When Annabelle first told me she wanted a “banana party,” I had no idea what that would entail. It ended up being a ton of fun coming up with ideas and the party was hit with all of the kids!
First off are the invites which were, of course, bananas! I used yellow cardstock for the “peel” and used my sewing machine to stitch around the edge so that the “banana” could be inserted and removed easily. And, I couldn’t have a banana without a banana sticker, so I used sticker paper and printed off my own with a 3 on them. The fronts read, “Our little chiquita is turning 3!” and the back had the pertinent party info. They were sent with the flaps up so that the guests could feel like they were actually peeling the banana. I love these 
I found this adorable banana fabric from Moda and used it for her skirt and the goody bags. It was destiny! The skirt was made from this twirly skirt pattern and it was quite cute for the short amount of time that she wore it.
About 20-minutes into the party she changed into her bathing suit to play on the “wet banana” (AKA slip-n-slide). Ok. I’m the only one who called it this. I do believe that the slip-n-slide will make an appearance at all of our birthday parties because it’s easy and the kids LOVE IT. I will find a way to work it into whatever theme these little monkeys come up with!
Here are the goody bags. I just made very simple bags that tied with an attached ribbon. Inside the bags were paintchip-notepads, banana crayons (melted then poured into candy molds), noise makers, banana suckers, and little craft papers that I picked up in packs at JoAnn’s. I spent no more than $10 on everything total (not per bag…total!) which thrills me to no end.
Some of the kids were not quite ready to jump right in and join the fun at the slip-n-slide so they played this Banana Toss game:
We had chocolate cuppies with a light banana topping. I’ll post the recipe for the topping tomorrow (I actually have stuff to post so I’m dragging this baby out!). While I’m at this photo I’ll also point out something else that worked out and made me immensely happy. I used the tutorial for attaching plates and candle sticks from Design Sponge to make this cupcake stand and I’m just thrilled that it worked out so well! We had more cupcakes than this. I staged this quickly before the party then promptly put everthing back in the fridge before it melted. I added a banana slice to each cupcake before serving.
And, for the cake, I made this Banana Split Cake from Martha Stewart. It was a big ol’ pile of ooey goodness and it was delicious!
Thanks for stopping by and checking out our fun! Here are just a couple more pics of the girls playing with the banana toss the day after the party:
This is such a fun theme, I love all the little details you thought of. The Slip n Slide is just genius. I’ll be linking to this in my next Birthday Party Roundup if you don’t mind. I think this is one of my favorite themes ever!
OH my gosh - u did not let me down! This is SO perfect! Those invites are adorable as are everything else!! I love it all!!! I bet she had a blast!!!
This is so, so, so, so cute!!!!!!!! Can you come plan my daughter’s birthday? Please? It’s not until Sept so you have lots of time….
I’m so stoked you found time to post about this today. I have really been looking forward to it! So cute! I love the goodie bags and everything, really! Good job, Mom!
That is AWESOME! You need to be a party planner!
[...] I knew the cake was already going to be over-the-top, so I wanted something a little lighter with a more subtle flavor for the cupcake topping. I decided to use Cool-whip as the base, then added about a quarter of a packet of instant banana pudding mix. You could use more or less depending on how strong you want the flavor. Paired with a chocolate cake mix from a box, it was the perfect foil to the banana split cake! [...]