Bondville's Tutti Fruiti 7th Birthday Party

My youngest celebrated her seventh birthday recently and with Summer in full swing, she requested a tutti frutti. Both girls were excited to help organise and decorate the party, and we had plenty of bits and pieces that we could reuse from other events. The key here was to have one large focal point to set the scene for the party - in our case it was the honeycomb fruit decorations. Then it was easy to just serve up as much fruit as the girls could eat!

Party: 7th Birthday Party
Location: Sydney, NSW

Theme: Tutti Fruiti
Organised by: Me (Steph Bond-Hutkin, Bondville)

Photography: Steph Bond-Hutkin for Bondville

Quinn's 1st Party Animal Birthday Party

Gosh. This is one of the best parties I have seen for a little boy in a long time. Little Quinn's Mum Kara put together a beautiful event that's colourful without being fussy. Party Animals is a great theme for a one-year-old and opens up a whole range of colour options. I love that Kara has taken the confetti theme throughout from cake, to garlands, invitation and table decorations; and that touch of metallic adds some pizzazz. The food looks amazing too. Read on for Kara's tips to pull together a Party Animal birthday party...

How To Make A Puppy Cake

If you'd like squeals of delight from your little animal-lover on on their birthday, make a puppy cake, just like the two cute puppies that I made for my daughter's 6th birthday! These cakes are inspired by the dog cakes from Breadtop bakeries, but I decided to make them myself using my own flavours (and much more within my budget!). Read on for all the tips and tricks...

Bondville 6 year old Puppy Party

We usually only have a day to pull together our youngest's birthday party each year as it's just after the festive season, but that is a great excuse to keep things sweet and simple which to me is perfect. Miss Six loves all things puppy, cuddly, and animal-related, so we found this super-cute invitation by Meg Bartholomy, and emailed it out over the holidays. I used the chocolate, pink and orange colours from the invites as the basis for the party decorations and food. I had also spotted fun puppy cakes in BreadTop, but on my small budget I decided I could make them myself, and with the flavours I wanted. Read on for all my tips for creating a sweet puppy/animal party on a budget!

Party: Our six year old's birthday party
Organised by: Me! (Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville)
Location: at home in Sydney
Theme: Loosely puppy/animal themed - based on this invitation

Bondville Parties: 8th Birthday Party Spring theme

My eldest turns eight this week, and she had her sister and eight friends over for an afternoon birthday party this weekend. It's hard to go past a Spring theme for her, as I'll always remember her newborn days with all the trees in bloom, and the weather warming. The kids had a lovely afternoon playing party games (thanks Harris!), and making DIY toppings for their milkshakes. I even made a Katherine Sabbath-inspired cake! (remember this post here?). The perfect explosion of colour to match the garden flowers, blue sky and bright sunshine. Read on for all my tips and more pics...

Party: Eighth Birthday Party
Organised by: Steph Bond-Hutkin (Bondville)
Location: Sydney
Theme: Spring

Cake: Made by me and inspired by Katherine Sabbath's amazing cakes.

Bunny Birthday Party printable pack by Billy and Scarlet

Oh I am smitten with this Etsy find - the "It's Some Bunny's Birthday" party printable pack by Sydney designer Jillian from Billy and Scarlet. Perfect for Spring, it's all watercolours, pansies, and Jillian's original bunny illustrations - perfect for a girl's birthday party. My 5-year-old is mad for it too.

5th Birthday pink dance party

It's a five-year-old girl's dream party - lots of pink, delicious treats, all your friends, and a dance party! Accalia's Mum and Dad always put together amazing parties for their girls (see the fairy princess party here, bubbas and bears here), and this one was no exception. Holly Hiphop was the star of the show, teaching the kids some cool moves and playing games with them. Accalia's Mum Renay kindly shares with us her tips and tricks for putting together a fun pink dance party:

My daughter's high tea party 7th birthday

My daughter wanted a high tea party - as girly as they come - for her 7th birthday. Of course the kids had to have proper mini tea cups (found at a St Vinnies for a steal) and apple juice, poured from a tea pot. What a great theme! It's really easy to pull together a party that's inexpensive and effective by keeping the palette to pastels and pinks, and using an abundance of flowers. The perfect party for Spring. Lots of tips below...

Party: 7th birthday party
Organised by: Mum Steph Bond-Hutkin (that's me!)
Location: Sydney, NSW
Theme: High Tea party

Rainbow Party for Odette's 6th Birthday

My friends Anni and Matthew from Milk & Honey Photography are soooo clever and as well as being fabulous portrait and wedding photographers, also put together really lovely, relaxed parties for their children. Here they share with us their daughter Odette's 6th birthday party, rainbow theme, at a park in Balmain and gorgeously photographed by the team at Milk & Honey Photography. I love Anni's rainbow layer cake and the gorgeous rainbow streamers with white tissue paper pom clouds decoration!

