(the secret to a simple) Strawberry Shortcake birthday Party

Friend, I have the secret to making your children's birthday parties extremely quick and easy.  Are you ready for the inside scoop?  Here it is:  run out of time. It's true. I've never had a simpler party to prepare for that my daughter's Strawberry Shortcake birthday party simply because I didn't have much time.  It's funny, but true.   I admit to getting carried away when it comes to party planning. The longer I have to prepare, the more complicated the project becomes.  I pinned lots of birthday party inspiration on Pinterest. I had loads of intricate plans and then life happened. Having a short amount of time forced me to keep it simple.  

I made a quick trip to Zurcher's for all of the licensed Strawberry Shortcake party supplies.  I also found the polka dot balloons there. You can purchase just about any theme or licensed-character party supplies from Zurchers.com if you don't have a store near you. 

I used the same DIY cupcake stand I used for my son's birthday party. The cupcakes were pretty atrocious-looking (another side-effect of running out of time) BUT they tasted great- and really, that is all the kids cared about.

I found the polka-dot napkins at Dollar Tree and tucked them in glittered party boxes also from Dollar Tree.

 I shopped my daughter's bedroom for a few little details: the vase full of pink carnations, a pink and green storage basket to hold party favors.

 My daughter came up with this  party game idea all on her own and it was a hit: Pin the Seed on the Strawberry.  It follows the same format as Pin the Tail on the Donkey.  I printed a BIG strawberry shape from Photoshop .  We cut out seeds from basic card stock, blindfolded each kid and sent them on their way with a seed.  Obviously, this was a big target, and better geared toward younger children.  I think this idea could be adapted to almost any party theme.

 I designed cupcake flags in Photoshop, printed them on card stock and stuck them on toothpicks.

 

The Strawberry-shaped marshmallows are one of my favorite elements of the party! Pretty candies are always my go-to cake decorations to camouflage my complete lack of cake-decorating skills.  The marshmallows made a perfect and SIMPLE decoration for my otherwise pathetic cupcakes. The strawberry marshmallows are available at WalMart in the baking aisle with the regular marshmallows.  They come in a package of 12-15 for about $2.00 per package.  Did I mention they have a chocolate filling?! Pretty amazing find!

 I propped the cute paper plates  from Zurchers in a clear napkin holder- making them a decorative element. I did something similar at my son's party.

Pressed for time or not, my daughter loved it, so I am calling it a success....even if there were no decorative cupcake liners ;)