A Few of My Favorite Things

A few years ago, when Fleuretica had just started, Victoria & David came to us for their wedding flowers. Last week, they came to us again and requested that we design a tablescape for their adorable daughter's birthday brunch! Victoria gave us free reign with the design, with her only stipulation that it was a {Cupcake and Candy} themed party. Not only were we delighted to be working with Vic & David again, but we were excited to put something fun and festive together. If you know Kendra or me, you'll know that this was something we'd probably do for our own kid...or ourselves. :)

The brunch was held at Maison Akira, a french/japanese fusion restaurant in the heart of the Pasadena Playhouse District. I have never eaten there but my brother swears they have the best champagne brunches on Sundays. I guess I have to check it out to see if he's right!

*doesn't it look quaint?

We started from the center of the table and made a cake using spider mums. Most floral supply stores should sell a foam cage on a cake stand, making this project really easy! Just submerge in water and plug in your choice of blooms. We reflexed a rose to emulate the piped whipped cream rosettes. We also added a paper flag garland around the cake stand to give it a whimsical touch (got the idea from Martha). Use any scraps you have lying around, or find cute cardstock or wrapping paper that goes with your color scheme. And don't worry about the patterns or colors not matching - the more the merrier (in this case anyway).

*Z is for Zoe, the birthday girl (that's not a 7....we raised the letter after taking the picture)

We also placed (empty) gift wrapped boxes on the table, adorned with satin bows and tulle.

Then we found little silicone baking cups at Michael's (our finds were pink and yellow flower shaped ones but they also have plain rounded and square ones). We filled them with a little wet foam and made floral cupcakes:

*we used button mums, hydrangea, alstromeria, spray roses and ranunculus. carnations work really well too!

Then we staggered glass vases in various shapes along the center of the table for the candy, using Smarties, Charm Pops, Hershey Chocolate bars, Nestle Crunch eggs, Jelly Beans, and my favorite, PEZ!

*Hello Kitty and My Melody were my absolute favorite growing up!

And putting all the elements together:

If you're feeling adventurous, this is definitely a project you can tackle for a party you're hosting. Most of the decor can be done way ahead of time, which will leave you time to focus on other things. For edible cupcakes (other than real ones) you can spear strawberries or blueberries on toothpicks and use dry foam instead. If you're feeling really resourceful, use greenery or succulents from your backyard to create different textures for the cupcakes. For a really fun touch, add balloons. LOTS of balloons. :)

We always love little projects like this. It was a refresher after a busy, double wedding weekend. We didn't take pictures from the weddings but will leave it to the pros to send us some soon. I'm looking forward to sharing with you a wedding we did at the Pacific Asia Musuem. Please stay tuned!