Party Recap...

Every year I get so excited to style for my son, Greyson, and this year for this 6th birthday it was quite the fete. He had several requests this year and I really wanted to incorporate all of them. Moustaches. Restaurants with Cooking. Dress Up. I thought long and hard about creative ways to include all of these requests. Then one day while visiting Kindergarten on Pizza Day - it all came to me. {Papa G's Pizzeria: Moustaches & Mozzarella}. I would create a restaurant just for him.

After that was decided, I contacted my fabulous friend Paula of Frog Prince Paperie to turn my son into an Italian Chef cartoon. She did an amazing job! For the printable collection, I wanted to use red and white checkered patterns with the traditional Italian colors. When searching for new, creative twists on parties – patterns are a wonderful way to achieve that goal.

THE INVITATION
From start to finish, I wanted Greyson and his friends to have the full experience of a restaurant geared towards them. White mini pizza boxes from Instawares were embellished with a cover, address label, invitation on the inside panel and a custom Pizza Delivery Magnet created by Buttonhead. I loved the added touch of the magnet so that the children could put it on the refrigerator to look forward to the upcoming party. I added checkered parchment paper to the bottom and Lynlee’s Petite Cakes created giant pizza cookies. The detail work on the cookie was absolutely amazing! Greyson hand delivered all of the invitations dressed in his pizza delivery outfit. The experience ended up being so great as it was a wonderful opportunity to see all of his friends.
Note: As a promise to Greyson years ago, I do not resell his invitation. I wanted to have an option for clients that are interested in this collection so not only did we create an invitation for Greyson, but there is also a DIY invitation in the collection.
DESSERT TABLE
I chose Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria as the venue for the party partly because of its wonderful pizza but mostly I just fell in love with all of the vintage details. The brick and wood walls, black and white framed New York photos and the black tables and chairs were a dream. I knew that the backdrop for the dessert table would be created from the elements in the room. I used red felt fabric and added the red and white and black and white checkered tablecloths.
Display Props & Sweets
The chef alligator, known to us as Simon, was the perfect centerpiece. The chalkboard that stands next to him was filled with the Daily Specials and it was an added way to incorporate the chalkboard element into the main display. My new favorite must-have is chalkboard ink. I have the worst issue with chalk so when I was introduced to the ink – it was love at first sight. Plus it washes away with soap and water. I added in my favorite Gourmet art from my kitchen and made a Papa G frame using the printables from the collection.
For Greyson’s party, I wanted to try a new look to the traditional birthday banner. I used the pizza cutouts from the collection and added a 3D look using foam as mozzarella cheese and olives. Brown mini poms were a great substitute for sausage.
Whenever I style tables, my first shopping trip is to the thrift stores for goodies. I was lucky to find a Lazy-Susan for $3 and the large Pizza Peel for $2. We spray painted the Lazy-Susan Italian green and set it on top of the galvanized steel bucket added with a moustache placard glittered by The Purple Pug. The Lazy-Susan displayed the brownie bites with the stunning fondant toppers by Lynlee’s Petite Cakes. Words cannot describe the amazing detail on each topper. There were eight different designs: red and white checkered #6 with moustache, pizza topper that matched the cookies from the invitation, chef hat and rolling pin, pizza ingredients, pizza cutter, red with black moustache, embossed Papa G and the most impressive of all – Papa G himself.
To display the cupcakes on the table, I covered a red box with red and white checkered paper and added a moustache to the front with a pizza pan on top. The chocolate chip cupcakes were from Retro Bakery and were embellished with cupcake toppers from the collection. I used Hey YoYo black and white checkered cupcake wrappers to finish the look.
The chocolate moustaches on the sticks from Lynlee’s Petite Cakes were a huge hit with the kids. There were three different types of moustaches and each was tied with red and white checkered ribbon. I saved stewed tomato cans to use as displays for the party. Each can was washed and dried {note: I have a can opener that cuts a clean line leaving no sharp edge} and embellished with matching paper and 4” party circles and moustaches from the collection. The edges were adorned with the ruffled crepe paper provided by Superchick Studios. I added foam to the inside and a bit of shred for added color and the moustaches fit wonderfully in the top. I made Papa G centerpieces and tied them with matching fabric to add height to the cans.
The chef hat cake pops were displayed in a similar way but instead of cans, I used mini paint cans. The pops were designed by Lynlee’s Petite Cakes to mimic the chef hat in the logo. As a lover of cake pops, these were so yummy.
Grimaldi’s was kind enough to lend me the pizza stands and pans to display the amazing cookies by Cookies Are My Canvas. The detail on the red and white checkered chef hats and moustaches were amazing plus they tasted just as good.
The chocolate chip cookie cake (yes there were actual chocolate chip cookies inside) was made by Retro Bakery and displayed on the large pizza peel. I designed the cake to mimic the look of the party – red and white checkered pattern, moustaches and Italian green. It was a perfect fit!
All of the extra sweets were sent home in pizza boxes that matched the invitation.
FAVOR TABLE
I used a metal wine rack as the favor table covered in the red and white checkered tablecloths. The sweet treat pizza boxes were stacked on top for the guests to grab and fill before the left.
