Only three months behind, but here we are! Raley’s Coraline 9th birthday party. This year Raley has become obsessed with all things Coraline. It started at the end of last school year when she found the book in her school library. It’s a pretty big book for a 2nd grader, but she dove into it and finished it just in time for school to end. After reading the book, she watched the movie and fell in love. Coraline was just about all she talked about for months, so of course she decided that her next birthday party theme would be Coraline.
She was very much involved in the planning process, which I enjoyed so much. We both wrestled with the color scheme and which way we wanted to go with the details. I had only seen the movie a few times, so I wasn’t as familiar with the little details as she was, so it was fun to run things by her to see what fit. Most of the Coraline themed parties I found on Pinterest had a blue/yellow/purple color scheme, but neither one of us were really drawn to the blue and yellow. We decided to go toward a mostly black scheme with pops of purple.
Parts of the movie look like the “Starry Night” painting by Van Gogh, so I got galaxy table cloths for the food tables, with black creepy cloth down the middle
At first I found it difficult to figure out how to decorate this party, but the more I watched the movie and talked with Raley, the more the little details began to come out. A few of my favorites:
- “Welcome home” cake, like the one the Other Parents give her in the movie
- Skeleton hand holding a key above the cake
- Coraline doll
- Rats with button eyes
- Button moon on the backdrop
- Jar of buttons
- Pink Palace Apartments sign behind the food table (my dad made the stand and I painted the sign)
We decided to accent with spiders, spider webs, spooky candles, and trees (we were fortunate that her party was close to Halloween!) We had a spider web table cloth that we used as the backdrop for the food table, and spider web plates and napkins. Raley liked the idea of using spiders and webs because (spoiler alert) the Other Mother is actually a spider🕷️. For the table settings, I found black chargers at Hobby Lobby, and rolled utensils in a napkin with a button cutout.
On the menu:
- Popcorn
- Galaxy fudge
- Button shaped shortbread cookies
- Cake from Suzanne’s Bakery
We had her party at Artistic Minds art studio. Mrs. Vonda and everybody at the studio was wonderful and accommodating. They sketched a custom picture for the kids to paint and drew the outlines on each one ahead of time. I think the kids had a great time painting and got to take home their own artwork.
Raley’s dress is from the Etsy shop Pretty Peach Kids. I’m not sure if Etsy does targeted ads, but if it does, it got me with that one. I just happened to come across it a couple weeks before her party and thought it was perfect. I ordered her dragonfly hair clip and key necklace from Amazon. The Coraline doll is from Carla Jordin Boutique on Etsy and the seeing stone is from the Etsy shop Sofias Stuffs. I actually found the yellow rain jacket at a thrift store (score!) and ordered the yellow rain boots on sale at Mountain Warehouse. All of this besides the dress was reused for her Halloween costume.
She had a fun 9th birthday party celebrating with family and friends. It’s fun to actually get their input and collaborate with the birthday girls as they get older. She has an eye for details and I think she could have a future in party planning 🖤
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