My youngest, Carson, turned three years old in May. She is amazingly sweet and incredibly salty all wrapped up in an adorably feisty little package. This kid will charm the pants off of you then steal your half empty juice box while you aren’t looking and run for the woods to drink it (sorry little boy at the playground last week). As crazy as having a three year old is, however, I love it because they begin to truly understand what is going on. Carson had been to a few birthday parties this Spring and figured out quickly that birthdays are awesome because you get to eat cake. She was beyond excited for her birthday party this year. All she wanted was a Princess Elena of Avalor theme and a “big, big cake”. Ok, kid, you got it!
Carson wasn’t the only one excited for her birthday. I love making my babies smile, but I also just heart party decor and can’t hold myself back. Sorry. We went with red, coral, gold and teal for her party colors and I used her dress as a focal point for the decor. I made all of her party decorations using my Cricut Explore and am beyond excited with how it all turned out. Everything is available for sale in my Etsy shop. A tutorial on the tulle table skirt will be coming soon!
Carson’s “big, big cake” was a huge source of anxiety. We usually buy our cakes, but we recently moved to rural Rhode Island from Massachusetts and have not been able to find a good bakery. My family is tough because my older kids need gluten free ingredients and Carson is dairy free. I’m not a huge baker so I bought Bob’s Red Mill new and improved gluten free chocolate cake mix and let me tell you, it was phenomenal. I was not a fan of their mixes in the past because they used bean flour and this new one doesn’t have it. I also used Wholesome organic vanilla frosting because I can’t make my own to save my life. Seriously. It was also so yummy! A little on the super sweet side, but definitely try it. Food dye is our enemy because it makes my son CRAZY so I try to avoid it when I can. I used India Tree natural food color. The color was not a vibrant red, but created an orangey coral color and it was perfect! You can find the cake topper in my shop.
By far the highlight of Carson’s party was meeting Elena herself. I was psyched when I came across Dreams Come True and they did not disappoint. Seeing Carson’s eyes light up when she first saw Elena arrive to her party was worth Every. Single. Penny. My mom said I should hire her full time because Carson listened and did everything Elena told her to, which she doesn’t do for me. I should have been offended, but I don’t think she’s wrong. Here is the birthday girl with her favorite princess. Her dress was purchased from EndForever and her hair clip was purchased from LittleEmsDivineHats, both on Etsy.
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