Party: Odette's 6th Rainbow party
Organised by: Anni and Matthew (Mum and Dad)
Location: Callan Park, Balmain, Sydney, NSW
Theme: Rainbow
Photography: Milk & Honey Photography

Confetti party collection from kikki.K

kikki.K has just launched their first party stationery collection for girls and it's super-sweet. Co-ordinate your party from top to toe with sweet confetti-themed pieces including invitations, wrapping paper, plates, cups, cupcakes, serviettes, straws, goodie bags, tags, string, decorations, and even a matching scrapbook or photo album to remember your special day.

Best mermaid party ideas

Mermaid birthday parties have been hugely popular in the past year, so I thought I would put together some ideas for you as inspiration for your own mermaid party planning:

Mermaid Cakes:

These mermaid cakes are the crowning glory of four mermaid parties featured here on Bondville:

Watermelon birthday cake on Oh Happy Day

I may have squealed a little. The watermelon birthday cake I made for my daughter was featured on the Oh Happy Day blog (my top 5 favourite blogs of all time!) recently along with some other fun watermelon party ideas. Beyond thrilled! See the whole watermelon party here.

Cutest Sylvanian Families birthday cake

The lovely Nicola from the concrete and honey blog made this gorgeous Sylvanian Families cake for her nephew Kingston's 1st birthday. Love it to bits! Pop your child's cutest toy on top of a freshly-iced cake for a super-cute surprise that you know your little one will love.

Nicola has these tips to share:

Natalia's 5th Mermaid Party at the park

Natalia's Mum Maria decided at the last minute to host a mermaid party for her daughter's 5th birthday. The text message invitation was sent six days before the party! Maria chose a colour theme (purple), a stunning cake centrepiece by Faye Cahill, and focused on good food to pull together a fun party at a local park. I love the grown-up food and the relaxed experience for everyone. These beautiful photos were taken by Anni from Milk & Honey Photography. Enjoy!

Party: Natalia's 5th
Organised by: Mum and Dad - Maria and Clark
Location: Beauchamp Park, Chatswood
Theme: Mermaid Party

Our Mermaid Tea Party on Maxabella Loves

I'm thrilled to have our daughter's 6th birthday party featured on the lovely Maxabella Loves blog! Thank you Bron for doing such a great job of putting all the images together and your kind words. It was such a fun Tea Party for the little mermaids. Head over to Maxabella Loves to read through!

Cutest dinosaur birthday party invites from Peaches + Keen

I spotted these ultra-cute dinosaur party invitations from Australian artists, jewellery designers and crafters Peaches + Keen on Instagram. Each dino features gold foil and is self-standing. Perfect for both the littlest boys and girls.

KatyJane Designs stationery and party products 50% off

Wonderful friends and stationery designers KatyJane Designs are closing up shop and moving onto new adventures. It's time to stock up on all the stationery and party products you have been coveting before it is gone forever, and at 50% off! Quick!

I've always loved the Fairy Garden Party design and the party set (10 invitations with magnets, envelopes and party bag tags) is now only $12.50. You'll also find co-ordinating cards, letter-writing sets, bag tags and more on the site. (this Christmas stationery and advent calendar are also great).

Head over to the KatyJane Designs website to snap up a bargain now. And, it's only $5 flat rate standard shipping to Australian destinations! We will miss you Katy and Jane! The world will be a little less colourful without your beautiful designs.

Images: KatyJane Designs

Our Watermelon Party 4th Birthday

Our little one celebrates her birthday just after Christmas in the heat of summer, so when we suggested a watermelon party, she couldn't have been happier. Her favourite fruit! It was a fun party at a local park with all her preschool friends and some family friends too. Read on for all the details of her 4th birthday watermelon party!

Party: 4th Birthday Watermelon Party
Organised by: Mum (Me! Steph Bond-Hutkin) with help from Dad
Location: Epping Oval Playground, Sydney, NSW
Theme: Watermelons!

Thirst-quenching Summer Smoothie Recipes

It's the last few weeks of lovely warm days and pleasant nights before the cooler weather comes our way. Why not make the most of it with an after-school smoothie made with fresh fruit? I always have a few frozen bananas on hand to whip up something quick and easy. How good does this watermelon and lychee smoothie look?

Head to Mum's Business to read my article on kid-friendly smoothie recipes. I added two bonus recipes, so there are seven in total including: Banana smoothie, Fruit smoothie, Chocolate smoothie, Watermelon and lychee smoothie (pictured above), Green apple kiwi fruit and lychee smoothie, Chai smoothie, and Pineapple and coconut smoothie.

Smoothies/frappes are also great for parties and having friends over. They are quick and easy to make and there's no added sugar, preservatives or any nasties! Do you have a favourite smoothie recipe?

Image: Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville

Love Mae instant garden party box 50% off

Gorgeous Australian fabric decal brand Love Mae are discontinuing their party ware and this lovely garden party box is now 50% off! $30 will get you a 12 pack of plates, 12 pack of cups, 24 cupcake cases, 12 cake bags, 25 blue and 25 pink paper straws and a sheet of wrapping paper. You'll also find a party decoration tutorial that the birthday girl might be able to craft up for the lovely day. Perfect. (You can find the individual pieces in the pack on sale on the website too). Hurry before they get snapped up!

Image: Love Mae