The kids favors were mini old-fashioned coke bottles with custom red Pizza straws created by Krazy Straws and tied with favor tags. The kids were thrilled they were sent home with a coke!
The adult favors were geared toward families and their time together. I cannot take credit for this idea as it came from Greyson. He wanted each family to receive the ingredients to make a pizza at home. That way they would get to have family time together which is very important to our family. I completely fell in love with the idea and went to work. I knew the custom canvas bags from Paper Nook would be perfect. They designed a custom bag to fit Papa G’s party and it was perfect. Each bag contained a dough mix, pasta sauce, pizza cutter and parmesan cheese shaker. The families just needed to add their toppings and they had a perfect family night together. The bags were tied and a recipe card from the collection was added.
As a southern girl and lover of thank yous, it was very important to me that the thank yous reflect the feel of the party. I knew instantly that they had to be receipts and Frog Prince Paperie created the most adorable thank you receipt cards.
CHILDREN’S TABLE
I wanted the children to all sit together so I made a long dinner table and covered it in the red and white checkered tablecloth. Each place setting had the coke can glass with chalkboard moustaches from Braden’s Grace with their name in chalk ink as the place card. The glasses were filled with red and white striped paper straws from Hey YoYo. We used the activity page as their place mats there were cans decorated similar to the display table filled with markers. The Purple Pug sent glassine bags with moustaches on them so I filled them with a red and white checkered napkin and a fork. The centerpieces were glass stinky cheese containers filled with shred that matched the look of the Italian flag and a moustache vinyl on the front. Kandy Kones by Superchick Studios were stuck in the top and filled with pizza veggie chips. It was a great snack as the children colored.
DIY Pizza Chairs
The chairs were gorgeous but I really wanted them to have an added touch. I made large foam pizzas to mimic the banner on the display table. They were tied to the chairs with black tulle. When the party was over the children used them as props in the photos.
ADULT TABLES
I had bistro tables that sat four adults surrounding the children’s table. The red and white checkered tablecloths were used again along with Papa G centerpieces and mini glass coke bottles filled with the paper straws. The adult tables had the Papa G Pizzeria place mats. I loved the use of the vintage fork and spoon in the design by Frog Prince Paperie. The setup was a great opportunity for the adults to socialize and not have to worry about their children. Restaurants with children can be so difficult at times and I wanted this to be a worry-free zone. The children were amazing and the parents loved the break.
ACTIVITIES
The vision for the Pizzeria Party was to create a restaurant feel that was centered around children. I really wanted each child to feel comfortable dressing up, getting dirty with markers and dough and eating to their hearts content while their parents had time to enjoy a relaxing time. Mission accomplished!
Activity 1: Papa G’s Pizzeria Activity Page
Since Greyson was very young, he has always loved the activity pages/menus at restaurants. We bring them home and hang them on the refrigerator. It is an accomplishment for him, so I knew he would love his own activity page that Frog Prince Paperie designed: draw your own pizza, add a moustache to Papa G, word puzzle and included a joke at the bottom. The children had a blast searching for the words and drawing photos of each other on the back. The activity page also created an opportunity for the children to be seated once they arrived while others were getting dressed for the party. It was a great transition to the Dough Play Activity.
Activity 2: Dough Play
Making pizzas was not an option for this party since it was held at a restaurant but I still wanted the children to have the full experience of dough play. I struck gold at The Dollar Store when I found red plastic cutting boards. Hobby Lobby had their mini red rolling pins on clearance so I added vinyl moustaches to tie in the look. Grimaldi’s was kind enough to provide the dough which was put into plastic containers with labels from the collection and chalkboard vinyl on the front. I added the words (Dough) in chalkboard ink as the children are working on reading for the summer. The children had the best time rolling out, forming and throwing the dough. It was a sticky activity but worth the clean up!
Activity 3: Moustache & Foam Pizza Photobooth
Grimaldi’s was a perfect venue because of the ambiance. The subway entrance doors made for the perfect backdrop for the restaurant experience I envisioned. The children completely enjoyed posing for photos with their costumes and moustaches.
FASHION:
Each child received an apron, red and white checkered chef hat by Party Cheap and scarf (red for girls and red for boys). I embellished the chef hats with foam moustaches for the boys and red flowers with black feathers for the girls. For added fun to the aprons by KNG, I cut out foam moustaches and glued them to the aprons. Each child was given a paper moustache on a stick. The moustaches were glittered and flocked by The Purple Pug. The children were given an option of a real moustache or a paper one to play with during the party. Anabelle, daughter of Lynlee from Lynlee’s Petite Cakes looks adorable in her outfit!
Greyson wore an awesome custom felt shirt that says I Heart Pizza by Finley and Oliver. His outfit was paired with black and white houndstooth shorts and a Fedora for delivering pizzas. Greyson wore a simple red apron, red and white checkered scarf and matching hat. My favorite part of the outfit was the black Guess shoes with white G’s on them. It was a great find!
All of the Moustaches & Mozzarella: Papa G’s Pizzeria inspired party supplies are available on the website!