A Glamorous Kate Spade Inspired Pool Party

Hi, Jen Carver here of Banner Events, and I am thrilled to share the sophisticated soiree I styled for my daughter's 10th birthday! Fashion and fun paired up for one fabulous fete in this Kate Spade inspired pool party! Entering double digits called for an extra fun celebration full of all the glitzy and girly details that preteen girls love. Sequins and glitter, polka dots and stripes, hot pink and gold--this party was full of stylish decorations, fashionable favors and delicious desserts. A Fresh Take Photography beautifully captured the enjoyment of this pool party with friends, inspired by Kate Spade.

I love building anticipation for an event by sending out creative invitations. Adria from Anders Ruff, designed an adorable Kate Spade inspired invitation and tied in our pool party theme. I love the stripes and gold glitter bow that provided the inspiration for the rest of the party decor. To add that bit of unexpected fun for recipients, I packaged each invitation in its own square gift box filled with coordinating hot pink paper shred, from Nashville Wraps. I added a custom return address label designed by Adria and tied off each box with lovely striped ribbon (also from Nashville Wraps).

Prior to the party, we had fun decorating the pool deck. When possible, I love transforming the party location to coordinate with the theme. I wanted this area to be festive and fun, but most importantly—functional! When water is involved, you have to be careful with the kinds of decorations used. I knew I needed something large that wouldn’t be dwarfed by the size of the indoor swimming pool space. I turned to Lollipop Lights to create me 20” large marquee letters inspired by the fun color palette and theme. Her lights are battery operated, which was important so I didn’t have to compete with cords which could be a safety hazard near water (plus an eye sore). I just love how they turned out! We flanked the lights with two oversized round balloons and attached tissue tassel garland from GlamFete to each one to dress them up a bit. I wanted to add some color to the pool itself, so we filled it with affordable gold and hot pink beach balls from Oriental Trading and cute black and white striped beach balls from 4Fun Parties. To bring in pops of color around the pool deck, we staged lounge areas with custom pillow covers from GreatStitch.com (stuffed with super inexpensive pillow forms from Ikea), more colorful beach balls, printable pennant garland from Anders Ruff’s collection, a hot pink parasol (Via Blossom) and plenty of water bottles wrapped in custom labels for quenching guest’s thirst. Along with all of the décor, we also displayed darling striped beach totes from Discount Mugs. These bags full of fashion goodies would be the main party favor for guests. Each contained either a pink and white beach towel or cabana striped black and white towel with a gold spade monogram from Monogram Muse. I love including practical items as party favors that I know will be used time and time again. In addition to the towels, I wanted each girl to receive some pool party fashion essentials inspired by Kate Spade. I relied on my go-to packaging company, Nashville Wraps, for stylish boxes and tissue paper to wrap up gifts for each girl and accented each one with DIY 3-D bows from the Anders Ruff printable package. (They were such an easy DIY using gold glitter tape.) Inside each box was a gorgeous pool loungewear outfit for the girls to wear before and after swimming. The outfit consisted of the most adorable black and white striped swimsuit cover-up dresses from GreatStitch.com, a coordinating hot pink hair bow and flip flops. To add in a little extra sparkle and glam, Anders Ruff created me earring and necklace cards, customized with Kaylee’s theme and colors. I found sweet little bow earrings at Forever 21 and commissioned the talented jewelry designer at The Copper Fox to make gold initial necklaces for each attendee. Each girl was able to choose her own favorite pair of heart sunglasses from The TomKat Studio. The girls absolutely loved donning their new outfits and accessories. (Can I get their outfits in my size, please?)

You’ll notice a handful of girls wearing coordinating striped and polka dotted swimsuits with a retro flair. Red Dolly Swim custom made suits to match our Kate Spade inspired theme. It’s hard to find cute swimming suits with a modest fit and stylish look. The girls loved them and had fun posing in front of the photo booth wall (step and repeat printed by Print My) and playing around the pool.

Once guests arrived, they excitedly pulled out the gift boxes from their beach totes and dressed for pre-swimming refreshments. I just love how cute they all looked in their dresses and accessories!

One of my favorite parts of styling any party is designing the dessert and dining tables. Using a homemade PVC pipe stand which I covered in striped fabric from Ikea, I created my dessert table backdrop. I added some 2” hand punched confetti inspired circles from gold glitter scrapbook paper and adhered them to my backdrop fabric. Anders Ruff created me a beautiful large format centerpiece sign, using the invitation as inspiration. I mounted it to recycled foam core board and hung it from fishing line. My tabletop was glammed up with a gorgeous gold sequin tablecloth from Candy Crush Events, topped off with a hot pink runner. I love the look of tissue tassel garland and dressed up the front of the table with a black, white, gold and pink beauty from GlamFete. I used various black wood risers and a mix of my favorite gold, black and white cake stands, candy dishes and serving trays to display the beautiful confections created for the event.

