My baby girl is NINE. The last year of celebrating single digits and we did it in the best way, with an epic Christmas themed party. Making Denver’s party have a holiday twist is always my favorite, so we can kick off the season in style. (Plus it’s much easier to not un decorate my house).

Being that Denver’s favorite color is still blue, I wanted to heavily incorporate that color. I thought it would be fun to focus on the Christmas Tree and all that comes with it. I had a few initial ideas for the party, one being Denver’s favorite food which would be a main component, but let’s start with the mood board.

You can see her past parties over the years, which all played a small part in this party.

Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight

The Invitation

I had an initial thought for Itsy Bitsy Parties for the invitation, but it wasn’t really clicking for us. After a conversation or two we wanted to come up with something that would relate to a tree but not be a tree. Thinking about her past themes and parties, we thought it would be fun to do a box of vintage ornaments and each ornament would represent a year of Denver. A watermelon for her One in a Melon first birthday, a swan for her Seven Swans a Swimming, etc. You opened the box of ornaments and three of the ornaments opened further to reveal the party information. Lindsey really brought it to life and it was so sweet to see a little nod to her past, just like the nostalgic feeling you get when you look back at ornaments to hang on the tree.

Of course I styled a flatlay around the gorgeous invite. I kept it really simple adding Denver’s party pin by Hip Hooray Studios. Fun fact, that hand painted blue bow was made for Plum Pudding and didn’t make the cut, it was just perfect to use here. I added some greenery, ornaments and my favorite part, an envelope. This envelope was from a stationery set a few years back, I loved the tree print on the inside and the pop of red. I filled the envelope with tinsel, stamps, candles, ornaments, a glass candy cane and a tree cupcake topper my sweet friend Lynda sent me. It feels so festive and elegant, I love it so much.

The Table

Let’s dive into the party with my favorite part. I threw the party at home in our dining room which is my favorite thing to do. It gives me the opportunity to set up ahead of time and have access to all my things. I wanted to turn our table into a tree. I used a green velvet linen and went to Cami Monet to bring the concept to life. I had the idea to make the plates ornaments, so Cami hand painted vintage inspired ornaments and I printed them at home, added glitter and topped the plates with an acrylic round.

The napkins, I designed custom with Suburban Soiree, they read “On Holiday” and “She’s a Beaut Clark” in two shades of green. I love working in fun phrases or movie quotes into the party and the napkin is the best way. I did my signature horizontal design, which always lays beautifully with the cutlery and plate.

**happy accident #1: there was supposed to be a third napkin, but I made a spelling mistake and couldn’t use them. They were blue and the greens really just worked better.

Cami also painted this blue and green table runner which tied the two colors together beautifully. I filled the center with glass trees in both green and blue along with a few vases of florals. I used gold glitz, loose stars, and tiny baubles as the confetti. The cups were reused from Ray’s Lucky Number 7 birthday, the green and blue rims matched perfectly, with the added gold bow acrylic it looked PERFECT.

At the top of the table we obviously had to have a star. I found this gold star shaped board at World Market and it made for candy board. I wanted to use all golden treats like Rolos, caramel corn and dried apricots so it really looked like a star.

The Chandelier

Above our dining room table we have this incredible light fixture, so I covered it in tinsel. I mean COVERED it. It’s about 20,000 strands of tinsel. My mom and I put it on together because we had to distribute the weight evenly or one side would get too heavy. It looks as if the chandelier was dripping tinsel onto the tree and gave the room this luxe, vintage feel. I couldn’t be more obsessed with how Dani used it in photos.

The Cake Table

This changed quite a bit in the planning and really came to life when I was actually styling. I have ALWAYS wanted to play around with wreaths, and this felt like the perfect time to do it! I picked up 3 large wreaths and decided to fill them with the girls hair bows. I have been collecting them for so long and it made it so much easier to not cut into my ribbons and already have the perfect bow. I later added in some baubles and ornaments and they turned out SO good. I finished the wall with some smaller wreaths adorned with gold stars and my mini glass ball wreaths.

**happy accident #2 I used a gold star chandelier last year and when I took it down it got tangled past repair. I kept it just in case, and this year I decided to cut off all the stars and they came in handy.

I filled the table with all the snacks and treats. My favorite treat for this was the charcuterTREE. I made charcuterie cones but with custom green paper and glues a tiny star at the bottom of each one so it looked like a tree. I filled them all with a pretzel rod, popcorn, a baby bell and a golden wrapped chocolate. They turned out SO DANG CUTE and were the perfect thing for the kids to snack on. I also layered in cake stands of cookies from Royally Iced and the cutest wreath macarons from Soiree Macarons.

