Little C’s Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Party (+ Free Water Bottle & Treat Bag Printables)

My oldest “baby” turned four on January 1st, and we had her birthday party this last Saturday. I’ve been throwing her birthday party a couple of weeks after her actual birthday because of the busy Christmas / New Year’s season, and she hasn’t minded (yet!).

This year, she wanted a Strawberry Shortcake themed party. She picked the theme back in June (yes, June!) and explained to me in great detail her vision for the event:

“I would like to look like Strawberry Shortcake, Mama, with red sparkly hair and a strawberry on my shirt.”

(I made this costume back in October – here’s the tutorial – and it did come with a “sparkly” red wig!)

“Can I please have cupcakes with roses and pink sparkles on them?”

(The cupcakes were made with cake mix and iced with buttercream frosting. We made strawberries with homemade marshmallow fondant – they were basically just blobs of red with smaller blobs of green attached and we poked strawberry-ish holes in them with a toothpick. We completed these with edible pink sparkly sprinkles, of course!)

“For a cake, I want Strawberry Shortcake on top with her big skirt on the bottom. OK, Mom?”

(As you can see, I used my Mom Powers to usurp the cake plan a little. I couldn’t bring myself to make one of those cake-bottomed doll cakes, so we came up with this polka-dotted fondant one instead.  I put some of her Strawberry Shortcake toys on top which made her happy!)

Side Note: Last year I swore I’d never try making marshmallow fondant ever, ever again. After looking at the price of pre-made stuff this year, I decided to hand make it AGAIN. It makes me so mad to work with! All goes well until I attempt to roll it onto the cake, and then it tears apart (this cake has a patch job). Any fondant tips from experienced cake makers out there would be so appreciated!

I made this fun fabric scrap banner simply by tying fabric strips around a piece of 1/4″ wide elastic (I have plans for it’s use after the party – I’ll share that with you this week), and I made custom labels and treat bag toppers that matched our berry theme.

If you happen to throw a Strawberry-themed party, feel free to download these free printables for your personal use (make sure to print these PDF’s at full size):

Strawberry Shortcake Party Bag Tags

Strawberry Shortcake Party Water Labels

I caught Little C peeking ever so gingerly over her blindfold as she “just happened to” get the berry in exactly the right spot… What a girl.

Despite some relatively major oopses (like losing the candles, getting the pizza late, running out of hats and balloons…), my girlie pulled me in close as I tucked her in that night and said:

“Mama, that was the best party ever!”

And that made every little bit of stress and preparation worthwhile… even that impossible marshmallow fondant!

I love you, Little C. Happy fourth birthday party!