There are no words that can truly sum up Laci's 5th Birthday Party. It was nothing short of epic. I love creating the theme parties, my guests seem to love it, and my husband is amazing for being supportive of my visions coming to life! This post is going to be a long one, so sit back, relax, grab a drink and lets go for a stroll through the Chocolate Factory (aka "Our House"). I never really know where to start with these, so lets start with the most impressive thing from the party. THE CAKE! I love Say it With Sugar in downtown Wylie, TX. They are amazing and have "nailed it" every time I work with them. I totally suggest following them on Facebook so that you can see all the fantastic and creative cakes they post. This year I took in pages and pages of cakes that I liked, didn't like, loved elements on part of them, etc. and they took that direction and turned out one of the most stunning cakes we could have ever asked for. Here are the tier flavors from top to bottom: Top Tier - The Purple Wonka Hat: Tutti Frutti - This is a mix of their white cake (I think) with raspberry and lemon filling. This really should have been one of the bigger tiers because it was amazing!!! Second Tier - Blue layer with the Wonka Bars - Boston Creme - This is currently one of my favorite cupcakes and the cake was just as amazing! I have gained two pound because of this tier alone! Third Tier - Green with the diamond pattern - Carrot Cake - Nothing short of fabulous mouth watering yummy goodness. Fourth Tier - Orange with the red stripes - Marble Cake - I don't remember the filling we got on this one, but this cake was so moist and delish that it was devoured before the party was over and very little went into the to-go boxes to give to our guests as they left. Fifth and Bottom Tier - Yellow with Laci's name is their wedding cake flavor. This is my absolute favorite, nothing tops it, its the best cake on the PLANET! I had them do a swirl on the inside and it turned out awesome. I don't really know how many pictures we got of it, I know I got one or two and if I find them later will pop them in the post. All the guests were surprised, Jake said it looked like a gobstopper on the inside. The colors I remember that they used were orange, pink, yellow, purple and I believe blue. There were complements on the entire cake as far as aesthetics and there were so many people that said how wonderful the cake tasted! Here are more pictures of the cake I was trying to do a marquee... but the silly thing isn't working how I want... so until I get that figured out the pictures are just going to be under one another. Here is the picture of Laci with the Cake for size reference. For those of you that want to know where I got the hat, I got it from Little Casa Roo on Etsy, they make the cutest tiny top hats. The shirt came from Birthday Couture and the skirt came from Connie with Hot Tots Cool Kids 2, she also did Laci's dress from last year (I <3 her!). So much more could be said about this cake, but I think it truly speaks for itself. It was worth every cent an then some! The decorations are always a big part of what really sets the theme. This year was so much more difficult than years past to come up with things that would really just nail it. In the end I think we pulled it off, but it was nothing short of hard work and dedication! The front of my house: Close up of the garage - To do the letters on the clouds I used the Wonka font on my Silhouette Cameo and cut them out about 4" tall - The Wonka Gate turned out cute, but it looks tinier on my garage than I thought it would: Oh, how can you have a party without a character? You can't, well not at my house anyways, so we had Willy Wonka. Here he is with Laci... Isn't he just the cutest Wonka ever! Everyone loved him and I am sure that he enjoyed playing Wonka as much as everyone enjoyed taking pictures with him. A special thank you goes out to Laci's cousin Ryan who played Wonka for us! We did buy the Deluxe Candy Man costume from Halloween Costumes.com . I took it and got it dry cleaned since it was quite wrinkled when it arrived. Ryan wore his own tan pants and brown shoes since the pants that came with it aren't fitted and it didn't come with shoes. The hat was horrid, so we found a better hat to go with the costume. Overall it was a decent costume that needed modifications. We also got a picture of all of the "purple people" aka Staff hehehe with the shirts I made for the party for the family, with the birthday girl. From left to right you have Uncle Tim, Aunt Jennifer, Grammy, Laci, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma & Grandpa. Here is a close up of Holden's Shirt: Front: Back: Uncle Tim and Holden were Quality Assurance