My 5 year old hasn't really had any special birthday parties since she turned 1.  Her birthday is right after Christmas and it just sort of sneaks up on me every year.  This year I decided to go all out - and I do mean ALL OUT!  It was such a production, but I literally had no budget so I spend 2 1/2 weeks searching my house, friends houses, even my friends mother's houses - all for the perfect decor.  Daughter #2 wanted a Fancy Nancy themed tea party.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Fancy Nancy she is a very precocious, but darling little girl who is totally over the top.  She likes to look fancy, talk fancy, act fancy - everything fancy.  We had the girls dress up in outrageous dress ups and walk the "red carpet".  We used real crystal teacups filled with Shirley Temple's, garnished with a cherry.  We served tea sandwiches, tarts, finger cakes, cupcakes, and a 2-tiered birthday cake.  The birthday girl told me the only thing she would have changed is that she would have won musical chairs.  That's quite an endorsement!

For the party I dug into my crafty, domestic side and whipped out a fabric Happy Birthday banner a'la Pottery Barn (only my supplies cost less than $5 and the Pottery Barn version is closer to $75).  I also found a great tutorial on how to make tissue pom poms on Martha's website (in my mind we're so close we're on a first name basis) and went crazy making those.  I found great colorful tissue paper at the dollar store.  20 pom poms - only $4!  No tea party is complete without tea cups, but there was no way on this planet I was going to let 5 year olds use my real china.  I hit the thrift store and found matching crystal punch glasses (18 of them!) and a punch bowl.  I got everything for only $12.

 

It was a magical day and I'm so glad she enjoyed it.  The best compliment I got was from a girlfriend who said "When I'm a mom I want to be just like you!"  I seriously love her.