Gracie's Parisian Schnauzer Art Party

For more details go to My Three Little Girls Blog
https://mythreelittlegirlsblog.wordpress.com/

First you need to know I love to party plan and I have three little girls. I always start a year in advance to plan and purchase products....because I want to and because it is expensive. I asked my daughter and she told me she wanted an art party!! I immediately got on to Pinterest for some "pinspiration" and found myself in a sea of rainbows and bright colors. I embraced the idea and decided it would be easy.....but then she added details.....or should I say demands. She told me she wanted a Paris Schnauzer Art Party. Could she be anymore specific?? I knew I wouldn't be able to find a Parisian "Schnauzer" Art Party so I searched for Parisian Art Party and found a few ideas but the colors were wrong. Our Miniature Schnauzer, Molly, is black and I knew we needed to match. I could only picture a little French girl or boy wearing a black and white striped shirt with a red neck scarf and beret. My vision of Red hearts, Black and White Stripes and a splash of turquoise came to life after I searched for the perfect invitation, cake, cookies, clothing and decorations. My daughter's birthday is in March so I was very fortunate to find a lot of Valentine's Day decor that would work for our party.....Paris is the "City of Love," right?? Target had a lot of black and white striped Valentines decor and I really hit the jack pot at Michaels!! I gave up hope finding Schnauzer decorations and decided I would make Schnauzer cut outs and Eiffel Tower cut outs with my Silhouette Cameo. My daughter and I sketched out a cute black schnauzer wearing a beret holding a paint brush in his mouth and sent it to Sugar By the Sea to see if we could get a cake with the schnauzer on it and sugar cookies along with Eiffel Tower decorations. She loved the idea. My last attempt to make it Schnauzer themed. I really needed canvases for a decent price, so off to Michaels I went. To my surprise, they had the best Valentine's Day theme and it was perfect!!.....The cutest black Scottie Dogs! I bought what I could....bags, foam crafts, cookie cutter, felt Scottie dogs, little clothes pin, stickers, and of course the plates and napkins. I modified those little Scotties into beret wearing Schnauzers. I didn't dare tell my daughter the difference and decided that not one 8 year old would know the difference....or I at least I hoped. Thanks to Valentine's Day I found the cutest little black and white striped dress at Children's place and bought a cute shirt that she would wear the day before. I purchased berets on Amazon and searched every where for red heart sunglasses. How cute would that be? I did find some at the Dollar Store....but they were not exactly what I was looking for. I was able to find the cutest pair at Children's Place and they were on sale....not as cheap as I had hoped but I had to have them. I bought plain white kids aprons from Joanns and added an Eiffel Tower vinyl transfer and a cute red and white polka dot bow. I found heart plates, banners and balloons. Thank goodness Hobby Lobby had a Paris theme section for girls and I bought a few Eiffel Towers and a cute Paris sign with a pink heart that I painted red. Gracie and I worked on the food and we decided to keep it simple with cake pops, macaroons, Madelines, croissants and cheese and crackers. Grace the American Girl Doll gave us a lot of ideas for our patisserie. I then wanted a black and white striped canopy for our little bakery so I bought enough fabric for the tables and canopy from fabric.com. I also ordered plain white cupcakes from Walmart that I would decorate with black Eiffel Towers cut from my Silhouette Cameo and cute toppers that said "Paris is Always a Good Idea" from the shop Pedaling Designs on Etsy. I had to force/ask my husband to build a new picnic table and easels for each girl. I traced Eiffel Towers on each canvas and had templates of hot air balloons, hearts, schnauzers, clouds, and balloons for the girls to personalize their canvases. I added a few more details with black and white straws with red hearts, black ribbon tied on square bottles, a few food labels and a couple of signs and we were done. With the help from my mother, we cleaned, decorated and were set for the party.

• What People Ate

  Subs, crossiants with pimento cheese, cheese and crackers, chips

• What People Drank

  Lemonade and sweet tea

• Desserts

  Cake pops, cake, cupcakes, Madeleines, and macaroons

• Party Favors

  Cute little schnauzer bags with heart glasses, mini schnauzer clothes pins, Eiffel Tower stickers and a Paris themed foam craft. The kids also had a black beret, apron, and another pair of red heart glasses. Boys got black mustaches instead.

• Activities / Games

  They painted a canvas

• Brenda King

  Mother extraordinaire

  Devoted grandmother with mad decorating and cleaning skills