We certainly had a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious party for Cibella’s 4th birthday!  I cannot believe the party was almost 2 weeks ago already.  I don’t think I have completely gotten all of the Mary Poppins tunes out of my head yet!

The day started off cloudy, cool, and rainy!  Where oh where was the high 70 degree weather and sunshine the weatherman had forecasted?  Thankfully, by mid morning the sun was peaking out and the air was warming up.

Guests were greeted at the walkway to the backyard with Mary’s black umbrella and outing hat along with Bert’s chimney brush and hat.  A poster sign featuring silhouettes of Mary, Bert and the London chimney skyline takes a quote from the movie providing instructions on how to enter the party by jumping into the chalk drawing.

White umbrellas suspended from above, the children’s dining, and a wood structure of the chimney skylines were the focal points in the yard.

Activities for the children included Build a Penguin, where guests were invited to stuff their own penguin

Let’s Go Fly a Kite where they could decorate a kite to bring home

Mrs. Brill’s Baking Day where they decorated sugar cookies with various colored icings and toppings

Pearly’s Band Instruments

Bert’s Chalk Drawings where adults and children alike enjoyed drawing on the patio by the pool.

Games included Pin the Bowtie on the Penguin, Tuppence Toss, created in the fashion of a boardwalk-style penny toss, and the Spoonful of Sugar Relay Race where the children raced to fill a tea cup full of sugar using soup spoons.

Suspended across the pool were a collection of kites that swayed in the breeze.

My daughter’s one request for this party was to be dressed in Mary’s white Jolly Holiday dress.  I was fortunate to have found Lora of Beneath the Willow who not only made a beautiful Mary dress, but also the coat and tie for Bert’s outfit.  Unfortunately, my son wanted to go bow-tie-less so I will need to get a complete outfit photo of him in the near future!

I wanted to create an elegant tablescape for the children’s dining table.  I used children’s sized white ballroom chairs, white linen tablecloth with a lavender pintuck table runner down the center.  I had an eclectic array of crystal and silver bowls used for the centerpieces of pink roses and purple kale in addition to a silver tea set.  Lavender satin napkins with rose napkin rings were placed at each seat.  Mary and Bert placecards indicated where each child was to sit.  Boys found a skimmer hat at their placesetting where girls found white gloves and straw brimmed hats at theirs.

Beverages included cucumber infused water, lemonade, raspberry ice, and rum punch, for the adults only, of course!

Cute straw tags featuring Bert, Mary, a penguin, carousel horse, and sayings such as ‘Jolly Holiday’ and ‘Chim Cher-ee’ adorned the gray striped paper straws from Hey Yo Yo.

I used the same images to create napkin rings as well.

I created the dessert tablescape using the same chalk drawing image based on a the Jolly Holiday scene from Mary Poppins.  While in past years, I have made the birthday cakes for my children, I will never have to again!  Elyse of By Little Hands created a beautiful two-tiered cake with kites, butterflies, and penguins.  Not only did it look beautiful, the taste was to die for!  I’ve never had anyone ask for seconds of cake before, but this cake went in seconds!  (I did manage to steal 2 extra slices to enjoy on Sunday, however!)

To complement the cake, I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes since the cake was chocolate. Jen of TheLilDetails created wonderful 1.5″ tall fondant penguins complete with bowties to adorn some of them.

The tablescape also included various confections and baked goods in shades of pink and white.  Candy and caramel apples tied with pink and white striped ribbon and spoonfuls of sugar provided the finishing touch to the table.

I purchased hand blended tea from Teaman in 6 varieties and placed them in tea tins wrapped in ribbons and finished off with ornate-framed labels.

Since I was providing an abundant table of sweets, I opted not to include candy in the children’s favor boxes and stuck with items that had ties to the movie.  Each child received chalk to ‘Jump into their chalk drawings,’ a ceramic piggy bank they can decorate at home with 2 pennies inside to ‘Save their Tuppence,’ and an eyelet wrapped bag of bird seed to ‘Feed the Birds.’

It was certainly a Jolly Holiday, indeed!

Contact Belleza e Luce today to plan your child’s birthday or special event!