Aunt Jennifer and Grammy were Fizzy Lifting Specialists Mommy and Daddy were Tour Guides Grandma & Grandpa were Chocolate Specialists It was so much fun to have the immediate family included this way! Continuing with outside now... This is the flower garden side close up - The balloons were on these plastic sticks which were perfect for making lollipops. My mother in law helped out a ton with these and I think they made for the cutest decorations for the front yard. The sign on the window says "Bubbles, bubbles everywhere, but not a drop to drink." The bubble machine was in full swing as the party guests arrived. Also, my amazing hubby had sound looping out the window of the song Pure Imagination playing to enhance the mood and set the tone. Front left of the entry with a large Oompa Loompa. Isn't he just the cutest welcoming everyone. Front right with a sign that read "In your wildest dreams you could not imagine the marvelous surprises that await you." Last year I went right to left around the house, but in spirits of switching things up (well and saving the best for last) I am going to go left to right, so lets get started. Here is the front left of the entry: Remember how the kids signed the contract to get into the Chocolate Factory? Well I had to have the contract, so I made my own and got it printed at Vista Print. It was just perfect and really got the kids and parents into the swing of things for the party! Here is Laci with Grammy about to sign the contract: Laci signing the contract: After the party, all the signatures including Mommy and Daddy: Next you have the table of goodies for the kiddos to take with them as they left, they got a whirly lollipop and a pair of Wonka vision goggles to go. All I can say is "HUGE HIT" so much better than doing goodie bags with tons of tiny pointless stuff inside! Close ups of the Whirly Lollipops and the Wonka Vision Goggles: Next you have the small hall to the bathroom: Just in-case you were wondering is the bathroom decorated... you bet your bottom it is... hehehe I couldn't resist, sorry, bad joke I know. This is a 360 of the bathroom and it is really cool... Take your mouse and click and drag it from left to right and it will spin the picture around the entire bathroom... got one in the front entry and kitchen that I will add in later too. How did I do this? I knew you would ask (if you can't see it, I noticed on my iPad that it wouldn't show it becuase it is flash)... "there's an app for that" on the iPhone called DMD. It is $1.99 but totally worth it! Wish I knew about it before the party started so that I could have done one of the kitchen before the cake was cut and served. Eh, C'est la Vie... I got some great pictures of it anyways. :) Ok, so now out of the bathroom onto the next wall is Willy Wonka. Isn't he just the cutest? I could eat this one up he turned out so cute! Wish I had made him a little taller, but he fit perfectly in this space either way! Next going up the stairs we had to have an Oompa Loompa with his sugar bags: On to the kitchen you see Veruca Salt in the scene with the large geese that lay golden chocolate eggs. It turned out pretty good! Yes even my pantry and laundry room doors were decorated! Now for some reason I didn't really get a full kitchen shot, so here the kitchen is after it got cleaned after the party. Yes the refrigerator has the invitation on it... In fact, do you see all of the invitations from years past? I love doing this! It is crazy to see how much she has grown over the years! When you were walking into the kitchen (minus the purple background), this is what you would have seen.... I LOVED how the Wonka Bar boxes turned out! They were a perfect inexpensive addition to the party! I also had hot dogs behind this table by the stove and then the drinks were outside in buckets. Note to self... more water and pouch juices... less soda for next year. :) Next lets travel outside into what I would call the Wonka Play area... first from left to right you have the face painters who did an amazing job! I love them! If you are in the DFW area you totally need to hit me up to get their info, the mom and daughter come together and are wonderful! I believe the name of their business is Face Fusion BodyArt and the number to reach the Mom Kathy Rice is 214-457-5946. If you book in the next two months and mention my party and that I referred you I know that you will get a discount. We wanted to have plenty of seating for the guests so we ordered tables and chairs from Confetti's Rentals. They were awesome to work with! Even though it was so hot a couple of them didn't get used, but at least the gesture was there so people didn't feel like they HAD to stand. The purple table cloths were