day before the party, it was so hot, that every time I made one, it sort of melted. I finally gave up on try three, it was over 90 degrees in my kitchen, and I made a paper Madeline with a sharply and colored markers, and found a small glitter eiffel to use instead.

Sometimes it's great to have big ideas, but it's just fine to go with a simpler idea if it doesn't work out. The thing is, no one noticed that there wasn't this cute, home made fondant Madeline topper on the cake. no one. So if things don't go exactly right, and perfect, it's okay. really. The cake was frosted with blue frosting {we had no idea how difficult it can be to make the right color blue!} and then decorated with candies pressed in the frosting.

We set out tables on our back patio, so that everyone could take advantage of the beautiful day. There were two tables, one for adults or older girls, and one for the little ones. After draping each table with a white sheet {my go to undercloth, believe it or not!} we layered on a red fabric runner and then topped that off with striped wrapping paper left over from Christmas! Easy and inexpensive. It fit our theme perfectly, and everyone loved it. We used our Red Checked Cake Stand for the cake.

Each place setting had either a Red or Blue Checked Plate, Madeline Paper Cups for the girls, and a Yellow Napkin. I made little red flags for the red polka dot straws. A Blue Checked Pitcher held a simple bouquet of cheerful yellow gerbera daisies and chamomile, red, blue and yellow balloons were tied to the handle.

Below, you can see the simple art station where our little guests were able to color Madeline coloring pages courtesy of Madeline.com, they have free printables, until all the guests arrived and the party started. Linden and her sister and Mommy made the Madeline "Pin the Hat on Madeline" game which everyone loved playing. {I love that the birthday girl helped make things for her own party!} There was an Art Studio where our little artists could paint to their heart's content.

We all enjoyed Miss Clavel's spirited reading of Madeline's Rescue, read by a very funny and "good sport" Miss Clavel. {Don't you just love some of the expressions on the girl's faces?!} After story time, the guests took turns trying to open the Madeline Hat Piñata.

This was such a fun party! Below, the birthday girl {wearing a little eiffel tower charm necklace I gave her at the beginning of the party} with her Mommy and her cake. Bon Anniversaire!