Akshaya Shakthi’s 7th Birthday Celebration

The past summer Akshaya watched Peter Pan for the first time and she fell in love with the movie, particularly Tinkerbell. It was no surprise when she requested a Tinkerbell themed party in December for her 7th birthday. In seven years, this is probably the second time that Akshaya has asked for a licensed character themed party. I am not a huge fan of licensed characters so I chose to incorporate flowers and mushrooms to add a touch of elegance and possibly turn the theme from just Tinkerbell to a fairy garden theme. Akshaya happily agreed with my suggestion and we went on to plan the details of her party together.

The inspiration for the cake table and cake itself came from this beautiful invitation by Latisha Horton of Eccentric Designs.

The cake table turned out just as I had envisioned, thanks to the following vendors:

Mandy and Rippu from Fleur Design and Décor set up the gorgeous green grass and flower backdrop that perfectly complimented the fairy garden theme I had in mind.They were on time to set up, very professional, and also fun to be around. Mandy and Rippu not only set up the flower wall but also stuck around to help set up the balloons and table which was incredibly thoughtful. Fleur Design and Décor offers not only backdrop rentals but also cake toppers and floral crowns. In the pictures you can actually see Akshaya wearing one of Mandy’s flower crowns.

The beautiful floral details of the flower wall can be seen behind Vishnu’s head in the picture below.

Akshaya’s birthday cake was made by me. Every year I choose to make my children’s birthday cakes. It is something I love to do and even if it isn’t perfect by my standards, the children’s faces always light up when they see the finished cake. The Tinkerbell themed cake I made for my little girl took about three days from start to finish. The top tier is the only tier that is real cake, so that significantly cut down on time. In hindsight, I should of made the Tinkerbell topper a week in advance but I didn’t get time with the kids being sick so I made it just a day before the party. Unfortunately the topper didn’t get a chance to dry properly and sort of sunk. Other than for that little detail, I was thrilled with how the cake came together.

As always, Angela Nushis of Angie’s Sweet Little Kitchen provided the sweet treats which consisted of pastel coloured macarons, butterfly and 3D mushroom sugar cookies, flower cupcakes, and green grass cakepops for the cake table. I cannot say enough good things about Angie. Her treats are of great quality, always fresh, and always enjoyed by all the guests. If you live in the GTA or neighbouring cities, I highly recommend Angie for all your sweet treat orders. She makes all sorts of delicious creations from cakes, cupcakes, and cake pops, to cookies, macaroons, pies, and biscotti.

This beautiful lantern from Home Sense, chosen by Akshaya, served as décor as well as serve ware for the delicious cakepops by Angie.

One of my talented friends made the pudding chocolate pudding cups pictured below. She topped it with Oreo crumbs to look like dirt and added a mint leaf on top to look like leaves were sprouting through the dirt.

The star toppers and the Tinkerbell toppers were made by Danya of D&R Décor and More. This was my second time ordering cake toppers from Danya and she has been amazing accommodating my last minute orders and providing quality toppers.

No party is complete without entertainment! To keep Akshaya’s friends and cousins entertained, I had set up the kids table with colouring books and crayons until Alannah from Happy Faces Inc. arrived. Alannah quickly set up and got to work painting the faces of the 15 kids that were there and then twisting balloons as per the children’s requests. Alannah was definitely the highlight of the party — She was so friendly, funny, and incredibly talented at her craft. All the kids just loved her! In addition to face painting and balloon twisting, Happy Faces Inc. also offers glitter tattoo application and Par-T-Pets where children get to stuff their own plush animals and adopt them.

Every time a child’s birthday comes around I tell myself that I have to start planning earlier so that I am not so stressed out by the end of it but it has yet to happen. When you are a household with three young kids, cold/flu is a vicious yet inevitable cycle especially beginning of December and usually the planning and execution of Akshaya’s birthday gets delayed.

This year I had an amazing support system and without them, I truly could not have gotten everything done. My parents babysat the children so that I could finish decorating the last bits of the cake and my friends helped with transporting the cake, running last minute errands, and setting up. A day before Akshaya’s party, I realized I needed a white tablecloth for the cake table and Vineetha of Vins & Pins came to the rescue and graciously offered to lend me her white tablecloth.

The party went as planned and everyone had a wonderful time. I couldn’t be happier with the way everything turned out!

NOTE: All the photographs were taken by up and coming photographer Dilipan Singam of D-Touch Images. For pricing and availability inquires, you can contact him via Instagram here.