Dress-up theme birthday party for girls

What girl doesn’t love playing dress-up? This frilly and fashionable birthday party is a little girl’s dream, and it’s so much fun for a mom to plan, too. Take it from Jennifer Needham of Double The Fun Parties, who dreamed up and planned every detail of this party down to the very last rhinestone – and also incorporated a variety of dress-up theme designs that I created just for the occasion! She says, “Call it a dress-up party, call it a princess party, call it a fashion party – I promise your birthday girl and her guests will be giggling for hours!”

“When my two girls turned four, they wanted two different birthday parties,” Jennifer says. “I split the difference by creating a dress-up party, so each girl could dress in the theme of her choice. Their friends came in costumes, and wore ours, adding loads of jewelry. It was a blast, so I’ve re-created the party to share it with you. You can purchase a Dress-Up Party Plan or Dress-Up Party Kit from my Etsy shop.”

It all starts with the perfect invitation! Jennifer and I worked together to create the party theme using a color scheme of fuchsia, pink, aqua, and yellow, including several sweet patterns and whimsical fonts. I drew the dress form based on a beautiful (real) dress Jennifer found on Pinterest. I absolutely love how the invitation turned out!

The party was held in the eclectic and wonderful Salon Bastille. Jennifer set up a dessert table in the center of the salon on a round table. The table was draped in a fuchsia pintuck tablecloth and a printable banner. Behind the table, she set up a folding screen to serve as a backdrop. The dressing screen was in keeping with the dress-up theme and was decorated with the birthday girl’s initial in pink, glittery fabulousness.

All of the desserts on the table were pink and had fashion or jewelry inspiration. The cake was a vanilla ruffle cake, which was selected because the ruffle is reminiscent of a dressmaker’s details. Jennifer’s budget tip: “If your Target has a bakery, take them a photo of my cake and ask them if they can recreate it. My Target charged me $18 for this three-layer cake.”

The white chocolate covered Oreos drizzled with pink chocolate are from Sweet Tooth Sweetie. The sugar jewels are from Candied Cakes. The chocolate cupcakes were frosted with the same pink frosting as the cake, then topped with custom-designed 3D fondant toppers from Edible Details. Little shoes, purses, and pearls – so cute!

Each food item was labeled with an individually personalized printable buffet card.

Cookie pops were made to match the invitation by Sweet Goosie Girl. They might just be my favorite detail from the whole party – it’s amazing to see my dress illustration made into a gorgeous cookie! : ) Jennifer says, “These cookies just took my breath away! And cookies on a stick are just more fun.”

The corset lollipops and edible chocolate buttons were from The Frosted Petticoat.

The cake was topped with a wooden doll made to look like the birthday girl. You can find the cake topper at Sweetie Pie Cake Topper.

I just love the rhinestone details used throughout the decor! They’re from Simply Sassy Source.

Of course a dress-up party has to incorporate lots of costume options and accessories for the party guests! Jennifer planned several activities for the party, including playing dress-up, having a fashion show, crafting “bead” bubblegum necklaces, and making sugar hand scrub. She says, “All the components needed for these activities and crafts were housed in a metal cabinet. I lined the shelves with the same pink paper place mats used on the dining table. From the cabinet doors, I draped pink and turquoise bead garland.”

“In the Jewelry Station, I purchased an open frame and added black foam core, then pinned gloves to the board. We also had necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, and feather hair clips. The rings were displayed on white mini mirrors. On either side of the cabinet were clothes trees that held our dresses and feather boas. For the birthday girl, we had a special pink beaded crown.”

Once the girls were dressed to the nines, they were treated to a lunch in the lobby of the salon, where they sat on fantastic poofy floor pillows. Jennifer says, “From a turquoise chandelier above the table, I hung pink tissue poms. Our centerpiece was a pink, dress form-style jewelry holder that displayed one of our finished craft projects. And I couldn’t resist adding a ‘Tiffany’ box with a bling ring to each place setting.”

The personalized bottle labels were a perfect match on bright yellow sodas – and they were a big hit with the girls!

The girls made sugar hand scrub from a few simple ingredients, then packaged up their creations in jars that Jennifer had prepared in advance. The jars are decorated with printable circles from Chickabug.

Daizy Bugz designed a necklace especially for the party. Each girl had her own necklace craft kit in our party colors.

Each girl could change costumes and accessories as much as they liked. Then they took turns walking the Pink Carpet, which they loved!

At end of the party, each girl received a costume award. These were all non-competitive awards, like “Most Layers” or “Pinkest.” Jennifer made these by altering inexpensive award ribbons from WalMart and adding printable circles from Chickabug. She also made purses from dollar store bags, a silk flower, and a Chickabug thank you tag. The girls used the purses to take home their favors.

It was so much fun to work with Jennifer on this party!! I have to give her all the credit in the world for being such a fantastic, thorough, and inventive party planner and stylist. I’ve seen the Dress-Up Party Plan that she made – a party plan is a PDF guide with all of the information you need to re-create this party – and it’s just incredibly detailed and easy-to-follow. If you’d like, you can can purchase a party plan through Jennifer’s Etsy shop!