A Shabby Chic Vintage Rose 90th Birthday Celebration

Shabby Chic Vintage Rose Birthday Invitation

This summer I went home to Ohio to help throw a 90th Birthday party for my Italian Grandmother (who we call Nannie). I was thrilled to be able to travel home to celebrate and honor my grandmother and set up a dessert table that represented who she was throughout her life. All of our immediate family traveled to see her to relive memories by telling favorite stories and sharing old photos. It was such an amazing weekend and I am so happy I could give back to her the way she gave to me throughout all the years.

Some favorite details to look for:
– Vintage music sheets
– Antique accents including a vintage bird cage and several wooded architectural pieces.
– A simple cake with printable cake toppers
– Tea bag party favors
– Oversized tissue paper flowers
– Printable floral and bird silhouettes

When planning the table, I knew it had to include music, birds & Nannie’s vintage tea cups. She was an Italian opera singer for many years when she was a young girl. She traveled the country singing beautiful music. I obviously didn’t get to hear her in her prime, but she was always singing throughout my childhood. (I think we watched the Sound of Music movie hundreds of times once VCR’s came out), but if we weren’t singing to that, we sang with my grandfather who was a pianist. Music was always a part of our worlds. Birds went right along with this… my grandmother was a bird watcher and loved the sound of birds singing and chirping near her windows. She had books and binoculars and would point out all the species when she would fill her bird feeders. The last motif I had to include were Nannie’s tea cups. She had more vintage china, tea cups, demitasse cups and expresso cups than you could ever imagine. Some was passed down from our Italian relatives and some were heirloom pieces she had collected over the years.

I started the design concept from our Shabby Chic Vintage Rose Inviation I designed this summer for the shop. The color combo and vintage flare were perfect for the vision I had for the table.

Since I was traveling so far for this party and was in town for just the weekend, I had to figure out a way to keep desserts simple, yet make a bold statement. My sisters helped me make chocolate covered oreos, and then I set a printable floral silhoutte on top. (Trick – rip a small piece of marshamallow, so it is sticky to prop up the printable – works like a charm!)

We had a local baker create cake and then I created cake toppers from the printable silhouettes found in the printable package. I created a small backdrop by layering vintage music sheets and added an antique frame with tissue flowers and a printable mini pennant banner for a focal point centered behind the cake.

I designed printable tea bag labels for party favors and set out cupcakes with printable toppers and cupcake wraps. My mom and I made home-made peach tarts and I added printable party flags.

I also made chocolate dipped pretzels and added mini pearls (polka dots) to coordinate with my shabby chic designs.

I placed home-made red velvet cupcakes in Nannie’s tea cups (which I ever-so-carefully traveled with) and added printable bird silhouettes. I also set out a vintage bird cage along with antique architectural pieces to add interest to the table.

I made solid chocolate pink flowers from a mold for little accents on the table.

I created oversized tissue paper flowers for pops of color and to match the flowers in my printable designs. You can find more tissue paper tutorials and ideas here.