My little girls are growing up so fast; they asked for a home spa party for their 8th birthday and I’m like “what happened to Princess and Hello Kitty?” I mean, I love pampering my girls and their friends so I was thrilled, but what a big girl kind of party (insert sniffle here).
Planning a Day at the Spa for Young Ladies
So I started preparing a few weeks in advance for our big spa day and thank goodness for that, because since I only get to throw one birthday party a year, I tend to go a little overboard. Well, maybe more than a little, and there is nothing worse than stores running out of everything you want, in the color you want, just when you need them! So this time around, after learning my lesson the hard way with previous parties, I vowed no.more.last.minute.shopping.
I started weeks in advance to get everything I needed – which was a lot. Don’t get me wrong. I had a blast working on this party; it turned out to be soooo much fun and easy, with a very reasonable budget.
Spa Birthday Party Invitations
To start, the girls picked their favorite invite from our current shop selection of spa party invitations. With the invitations sent out, I started thinking party accessories.
The Challenge: The Robe
What do we immediately think of when we think spa? We think of that plush robe that spa guests lounge around in. After recovering from the shock of the prices for kids’ robes, I got creative and I (read: my friend) tailored large $5 towels into robes for the girls. We cut the towels down and hemmed the cut sides, using the extra towel pieces as headbands. Super cute and the girls just loved them. Use velcro to wrap up the headband and glue buttons, or add a border for some personalized detail.
Spa party table decorations
My next thought went to setting up a station for each guest. I covered the table with a black tablecloth and hot pink place-mats to give it a diva look. Each station had a face towel wrapped in custom personalised labels with a nailbrush and bath bead, a personal mirror (a locker mirror which the girls could keep and use at school) the headband, and a bottle of water.
Tip: Print out custom spa party labels to personalize any store bought drinks or products.
TIP: Add “diamonds” to give the table more of a diva look.
Spa Party Activities
Manicures and pedicures, or shall I say “mani pedis”, were obviously part of the spa day. While the girls waited their turns to get their nails “did”, I put out some sliced cucumbers for them to rest their tired eyes. Which was well received…. until they lost their patience, burst out laughing and ate the cucumbers. As long as it kept them busy, who am I to complain, right?
Each station also had a basket filled with a pair of flipflops, ribbon, glitter, pom poms (for some reason kids just melt for those), a pair of scissors, glue and fun accessories, so the girls could decorate their own flipflops too.
TIP: Use the robes as towels too
Girls Spa Party Favors
We didn’t want our lovely spa guests to go home empty-handed. I mean, who doesn’t like a treat bag at any age (read: I love when the esthetician gives me a bag of samples from my local beauty counter). So, I stocked up on all things spa necessary and personalized them – the lotion, the disinfectant, the lip balm, and the loofah sponges in coordinating colors. I suggest checking out the travel aisle at your pharmacy for all the miniature bottles of products.
In every basket, I included a face towel with a nail brush and bath bead, plus a set of nail files, wrapped in cotton pads with an adorable cupcake topper to look like a “spa guest in her robe” and of course a headband. Now, the girls could go home and do it all over again.
Spa Party Food
And of course, we ladies naturally think of food when indulging ourselves, so did I ever indulge on the spread. Everything was spa-inspired. I set out:
– Cupcakes with custom toppers
– “Rolled Towel” cakes (Twinkies)
– “Slippers” (iced cookies)
– “Facial Scrub” (pudding)
– “Eye Mask” (Individual servings of Jello)
– “Spa Cream” (containers of whipped cream and cake)
– Nail polish (marshmallows and candy)
– “Nail Buffers” (wafer cookies)
– Cake pops
– “Cucumbers” (iced Rice Krispies circles)
– Popcorn treats
And la piece de resistance…. a Piñata Cake. Did I mention I go overboard?
Be sure to make the table extra attractive by packaging the food and accessories in fun ways. I spruced up the cupcakes with spa-girl toppers, packaged the popcorn in coordinating boxes, and labelled the individual portions of spa cream. I just had to print, cut and glue!
Here is the trick to make the vanilla cake pops (i.e. nail polish bottles)
- Add baked cake to a large bowl
- Crumble until it resembles fine crumbs
- Add frosting a little bit at a time until cake is moist and can hold a ball shape yet is still slightly crumbly
- Use your hands to incorporate the frosting into the cake crumbs
- Shape the cake into desired form
- To add handle, pierce cake form with a toothpick and slide a piece of licorice on to it
- Customize with label – print, cut and wrap!
TIP: Use a cake mix for the cake and use waterproof paper labels so the labels don’t get ruined with grease marks.
TIP: Buy premade oval-shaped cookies to save time
TIP: Use a round cookie cutter to cut Rice Krispies and use fondant to make the cucumber icing. Cut round green fondant circles, layer with a yellowish fondant circle and then add teardrop shapes of white icing for the cucumber seeds.
TIP: A chocolatier (chocolate shop) can provide the piñata cake form. They will provide the base and the dome and you fill it with candy!
And let me tell you, the ladies just ate it ….all … up. So maybe I didn’t go overboard.
That’s a Wrap!
As with all kids’ parties, I suggest a good night’s sleep and A LOT of energy. While the girls are older now, I still made sure that every guest was fully pampered and by fully…I mean five-star spa kind of pampered. But be sly and put the birthday girl(s) to use too, whether having them help you set up, do the party favors or lead the activity, It will make the execution easier on you and it will be fun for them. You might even find the time to get your nails done.
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