Party // the airplane birthday party

May 18, 2011

after sharing the invitations, and the party favors, i am excited to share with you the actual party details!  i’ll be sure to share all my sources at the end of this post.

it was nice to use a lot of items i already had, globes from my collection of globes, a vintage school map from ezra’s room, and some vintage suitcases i have had for years.

i set up a table with “in-flight” beverages, and “in-flight” snacks.  i wanted to keep the food simple, so i wasn’t too much work.  it turned out perfect to include the snacks and beverages like they do on airplanes.  and, of course the cake, made by my friend celeste of tiers of joy cakes.

we served lemonade in these cute glass jars (hint: these are starbucks frappacino drinks that i washed out and peeled off the stickers) with blue stripey straws, and fun flags i made using old maps from an atlas and my lifestyle crafts die cut machine using the party flag die.   the fun map pennants around the cake plate were made using the pennant die cut and old maps.
i jumped on the bandwagon of the fun bunting on cakes, and made a bunting out of paper airplanes i folded from paper from an old map book i found at the thrift store.  i just taped the paper airplanes to some bakers twine and tied them between two skewers.
it was fun to put together some “in-flight” snacks.  i put an assortment of snacks in a vintage suitcase, peanuts, chips, pretzels, popcorn, rice krispie treats.
i made the map garland out of some old atlas’ and one of my favorite die cuts from lifestyle crafts, the nesting pennants die.  it makes it so easy to just crank out some cute garland out of any kind of paper. 
a fun thing we did for the party was go to an actual airplane museum.  we met our guests at a the local air force airplane museum and let the kids run around and check out all the old airplanes.  my husband even came up with a scavenger hunt for the kids.
the “baggage claim” area.  where the guest picked up their party favors.  (i ended up putting the favors in another small vintage suitcase, but forgot to get a picture after i made the switch.)
my little birthday boy was all smiles that day.  it really made it all worth it to see how much he enjoyed his party.  afterwards he gave me a big hug and thanked me for his great airplane party.  what a cutie pie!
i can’t believe my little ezra is four?!
{to see more of the airplane party, click here}
party sources
large vintage school room map:  thrifted

glass jars:  starbucks frappacino jars, cleaned and stickers removed (you can find these at most grocery stores, i bought mine at costco)
blue striped straws:  kikkerland
gray striped trays: ikea
globes: vintage, thrifted
vintage suitcases: thrifted
striped table cloth:  ikea sofia fabric

cake plate: martha stewart

cake:  by tiers of joy cakes

map paper:  thrifted old atlas books
* to receive 20% off any items from lifestyle crafts (used to make many of the decorations), use the code ARMELLE at checkout!
20% off lifestyle crafts
{all photos by me}

24 thoughts on “Party // the airplane birthday party

  1. jessie

    You are the party planning pro. Everything looks great.

    My little girl just turned one, and I totally had intentions of doing a cake bunting for her cake, but I totally spaced it when it came down to the wire!

    Love all the details, and especially the fact that you went to an actual airplane museum. So fun for all the kids!

    Reply
  2. Rach

    ahhhh! this is so dreamy. you did everything perfectly. definitely cute,(but manly), and not over the top, like, the kids probably totally enjoyed the details.

    Reply
  3. Lorie

    Caroline, the entire party is amazing! My absolute favorite is the paper airplane cake bunting! Such a perfect touch! I am going to feature your party on my site tomorrow.

    Reply
  4. Sherice

    What a great party~ and the details are to die for. Love the vintage maps and suitcases~ seriously so perfect! Looks like the kiddos had a great time:)

    Reply
  5. {jane}

    oh, caroline – it's adorable! you did a great job – every detail is so perfect! i love that you have a blank-wall you can use as a backdrop for your table/decor during parties… maybe our home in boston has a blank wall waiting for me!

    happy birthday, ezra!!!

    Reply
  6. .caroline armelle.

    hi liz.

    it was a specific one for the air force base museum. but, really it was quite detailed, more for adults, ha!

    if i track it down i'll let you know. i have no idea if he saved it.

    Reply

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