My son Avery has loved snow cat machines for almost two years now. I think what started his admiration for them is because his uncle Brad has operated one for over 20 years now at our local ski area, Steven’s Pass, in Washington.
With Avery’s birthday being in the Winter, I had already planned & designed him a Winter Wonderland, a Ski Jump theme, and a Snow Plow Truck themed birthday. With his newer love of snow cats, we decided this theme would be very fitting for the occasion.
The main inspiration for the design of the party came from a Snow Cat Diecut Vinyl Sticker I came across from Pike Street Press in Seattle, WA. It is one of the most darling looking vintage machines and I knew it would be perfect for the design! It also reminded me of a vintage Tucker Snow Cat, which is one of my family’s favorites!
With the inspiration for the design set, I then turned to my favorite place to get invitations - Minted. I found a simple design where I was able to add a cute photo of Avery and it was the perfect green color, which I then added into the color palette for the party.
One tradition I love doing before the guests arrive to my boys’ birthday parties is to take a few minutes alone with them to surprise them & show them all of the little details. Avery had known what the theme was, but didn’t know anything else.
The sheer joy and excitement on his face as we ventured around to the different stations just melted this mama’s heart! He was so appreciate and adored what I put together for him!
Last year we held a sledding party for Avery and had so much fun that we decided to do that again this year! As guests arrived, they got their first glimpse of the theme with an incredible Welcome Sign, displaying the Pike Street Press Orange Snow Cat beautifully replicated by my dear friend Josie, of Chalk Chic Mama. Just beyond the welcome sign was “Avery’s Sledding Hill” - a fabric banner sign Josie had made for his birthday party last year that we thought would be perfect to re-use.
After the guests dropped off presents on the welcome table, they then got to take a picture with the birthday boy!
Using thin Hardboard from our local Home Depot store, I cut and painted all of the signs for the party to match our color palette. For the photo backdrop wall, I painted one of the walls green and white stripes to match the envelope insert from the invitations. Josie then worked her magic and beautifully inscribed “Take a picture with the Birthday Boy” and “Happy Birthday Avery” with an outline of a snow cat. I simply adore her work and she really makes any celebration come to life with her incredible talent!
I loved creating this photo backdrop wall for guests to take a picture with the birthday boy as they arrived!
After guests had their photos taken with Avery, the children then got to put on temporary tattoos(which were part of the favors) before the sledding commenced.
Laying in front of another wonderful sign by Josie, were darling Frosted Temporary Tattoos from Daydream Society that featured holographic silver foil. The children loved the snowflake pattern and were eager to put them on!
How darling were these sweet snowflake tattoos on the kiddos?!
Now onto the part the kids really couldn’t wait for - the sledding!
I can’t tell you how many times we zipped down this hill! Some of my favorite photos from the day are of the littlest kids covering their eyes on the way down the sledding hill! :)
After sledding for a while, it was time to warm up with hot cocoa.
To create a fun backdrop wall, I found some cool old snow cat pictures that Avery liked and framed them. One of my favorite backdrop elements was the wood round that I painted green to match the color palette, and then had Josie write out “Avery is six”. A simple, yet beautiful piece that ended up serving a duel purpose - decor for the backdrop and also as a photo prop with Avery.
For the cups I used stickers that came along with the Minted invitation suite. I had a few left over green and white striped envelope liners, so I cut out little flags and stuck them to the brown paper straws for some added flair.
Marshmallows are always my boys’ favorite when having hot cocoa, so I was sure to load them up for the party! Josie added her touch by creating sweet labels for each flavor.
After everyone warmed up with cocoa, we moved onto the cake!
I just adored how everything came together and the overall look of the dessert table! My good friend Olivia from Flour + Sugar made three cakes for the party. The main cake was a scrumptious chocolate cake with chocolate chip mint buttercream filling - one of Avery’s favorite flavors, and on the outside she painted an incredible snowy mountain scene with buttercream. Her other two cakes were chocolate with salted buttercream filling. All of them were so delicious and well loved by the guests.
Look how incredible this cookie cake topper is! Keri, of Treat Custom Cookies did an incredible job replicating the vintage snowcat from Pike Street Press and it was the perfect topper to our snowy mountain cake!
Keri also made adorable sugar cookies that were not only super delicious but matched our color palette perfectly. And those sugar cookie trees on sticks - oh my! They were too cute to eat!
Hooray for turning six!
The favors were so fun to put together! Using simple brown Kraft paper bags I placed round “thank you for coming” stickers from the Minted invitation suite, and Josie inscribed each child’s name on simple white cardstock tags. Inside the bag, each child received a sticker from Pike Street Press of the vintage snowcat, a set of holographic silver foiled snowflakes from Daydream Society, a Matchbox snowcat to play with and some Snow Caps for a sweet treat.
One of my favorite traditions is having Josie create a keepsake Milestone Birthday Chalkboard, and every year they just keep getting better and better! She is so creative and I always adore everything she makes!
We had such a wonderful afternoon celebrating Avery! From good conversations with friends & family, to full warm bellies of cocoa & cake & cookies, to flying down the sledding hill - it was such a fun day!
Happy birthday sweet boy!
VENDORS:
Photography: Lizbeths Lens
Chalk Art/Lettering: Chalk Chic Mama
Cookies & Cake Topper: Treat Custom Cookies
Cakes: Flour + Sugar
Orange Snow Cat Sticker: Pike Street Press
Invitations: Minted
Snowflake Tattoos & Stripe Paper Plates: Daydream Society