LevelUp - Wichita's Birthday Party

This past weekend, thousands of people from our community got together to celebrate the birthday of our wonderful city. A few months ago, I jumped onto a committee to help plan this giant birthday bash called LevelUp. Janelle, owner of The Workroom, was leading the way on creating an event in a recently renovated parking garage in downtown Wichita. I decided to help on the "birthday cake" aspect, as well as figuring out a way to create a large impact balloon installation on the garage.

The balloon install was so fun to work on! I reached out to my local contacts at Qualatex Creators, Pioneer Balloon, and we got to work on brainstorming a fun way to make a big impact that was doable in a short amount of time. They are always amazing to work with, and they have a talented team of artists that were able to pull this off. It was such a fun way to add color to the party, inside and out! Plus, it was entertaining spending our early Saturday morning figuring out how to caravan this many balloon bundles downtown - proud to say we did it in one trip!

I partnered with Nicole, owner of Couture Ever After, on the birthday cake situation, and we got to work on coming up with a way to serve hundreds of people a sweet treat. Nicole and I decided to make the "cake" situation a way to show off multiple bakeries across Wichita. We had a little bit of a time crunch, but we were able to secure a few great ones (in order of appearance above):

Sweetz N' Treatz - Cupcakes & Cake

Fresh Cakes - Vegan Cupcakes

Whole Foods - Cupcakes

Monica's Bundt Cake - Cupcakes & Cake

Sugar Smitten Bakery - Cupcakes

They each contributed mini cupcakes for guests to enjoy while supplies lasted, and a couple made beautiful cakes! To add some incentive, we had a few local guests judge the competition and pick their favorites. It was definitely a hard decision that they discussed for a while!

The winners?

Grand Prize - Judged on cupcakes & cake creation: Sweetz N' Treatz

They will receive an ad with Midwest Billboard - amazing prize!

Mini Cupcake Prize: Sugar Smitten Bakery

They will receive two months membership with Best in Wichita! Great group to work with.

Such a fun way to serve "birthday cake" to the attendees. We also were able to have Reverie's bakery, Founder's, make a special birthday cake for the Vice Mayor to blow out candles on after the Wichita Symphony played "Happy Birthday!"

It was such a fun event and every level had something to offer. So many great people in Wichita came together to pull it off, and we did it! Definitely head over to the event page to check out more pictures from the other levels. Special shout out again to Janelle for spear heading the project and another thank you to all the amazing committee members and volunteers!

Lots of Love,

When Life Gives You Lemons, Throw a Party!

Post written by shop girl Helena Stephens:

One of my closest girlfriends was getting ready to move to Missouri and I decided to surprise her with a send-off party! I have been wanting to throw a lemon party since I started working at Love of Character and saw the cute lemon paper by Lark and Raven. So, when my friend decided to move to another state I took that sour situation and turned it into a fun lemon party!

I love supporting local so I hosted the party at Miri's Minis - the cutest little donut shop in College Hill. For decor, I had touches of lemon all throughout. The Lark and Raven paper from the shop was my starting point. I used that on each table. Paired with a vase of wildflowers I picked and some yellow daisies mixed in, each table was simple and bright. The party was an intimate group, so each place I set with a plate and lemon napkin from the shop. I also used lemons to assign seats by writing each guests name on the leaf. Lemons are a great, affordable decoration.

The party was a surprise, so when guests arrived, they had time to sign the guest book (frame) and put their yummy recipe in the box. My friend, Sloane, had her eye on the Rifle Paper Co. recipe box at the shop for the longest time, so that was my gift to her!

The food for the party I kept simple. Donuts of course! I also made my grandma's lemon bars, served pastel yellow and white butter mints, fresh veggies and a meat and cheese tray. I served Lemon La Croix and San Pellegrino for lemon-inspired drinks, and bottles of water wrapped in pretty paper for those who preferred!

After lots of great conversation and sweet goodbyes, I sent guests home with fun going-away gifts. Each guest went home with a mini homemade lemon pie and a post card with Sloane's new address already written on it. It was such a joy to host this party and feel all the love given to my friend!

One of my favorite parts of this party was how excited and curious everyone was about their invitation to a 'Lemon Party'! Lots of yellow outfits and gifts with yellow tissue paper showed up!  And Sloane and I even had a chance to debut our Rifle Paper Co. lemon pins!

Find fun Lemon items in our shop here.

Lots of Love,
Helena

Woodland FairyTale Birthday

When my good friend, Sarah, reached out about hosting a first birthday party for her daughter, Minnie, I was so excited. Sarah is beyond creative and I knew it would be beautiful. Expecting her second child, she wanted our help with the invitations, supplies and help pulling it together the day of. She decided on a woodland theme, which has so many fun possibilities. 

For the invitation, Sarah found this adorable invitation on Minted (we carry through the shop and help make ordering easy!). It became the inspiration for the party - look and color wise. 

How incredible are those papier-mâché mushrooms? Sarah made those for the party and we were obsessed. They popped so well against the ferns and our peach wallpaper. To give some height, we pulled over some gold stools from the shop side. The wooden highchair Sarah found and we topped off the setting with a script one balloon. For the divider backdrop, we put up the turf and created a balloon garland to go along the center table. We used the red mushrooms, supplies and invite for our color inspiration. Balloon daisies added a whimsical touch.

This combination of toadstools and white daisies might be a new favorite. We added the green leaf napkins and placed a faux grass runner down the middle of the table. The sparkly pink fairy crowns have been a shop favorite, and Sarah made the adorable felt party hats. Our cupcake guru, September Moon Cupcakery, made the toadstool cupcakes that became the centerpiece to our kid table.

The food coordinated beautifully with the party theme. Sarah brought in the food and most of the adorable containers. Those berry baskets - so cute! I also love that the labels on the sparkling water bottles brought out the yellow on the balloon daisies. Seems silly, but pretty bottles for your drinks can add a nice touch to your setup. The cheese board became a favorite of the birthday girl; she sat there playing with it for most of the party.

Simple smash cakes have been a popular choice lately, and September Moon does a beautiful job on them. The white stood out against the woodland scenery and clearly it was delicious, Minnie went to town.

I had an absolute blast working on this party with Sarah - always fun to see a vision come to life, and I love her taste. Our event coordinator, Rachel, did a beautiful job with the balloon garland. The party was captured by the talented Sally Cavanaugh - how gorgeous are these photos?

Shop this post: Toadstool Plates | Daisy Plates | Leaf Napkins | Fairy Tiaras | One Script Balloon | Invitations & Balloon Garland - Please Contact Us for Ordering

Book a party - Details here.

Lots of Love,