Brennan Turns Three {Andy Warhol Art Party}

Another party in the books and this theme was SO much fun! Being an artist and graphic designer, I have always wanted to do an art party, I have been saving inspo here and there for years. When Christmas rolled around I used the coolest Andy Warhol inspired wrapping paper and knew I wanted to incorporate that some how. This party definitely evolved from the initial mood board. At first it was all about color and texture, but when I started designing closer to the party Andy Warhol became the shining theme.

I held the party at home on a Saturday and just invited family, it was Brennan’s Golden birthday, 3 on the 3rd- so we kept the guest list small of cousins and family. The main activity was painting, my parties are pretty laid back where everyone can eat, drink and mingle!

The Painting Table

I rented a round table and white table cloth for the space, which was amazing. I used chairs I had bought from a garage sale in January and had Danny paint them each a different color. They turned out amazing and really added the amount of color I needed. Behind the table was the highlight. Thread Mama illustrated Brennan in the style of Andy Warhol, I took her illustrations and blew them up for a backdrop. I also went in and hand painted the bows to give it a painted look.

The table setting was actually hard for me, but when I found these melamine plates from Ellie and Piper the colors and floral illustrations were absolutely perfect! Everything else was Amazon finds, all the painting supplies, and even the forks!

The cups I actually had leftover from Ray’s Hooray party, but after realized the color block resembled the Campbell’s Soup they were perfect. Each cup had a gold straw and acrylic banana stir stick. The center of the table was filled with florals (which I did myself), a simple garland and custom Lauren Glass Confetti.

On each chair hung a GORGEOUS linen apron by Madly Wish. Whitney and I worked closely together to create the perfect apron. They were black with a bright colorful pocket, each embroidered with the kids names. My favorite part was the straps, the colorful stripe made them so fun and unique and looked amazing hanging from the chair and on the kids. The aprons were worn to paint and acted as the take home favors.

The Cake Table

I have used our kitchen table more times than I can count, and I love how it transforms with every party. I covered the entire wall with Pantone Post Cards (linked below) in color order to create the coolest backdrop. In front hung the COOLEST acrylic sign to read like a gallery description. Modern Birch really made it come to life perfectly and I LOVE how it highlights her Golden Year and the fact that we are in California.

This is where I piled all the food and cake, it’s always a game time decision as everything was arriving to me on party day. The center of it all was the cake. OH MY GOSH. As I was researching Andy, I found so many cool sketches of food, turns out most of them came from a cookbook he illustrated called Wild Raspberries. There was a pink crooked cake among the pages and instantly called Soiree Macarons. Tara agreed to attempt it and the final product was out of this world. She added citrus candy, sugar roses and gilded it in gold. I cannot get enough of these macaron layers.

The Sweets

Of course, there were cookies and more macarons. Tracy of The Sugar Bug hand painted sugar cookies for the event. They are like edible works of art and my obsession could not be greater. I still can’t get over the cows and the Campbell’s soup. I love how she takes other designs throughout the party like the Lauren glass confetti pattern and the Thread Mama portrait and made cookie versions. TOO GOOD.

The macarons had a life of their own and really made the theme. On the cake table we featured the banana macarons, each hand painted to resemble Andy’s illustration. The rest of the macarons were on the bar, we’ll come back to that.

I also made Chocolate cupcakes to hint at Andy Warhol’s idea of cake. He grew up poor and considered cake white bread and a chocolate bar, so each cupcake was topped with just that.

The Savory

The talented Nicole of Danville Cheese created the most EPIC charcuterie cups. I went to her really wanting something individual for everyone. It is such a cool way to serve at a party and food actually gets eaten. When we were chatting about the concepts she pitched we serve them in soup cans. I about died over the genius idea! I was already designing soup labels to hold paint brushes, so I sent them her way and she wrapped each can and filled them with cheese, meats, rosemary and nuts. They were a serious HIT.

For the kids she curated snack boxes filled with goodies the kids would love. It was perfect to hand to them right after painting and each kid could indulge. Other food included watermelon gazpacho and gourmet grilled cheese, egg salad, green salad and fruit.

The Bar

This was another, day before the event decision. I put our coffee bar dresser in this place, purely to get it out of the way and just in case I had spill over form the cake table. It quickly turned into one of my favorite elements. I knew I wanted to feature my Estelle Colored Glass collection. I put palette drink markers made by Modern Birch, that I painted and it looked SO GOOD. I had them set on a white tray and built from there, I added florals in a large vase, a can of stir sticks and the rest of the macarons.

I created a custom Macaron Menu with the six flavors Tara was making, the menu mirrored Andy Warhol’s art work, we even created it again in an acrylic box which then became edible art. It was such a fun element to display them. She always kills it with her innovative flavors…

Serendipity Frozen Hot Chocolate 
(chocolate ganache, hot chocolate buttercream and chocolate shavings)
Andy's "Cake" 
(vanilla buttercream and chocolate Hershey's chocolate bar in the middle)
Bread & Jam 
(vanilla buttercream and orange marmalade)
Cornflakes 
(cornflake buttercream topped with cornflakes)
Bananas Wild 
(peanut butter ganache,  salted caramel and carmelized bananas)
Golden Cherry Clafoutis 
(almond ganache with vanilla buttercream macchino cherry in the center)

The bar had other elements like the Wild Raspberries cookbook we used for guests to sign, and Art of Sucre cotton candy to add glitter to your cocktail, and a dusting of confetti.

use KELSEY15 for a discount off Cotton Candy bombs

I had the paint brushes left from Danny painting the chairs and I knew I wanted to do something with them. It was 4pm the night before the party and I was on the phone with Marissa trying to figure something out the fill the wall, with as little effort as possible. She suggested I use paper plates with the brushes and I quickly got out the glue gun! Of course, had to add a real banana on the wall. It was such a moment and I love how it turned out.

The Outfits

I found a checkered dress from Pink Chicken at the beginning of the year and the colors were perfect! Ray ended up wearing that style and the other girls wore poppies and sparkle. I love how the outfits complimented each other and the party. Brennan wore the dreamiest party hat from Winnie and Haze incorporating all the colors and textures, and THE POM, I can’t get enough.

This party was very hands on for me design wise. It’s not often I do my own invite or florals, but I was so proud with how everyhitng turned out and came together. I cannot get enough of the colors. The kids had the best time painting, eating cupcakes and running around! It’s always a magical moment watching them enjoy all the hard work of planning.

Special shout out to Renee who came and photographed the entire party. She really does not miss a detail and captures all the magic. She is so talented and patient with the girls (and me), she’s a God Send! And to my magical vendors who always show up for me with bells on, this would not have happened without you. thank you for your MAGIC.

I snagged a ton on Amazon, so here is a list of what I got! Vendors are tagged below!

XO,