The focal piece on the dessert table was a lovely three tiered cake by 4 Kids Cakes. It was kept elegant and simple with fondant confetti, a simple bowtie and heart and topped off with fresh flowers from JNJ Floral. Christina also baked up fresh cupcakes, each embellished with edible glittered balls and printable cupcake toppers. To keep with the sophisticated flair, Christina made pink macarons enhanced with gold. The girls thought it was fun to try something that is popular in Paris! Gold trays lined with coordinating patterned papers looked beautiful covered in gorgeous themed cookies by NatSweets. How darling is that striped swimsuit? Popcorn—one of my daughter’s favorite snacks—was served up in mini gold popcorn boxes. To dress them up, I layered party logos on blossom cups from Via Blossom and added sparkly gold acrylic bow sticks from Ten23 Designs to tie in the theme. A mix of preppy pool and fashion inspired cake pops by Vypassetti Cake Pops were a popular addition to the table. Mini desserts are trendy and perfect for a quick grab and go dessert. I enlisted the talents behind Green Mountain Mini Baked and Bella’s Bakery & Bowtique to work their magic in customizing some of their specialty treats to match our theme. Super cute mini baked donuts in party colors, accented with edible bows sat perched atop their own striped favor boxes (Nashville Wraps), as did custom mini chocolate covered Oreos with the sweetest edible spades and bows. I wanted to reinforce cute boutique style packaging that fashionable jewelry, clothing and accessories might be packaged in for customers. To complete the sweets, Bella’s Bakery also whipped up some scrumptious spade shaped chocolate dipped Rice Krispy treats. I don’t need to tell you that the desserts were absolutely amazing and gone in a flash!

I wanted the girls to feel like they were dining in style and set up a glamorous table, complete with more sequin tablecloths from Candy Crush Events and striped table runners from Koyal Wholesale. I gussied up the chairs with white satin chair covers from Dawn’s and black satin chair sashes from Koyal Wholesale. Ten23 Designs created me a custom wood spade centerpiece which I affixed to the top of stacking boxes from Nashville Wraps that I spray painted in party colors. I added beautiful gold votive candle holders and mint julep cups (Koyal Wholesale) filled with lovely fresh flower arrangements from JNJ Floral. To add a little bit of custom detailing, Adria created Kate Spade inspired art prints describing my daughter’s characteristics which I framed for the table. Each place setting included an empty gable box accessorized with a party label and thank you tag. Guests were invited to fill these with their favorite treats after swimming for the car trip home. (Trust me when I say there was not a single treat left on the table when the party was over!)

I love adding some money saving DIY projects to my events, especially when they are easy to do! For this event, one of my favorite DIY details was making my own polka dot plates! I picked up black dishes from the dollar store and used white vinyl dots to create the look of a much more expensive version I had seen for purchase. I had Lauren of Ten23 Designs cut me white vinyl circles, gold spades and black number tens which I adhered to the center of the plate for a custom look. The plates took only minutes each to make, but added a fun detail to the table.

I also picked up inexpensive champagne flutes from the dollar store to spare any catastrophes with my real stemware. To give these a Kate Spade inspired makeover, I topped straws (Via Blossom) with more DIY bows Adria included in the printable package. I love the look!
Across the room, a simpler table was styled to house some party essentials like beverages, plates, cups, utensils and napkins (from Via Blossom) for parents and siblings mingling at the party. While more a table for function and not the main refreshment table at the party, I still dressed this area up with printed bow and pennant banners, balloons and some theme coordinating extras! Guests loved grabbing mini candy bars and water bottles wrapped in custom wrappers and topped with darling bows. Also displayed on this table were cute chocolate bar clutches—a genius brainstorm that resulted when Adria and I were trying to find a new spin on a custom chocolate bar wrapper. I loved displaying them from the velvet jewelry holder.

My favorite part of this party? I didn’t have to plan any activities! The pool provided hours of fun entertainment, and I got to sit back and be a guest enjoying the smile on my daughter’s face as she celebrated with friends and family.
A big thank you to the McCombs family who opened up their home and pool and helped pull off such a special celebration for my daughter. Also, a heartfelt thank you to my sweet mom who was my right hand “man” serving as my assistant during party set-up. I think I’d like a Kate Spade inspired party for my next celebration!

VENDOR CREDITS:

– Event Design and Styling: Banner Events.
– Photography: A Fresh Take Photography
– Party Printables: Anders Ruff Custom Designs
– Invitation, Poster, Step and Repeat and Party Printables Printing: Print My
– Nesting Boxes, Gift Boxes, Striped Boxes, Tissue Shred, Ribbon, Tissue Paper: Nashville Wraps
– Blossom Cups, Parasol, Striped Paper Straws, Striped Cups, Plates & Napkins: Via Blossom
– Marquee Lights: Lollipop Lights
– Black and White Striped Beach Balls: 4Fun Parties
– Striped Beach Totes: Discount Mugs
– Custom Polka Dot and Striped Swimsuits: Red Dolly Swim
– Custom Gold Initial Necklaces: The Copper Fox
– Striped Monogram Beach Towels: Monogram Muse
– Custom Striped Dresses/Swimsuit Cover-ups and Pillow Covers: GreatStitch.com
– Heart Sunglasses: The TomKat Studio
– Sequin Tablecloths: Candy Crush Events
– Custom Laser Cut Wood Spade, Acrylic Bow Sticks, Spade and Number 10 Vinyl Accents: Ten23 Designs
– Black and White Striped Table Runners, Black Satin Chair Sashes, Mint Julep Glasses, Striped Votive Candle Holders: Koyal Wholesale
– Satin Chair Covers: Dawn's Floral and Gifts
– Floral Arrangements: JNJ Floral
– Tissue Tassel Garland: GlamFete
– Cake, French Macarons, Cupcakes: 4 Kids Cakes
– Custom Cookies: NatSweets
– Custom Chocolate Covered Oreos & Spade Rice Krispy Treats: Bella’s Bakery & Bowtique
– Custom Cake Pops: Vypassetti Cake Pops
– Red Velvet Donuts: Green Mountain Mini Baked
– Location: Robin and Ronald McCombs’ Residence