Let’s talk about the cake. I decided to use the fillable cake stand again, it has been one of my favorite things to use for the girls for years. I filled the cake stand with blue and green ornaments and christmas lights as well as some collected ornaments that represented her past parties like a cream puff swan and a fringe boot. I topped the cake with a gold balloon star and it was absolutely amazing!

**happy accident #3 I had ordered a cake to be delivered for her party but it was delayed with UPS for over a week. I had to improvise the day before and picked up a plain white cake from the grocery store. Looking back I prefer the simple cake over what I had planned. It let the interesting cake stand and topper shine.

The Tree Corner

Do you remember the Fringe Tree House Of Fete designed with Glam Fete back in 2020? We used it for our Merry and Bright shoot and it made another appearance. This time I hung it in the corner to giver it a different looks. I kept it simple with a tinsel ornament garland and added my little white bar in front. I filled the bottom with velvet presents each tied with a bow and finished with a Chalk Designs By Me tag. the bar had a gorgeous tree drink dispenser, a few plates of cookies and a floral arrangement.

Pickles are Denver’s favorite food, so of course we had not one, but two pickle trees. I filled these trees with glass pickle ornaments “The Christmas Pickle” and these were to go home with all the kids as a party favor. Itsy Bitsy made the cutest pickle tags and I finished each one with a touch of gold tinsel. To fill up the tree Cami painted pickle ornaments to make the tree look full! We added two signs and tree toppers to bring it all together.

I was inspired by Jordan Ferny’s Pickle tree and am officially collecting vintage pickles.

The Hutch

Do y’all remember the last time I included the hutch in a party for Denver’s Seven Swans of Swimming treats and candies? It turned out beautifully but it was a nightmare taking out all my Christmas decor and putting it back. I really wanted the hutch to feel like apart of the party and not an after though piece of furniture. I came up with the idea to make it feel like window shopping and Lindsey brought it to life. She made me the most gorgeous ribbons to label each shelf as if it was a different shop. We called the whole thing Tannenbaum Town Center and the shops were based on items already in the hutch, like cookbooks, lights, garland, hot cocoa and more. I re-styled it a bit to fit the ribbons and added some of the kids favors to make it somewhat interactive.

The top of the hutch was filled with bottle brush tress and of course some of my favorite tree art work by the one and only Nysha Lilly.

The Favors

Each kid got a pickle ornament and a little back of Cocoa on the go. I filled the bad with Hot Chocolate, gourmet marshmallows and a giant Candy Cane. The kids also got the cutest tree party hats to wear at the party, we had the classic green and the silver tinsel.

The Games

Per Denver’s request we played Pin the Star on the tree. The game actually doubled as decor. Cami made me a giant tinsel tree tapestry that covered our bar and create a backdrop. The tree was the perfect height to pin the star for the kids. Not pictured we played pass the parcel which was a HUGE hit for the kids.

The Outfits

Denver wore this incredible tree dress from mini Boden. the other girls wore holiday dresses from Pink Chicken, can you even with the gold lame? All the girls rocked their party pins from Elise at Hip Hooray Studios, which has become a party essential.

I wore my new favorite red dress from Anthro, it has pockets and fits like a GLOVE.

Special Guests

A few weeks before the party I connected with the editors at Better Homes and Gardens. They saw some of Denver’s past holiday parties and I showed them my plans for this one and they chose to come photograph her party! They arrived the day before the actual party with their crew to shoot all the details. HUGE PINCH ME MOMENT.

They spent the day capturing it all including me and the girls and you will see it in the 2025 Christmas Ideas Magazine. It will hit newsstands next October. WOW. Still cannot get over what a dream come true this is.

The Photos

Miss Dani Lacey joined us for the party with her girls, who have become besties with mine. We had so much fun styling, playing and planning. The photos she captures are just beyond and none of this would look this good without her.

Huge shout out to all my amazing vendors for bringing this party to life. Christmas themed parties hold a special place in my heart, this might be one of my favorites. Stay tuned to see it in print next fall!

XO

Kelsey

Design @house.of.fete
Host + florals @kelseyklos
Photographer @danilaceyphotographs
Invite, tags, ribbons @itsybitsypartieskc
Watercolor Art + products @camimonet
Velvet boxes, glass trees @shopsweetlulu
Pickle ornaments @oldworldchristmas
Fringe tree @glamfete x @house.of.fete
Linen @simplyelegantrental
Acrylic rounds @modernbirchco x @house.of.fete
Napkins @suburban_soiree
Cookies @royallyiced
Macarons @soireemacarons
Party hats @littleblueolive
Framed artwork @nyshalilly
Hot cocoa + candy canes @hammondscandies
Party Pins @elisemareefehr
Dresses @miniboden + @pinkchickenny
Wreath bows @wunderkin_co
Present tags @chalkdesignsbyme
Garlands @pearlandjane
Confetti @laurenglassdesigns