My daughter’s favorite soundtrack is the Sound of Music. I started singing “Do Re Mi” to her when she was particularly fussy one day and she stopped instantly. I then found the video on my iPhone and it was all over. I think we must have contributed to at 1 million views on YouTube! Figuring out a theme for her 2nd birthday this year was easy…it had to be Sound of Music. I researched and planned for months. I wanted to make sure I captured all the important details without being silly or campy. The overall theme was elegant and classy just like the movie. The colors were mostly gold and ice blue with bits of green here and there. The week leading into her birthday we must have watched the movie at least two times a day! One thing I knew for sure I had to have mountains. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to pull it off but it was going to happen.
A few weeks before our Sound of Music Party I procured some large appliance boxes. By procured I mean I called all over town asking anyone and everyone if they had any big boxes and when I did finally find someone got my very nice, understanding, loving husband to drive 40 minutes away to pick up. The weekend before the party he and I cut out the mountains and painted them to match the graphics and laser images I used on her invitation. To make the snow capped peaks I cut out “snow” out of poster board and lightly spray painted them with pearl mist paint so they would shimmer a little. The mountains were the perfect picture backdrop and really completed the look and feel of being someplace other than my backyard in Carlsbad, CA. I had picnic blankets out in front of the mountains and encouraged our guests to find a cozy spot under the tree and enjoy the gorgeous weather we had. I started collecting things I found on eBay like Sound of Music posters, sheet music, old travel posters of Austria, an authentic Austrian flag, and a Barbie Maria doll months in advance. I thought Captain von Trapp would have been proud of me hanging my Austrian flag!
I started collecting things I found on eBay like Sound of Music posters, sheet music, old travel posters of Austria, an authentic Austrian flag, and a Barbie Maria doll months in advance. I thought Captain von Trapp would have been proud of me hanging my Austrian flag!
I used the sheet music to make cones filled with pink roses to hang in the dining room and in the big tree in the background. I found strings of crystals online and hung those in the tree as well to represent “raindrops on roses.”
I hung some movie posters in the dining room and used the large rolls of cloud paper from Michael’s in the windows to give the feeling of being somewhere else. Blue skies and big puffy clouds were so prevalent in the movie I wanted to bring that feeling to my little girl’s party as well. I really loved the way the cloud paper looked in the windows.
At my local thrift shop I found a green tea pot and spray painted it copper and purchased an inexpensive pair of gloves on Amazon and set them on the picnic basket on the food table – “bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.”
Any package that was delivered to our house for her birthday got a makeover with brown paper I bought at The Dollar Tree and tied with pretty gold twine – “brown paper packages tied up with string.” Even one of the lonely goats made an appearance and stood watch over the presents. The goat was a very special gift to Megan from our priest, Rev. Laura, who also shares a love of the Sound of Music.
For the “wild geese that fly with moon on their wings” I cut out geese with my Silhouette Cameo and painted the edges of their wings with blue glitter.
We don’t have a cat ourselves but we do have a neighborhood feline friend, Cheyenne, who if she showed up would be our “whickers on kittens.” We had a “cream colored pony” in the form of an animatronic pony a fellow party planner, Pat of Zperfect Party, loaned me. It whinnied and moved its head and seemed pretty lifelike. The little kids were either terrified or loved it!
“…and crisp apple streudels.”
On the door was a collection of bells to represent “door bells and sleigh bells…”
“and schnitzel with noodles.”
“Snowflakes on my nose and eyelashes” was a bit more challenging seeing as how we live in Sunny San Diego and it was April so I improvised with a custom ribbon garland from my friend Nancy of A to Z Celebrations in cool winter tones of ice blue, white, and silver. I purchased hand adorned snowflakes from Le Card Shoppe on Etsy. I hung the garland and snowflakes in the entry way so when guests walked in the snowflakes were just low enough to touch heads and faces as they walked in.
One of the guests’ favorite touches was the poster I made of Megan’s Favorite Things. Two year old favorites change so frequently but this little snapshot of her favorites at this moment in time I hope will be a treasured keepsake for her when she is older.
I decorated the entry hall with large “Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti” letters and musical notes which helped set the tone as guests came in.
All of the other elements from the song could be found throughout the party. “Doe a deer a female deer”: I gave her a stuffed fawn for her birthday which she carried around the whole party.
“Ray a drop of golden sun”: there was a little spec of golden paint on the mountains.
“Me a name I call myself”: the birthday girl. “Far a long long way to run”: her big brother and friends playing in the front yard.
“Sew a needle pulling thread”: I affixed a little needle and twine on the mirror next to one of the hanging cones with roses. “La a note to follow sew”: I taped a tiny musical note next to the needle.
“Tea with jam and bread”: I served iced tea and made kaiserschmarrn which is kind of like a pancake in little bits with raspberry jam on the side.
My daughter was Gretl for Halloween last year and I made her a white and green damask costume like the one in the movie so for her party I found a white dress and put a blue ribbon on it to represent “girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes.”
I still wanted to incorporate the damask curtains and finally found some inexpensive green and white shower curtains that I hung in my dining room.
I researched traditional Austrian foods and while I had never made Austrian food before I was excited to try some new dishes. Of course we had to have “schnitzel with noodles” so I made traditional schnitzel and spaetzle which are kind of like gnocchi. The rest of the food were things they would have eaten on their picnic like cheese, crackers, fruit, and nuts. The vintage suitcases on the food table represented their journey out of Austria and the picnic basket was from the “Do Re Mi” scene.
I always make my kids’ birthday cakes but I really wanted a traditional European dessert so I bought a Princess Cake (three layers of genoise filled with raspberry jam, pastry cream, and topped with a more than generous amount of whipped cream all wrapped in pale-green marzipan) from our local Danish bakery. Maria sat atop the cake with the birthday candles. The cake is heaven!
Roni from Roni’s Sugar Creations made the most delectable musical note cakepops. There were truly amazing.
I converted my Pottery Barn Kids tiki bar into a pink lemonade bar because that is what the Baroness drinks on the veranda with the children. I found ice blue fabric on the clearance table at my local fabric store and sewed the skirt, a tablecloth, and awning. Small blue ruffled ribbon trimmed the edges for that extra girly look.
One of my favorite elements though were the party favors.I boughtEdelweiss seeds online and made little seed packets to put in small Kraft gable box along with some soil and a small starter cup.Since most people are unfamiliar with how to plant and care for an Edelweiss plant I made a label telling them exactly what to do.I hope to see some beautiful Edelweiss plants at my friends’ houses now!
I have planned a lot of parties but I think this is my favorite so far. My little girl was just in awe the whole time and as a mom you can’t get better than that!
