I was 37 weeks pregnant during Ruby's 3rd birthday and very close to not having a party at all. But knowing that she was soon going to have a big change in her life, we decided to still throw a party and keep it small with just a handful of her close friends and their parents.
We chose the same public park, Grand Park in Downtown LA, where we had her first birthday. This time, we set up tables by the splash pad, one of her favorite spots in the summer where the kids can play in the water close by. Since the park is first come, first serve, I had to be able to set up the decorations quickly and easily and not have too much time setting the party. I mixed and matched multiple seasons from previous and current Oh Joy for Target collections and finally got to use the pieces I designed for this very purpose!
Inspired by her friend Ida's purple birthday party, Ruby requested that everyone wear her favorite color—yellow. It ended up being super cute and an easy way for friends to find which party at the park was ours.
Our friends at Heirloom LA made bite-sized healthy snacks for us like these broccoli potato skins, little tomato pizzas, and an amazing rice pudding that was out of this world. They also made the best chocolate cake (moist and not too sweet) I've ever had…seriously.
Despite being pregnant and cranky, I'm glad spent the time to get a few of her friends together and celebrate our girl in one of our favorite public spots in the city.
{Photos by Casey Brodley for Oh Joy. All decorations are Oh Joy for Target except gold cake topper by Little Cat Design Co. and letter pinatas by Katie Franklin. Ruby's dress by I Love Gorgeous.}
Very cute! Belated happy b’day to her. That cake looks delish, where was it from?
It looks like a beautiful party and the food looked delicious.
Happy Birthday Ruby.
So cute!!! Happy birthday to Ruby. And of course the decor was perfect. 🙂
Just gorgeous, Joy! All the details looked so special and well-thought out.
such a lovely birthday party! that park looks awesome and Ruby is so beautiful!
So darling! I absolutely love those letter piñatas! Would be fun to hang them in her room and use them every year for her birthday!
This is such a darling party. I really love how you hung the chinese lanterns in the umbrella. Did you bring those purple tables? If so, where did you get them??
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This is probably the most stylish and adorable 3-year-old bday party I’ve ever seen!!! What a sweet girl:) And my favorite color is yellow too, so I’m totally swooning.
Joy, the picture of ruby next to your bump is just beautiful, I must do that if and when I’m preggo with my second.
Happy late Bday to the beautiful birthday girl- Ruby!
Thanks Shruti!
The cake was by Heirloom LA too 😉
Joy
Happy Birthday ! That food looks delicious ! Wish i was there. yay !
What a wonderful party! I like these laid back kids’ parties, and I really love using a solid color to bring it all together. (Also, I’m partial to yellow!!)
I love the pink tables!!!
Hi Emily,
Thank you! The tables are part of the park!
Best,
Joy
Oh my goodness. Everything is absolutely precious! I ‘love that she requested everyone to wear yellow. And it’s okay if you’re crabby…you’re s cute pregnant lady. You get a hall pass =)
So sweet! I wish I was Ruby’s friend! 😉 And her dress – ah!
I love how you used pieces from all your target collections and it works so well! I have stuff from every season so far and haven’t used any of it. This is definitely my inspiration for my daughter’s next party. Now if only NJ had parks and weather like that.
Wait, I lied. I have used a few things many times, just not any of the paper/party goods. I use my reusable tote bags from the first collection every time I go shopping. They’re perfect. I would buy them over and over again if you do more in the future! Hint, hint. And I use the big bowls from the first collection a lot too – and get compliments on them every time. I also got a ton of use out of the picnic mat this summer. That was something I didn’t know I needed until I had it. I hope your partnership with Target lasts a very, very long time.
How funny, my daughter’s favourite colour is yellow too and we threw a little yellow party at the beginning of September for her second birthday too. Of course, nothing at this level but I had fun organizing it. And yellow is such a happy colour! Here are some pics from our yellow party, if you’d like to see: http://valeasc.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/yellow-party.html
Happy belated birthday to Ruby and a big welcome to the little one! xx
I meant to send you the link to my Facebook album, more pics there. Sorry!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.601027926675167.1073741844.100003038952126&type=1&l=9f2c751373
wow~! that doesn’t seem like a “simple” party to me! so cute.
What a sweet party. It’s wonderful you were able to make a sweet party for your daughter so close to your due date – inspiration to tired mamas everywhere!
Oh. My. Goodness! This is too precious. Love all the bright colors – such a sweet day. Thanks for sharing these! =)
what a fun, yellow-tastic fiesta– Ida had a blast!! Sending lots of love your way!
This party for Ruby was just darling, and I love the location! I might have to use that park at some point, fantastic!
I have to ask where you got the RUBY letters? I’m assuming they were DIY and I would love a tutorial 🙂 hehe!
Best,
Hannah
Many many happy returns of the day Ruby. Wishing you a great life ahead. Thanks for posting a beautiful blog filled with precious moments. Birthday parties give joy and surprise making us overjoyed. Children and even adults feel happy when they get a surprise birthday celebration. I have two kids and I can understand how it feels. But arranging a birthday party is very difficult because you have to care of lot of things especially the food items. I can see from the images, the party was well and beautifully arranged. In my opinion an event planner should be appointed to handle such parties.
Very impressive… as always! Am sure the kids had a great time with theme parties. PartyManao is your one-stop online party supplies and planners, organizers. Visit partyManao.com for your party planning needs.
Very impressive… as always! Am sure the kids had a great time with theme parties. PartyManao is your one-stop online party supplies and planners, organizers. Visit partyManao.com for your party planning needs.
I frequent this park and there are lots of transients hanging about. Can you share how you were able to keep others at the park from eating the food? Did guests mill around the table to fend off outsiders? dis you bring umbrellas in or use the ones at the park?
Hey Olivia!
We put together a few tables that made it pretty clear that it was a birthday party. We didnt have an issues with others trying to join 😉
There were 2 other parties going on at the same time so it was more a matter of guests knowing which party was which!
Joy
What a glorious party. The idea of decorating with lanterns is especially brilliant and surprisingly simple. I love simple.
You’ve mentioned that you celebrated birthday party at the public park, were you allowed to celebrate there? did you ask for permission?
Hello,
We always ask permission. Some parks require permit and some you just show up.
Best!
Joy