Strawberry Shortcake Party {Simple, Frugal yet Sweet Version}

Today I'm sharing the details behind my daughter's fourth birthday party last month.  She's 100% girl, so it was only fitting to have a Strawberry Shortcake party, since she is completely crazy about this character.

I had a busy few weeks with a major role in a children's consignment sale in late April, and coordinating a craft fair for my church on Mother's Day weekend.  This party fell smack dab in between those two events, so I tried to keep it simple but still have a fun and sweet celebration.  Mostly, we invited family, and a few friends from her preschool.

I used the kitchen bar area to display all the goodies except for the drinks.  A large piece of Strawberry Shortcake fabric (from Hobby Lobby, but also Amazon has a large selection, too) covered my countertop and served as a tablecloth of sorts.  The printable collections from Simone Made It on Etsy helped to put the finishing touches on the food and drink display.  Her strawberry collection was absolutely perfect for this party!

I've used Simone's printables before - for my son's dinosaur birthday party - and absolutely love the way her designs look!  Not only do I love the appearance, but it's a great value for your money!  She gives you so much and I've never actually used every single page.

The main dessert was a "Build Your Own Strawberry Shortcake" tower.  My dad built this tower for my son's monster birthday party last October.  It's been used countless times since then at parties, showers, and even craft displays.  It's a great display piece.  If you don't have a handyman around, this cupcake tower on Amazon looks similar and of good value.  

I used PicMonkey to create a 5x7 paper to put in the frame for the top of the tower.  It helped guests understand why the cups were full of two cubes of cake and undecorated when they arrived.

I purchased the plastic clear cups from Dollar Tree, and then baked two 9x13 cakes - one yellow and one pink.  I cut them into small squares (approximately 2" x 2") and stacked them inside the clear cups.  I loved that the cups have a small "stem" on them and it makes them just a little more fancy than standard cups.  Here's a link to a similar (yet more expensive) cup on Amazon so you can see the exact shape.  

Each guest was able to "build their own" dessert with a berry tray overflowing with raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and of course, strawberries.

To top it off, I had two canisters of whip cream available.  I covered them with papers printed from Simone's party pack.

I used my favorite photo editing tool, PicMonkey, to alter some basic Google images of Strawberry Shortcake and Friends.  These served as "tents" on the food and drink areas to help further describe how the food related to Strawberry Shortcake.  Since it's been 30+ years since I played with Strawberry Shortcake, I too needed a refresher on her friends' names and characteristics.  I found this article extremely helpful in explaining each of Strawberry's friends, animals, and sisters.  

I incorporated a few other desserts and a fruit bowl using Strawberry's friends as the display character.  

Lemon Meringue shared her famous pie with the guests.  Thank you, Winn-Dixie, for supplying the pie since Lemon Meringue was too busy getting ready for the party!  ;)

And Orange Blossom went to Aldi and picked up a bag of Cutie Oranges for her fruit bowl.  She wanted to provide something for party guests who didn't want added sugars.  

Apple Dumplin', Strawberry Shortcake's baby sister, also provided an apple pie for the day, but she missed her photo opp.  

I displayed the drinks outside on our patio, which is screened in around the pool.  I used the same fabric from my indoor food display to drape over the drink table.  Two three-gallon plastic drink dispensers held green and pink punch.  I used this recipe for the green punch, and this one for the pink.   The green punch was super sweet, though - I would recommend cutting the sugar in half!

I ruffled streamers on the sewing machine, a technique I've used before for the Pink & Purple Birthday Party.  Read about how to do that here.  

 I also had water bottles, covered with labels from Simone's printable kit.

Although the greatest form of entertainment was the swimming pool, we did play a few Strawberry themed games.  This site has a great list of games for all ages.

This plastic sheeting came from Party City and was only $5!  It served as a great backdrop for photos and brought color to our neutral patio!  (It's also available on Amazon.)

Happy partying, everyone!

Got a glimpse of my kitchen and want more details?  Read about my cabinet makeover, built-in pantry, and see where it all started.

My other parties:

Dino-Four Birthday Party

Dora Birthday Party

Pink & Purple Birthday Party

Monster Birthday Party