awesome and really added that POP of color! The bounce house was super huge! It had a full bouncer and a full slide. We love using Fun Times Party Rentals the owner Damian is awesome! He brought the bouncer the day before so that I could make the bounce house panel. I just bought a white tarp and velcro. Put the velcro on the bounce house, laid down the tarp, pulled the tarp off and cut around the velcro outline. Then decorated it with pre cut vinyl that I made on my silhouette. It turned out perfect! Back inside to the living room here is another one of those scrolly pictures from the DMD app so take your mouse and click and drag it from left to right and it will spin the picture around. Looks like I am missing a couple pictures of the left wall decorations... I am sure they are back on the main hard drive or my sister has them, just don't have access right now. Here is the fire place mantel: Closer up: In the living room and in the upstairs playroom we had the movie playing as additional entertainment. Totally just realized that the Mike Teavee that I free drew inside the little TV was covered by balloons. Here is where I am going to pout for a minute... I can't believe I did that. All the dots over the tv were him in the air and then I had drawn him inside of the TV. It was really cute! Well you can take my word for it. Here is a look over the 1/2 wall into the dining room... The pole has Wonka Wallpaper on it... no really it does! I told you my nephew Holden was Quality Assurance. I am pretty sure I got a thumbs up on this one. :) This is a shot into the dining room - the candy table is on the left and the fountain table is on the right: There was a little bit of everything on the candy table... pixie sticks, spree, sweet tarts, nerds, nerd ropes, fun dip, assorted wonka candy and yes over 90% of it was Wonka Candy. I also got some report of kiddos getting sick after the party. In no spot does it state you must consume all of this at the party. I mean there was plenty to take home. I take responsibility for it being there, but not for the children consuming it. :o) This is the fountain table... isn't it pretty :o) On the chocolate fountain side we had the following things to dip: * Angel Food Cake * White Oreos * Chocolate Oreos * Pretzels * Marshmallows * Strawberries * Oranges On the cheese side we had the following things to dip: * Pretzels * Assorted Veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, sugar snap peas and carrots) * Celery * Nacho Chips * I also had salsa and jalapenos for the nacho chips In the middle of the fountains we had the Wonka pudding cups. I LOVED how these turned out! Laci's Grandma was a super huge help with these and another treat I will expound on another day. But these were awesome! I was trying to play off of the movie when Gene Wilder picks up the flower looking cup, drinks something and then eats it. Last major wall was Violet Beauregarde when she turns into a blueberry after eating the experimental three-course meal gum. As the guests were leaving they saw this on the back of the door. Here is the last of the 360 type dragging pictures I have. So take a spin around and you can see the entire entry. It is pretty awesome! Here is one of the kiddos showing off their Wonka Vision Goggles: Now for some additional fun photos from the party: Holden and Wonka: Jake, Grandpa, and Wonka (aka Cousin Ryan): My cheer gal pals with their golden tickets: My sister Jennifer and I: The balloons before they were all put out! Me starting to tear the cake apart... this is heartbreaking dude! Wonka, Jake, Laci and I before singing Happy Birthday! Laci blowing out her candles: Laci and I right before singing Happy Birthday. I look more like a big sister teenager than a mom here, but you know what... I will take it. For those of you that have inquiring minds I am 28 about to be 29 in June. So, no I am not a teen mom. ;) Last but certainly not least is a picture of my amazing hubby and I. I truly consider myself the luckiest girl in the world to be married to a man that understands my creative side and lets me be me. I couldn't ask for a more wonderful life! As for the party it went off amazingly. The only small hiccup was the chocolate fountain not wanting to be a fountain and turning into fondue, but if that is the only thing I can think of, then I am proud to have done such a good job planning. I can't thank everyone who helped me enough, from my in-laws and their days of labor and clean up to the friends who helped clean after the party was over. I am in debt to you! Laci is one lucky girl that you all care so much about her! For anyone with questions, ask away, it just may take me a couple of days to recoup from the exhaustion. TTFN~ Julie