9th Birthday Harry Potter Theme

My girls are both mad for Harry Potter, and with my youngest's 8th birthday just around the corner, I thought I'd revisit my older daughter's 9th Harry Potter birthday party to reuse some ideas. Aparecium!

Party: 9th Birthday Party
Location: Sydney, NSW

Theme: Harry Potter
Organised by: Me (Steph Bond-Hutkin, Bondville)

Photography: Steph Bond-Hutkin for Bondville

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

This Tropical Boho Baby Shower rocks my world

I'm lapping up the boho beauty of this lush tropical north Queensland baby shower for my friend Jess. Gorgeous photography by Rhea Tasvinda captures the sweetness of the afternoon in all its steamy gloriousness. Jess gives us the goods on the lovely event she created (omg - the cake!):

Party: Jess's baby shower

Organised by: Jess

Location: Mackay, QLD

Theme: Tropical, relaxed afternoon with friends and family.
Photography: Tasvinda Photography

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...

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.

Trend: Katherine Sabbath-Style Crazy Cakes

It's my daughter's 8th birthday party in just over a week and with a loose Royals theme, she has requested a 'Crazy Cake', inspired by the explosion of goodies and topping madness on Baking Goddess Katherine Sabbath's drip cakes. I follow Katherine on Instagram and my daughter is smitten.

I did a quick search, and guess what - Katherine's crazy cakes are now officially a trend that is sweeping the baking world. Expect to see lots of amazing cakes inspired by Katherine's work popping up at birthday parties. Feast your eyes on some of my favourite of Katherine's cakes for some birthday cake ideas:

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.

Watermelon party products from We Love Sundays

How I wish that these fantastic watermelon-inspired party products had been available when I put together a watermelon birthday party for my little one last year!

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:

2nd Birthday Strawberry Party

Strawberry season is upon us in Australia, and with punnets at their very freshest and cheapest, strawberries make a fabulous party theme. When little Izzy turned two, her Mum Zoe put together the cutest strawberry party, beautifully photographed by Milk & Honey Photography in a park in Sydney's inner west. We are lucky to have Zoe share her tips and tricks with us on how to put together a strawberry party with lots of great savoury food ideas too.

Party: Izzy's Strawberry 2nd Birthday
Organised by: Mum - Zoe
Location: Laxton Reserve, Dulwich Hill
Theme: Berry-Sweet Strawberry Party
Photography: Milk & Honey Photography

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

Free Gelato Messina icecreams at Chatswood Chase 30th Aug

Sydneysiders love their Gelato Messina and you can score one of these limited edition bespoke icecreams by the iconic confectioners at Chatswood Chase on 30th August! Gelato Messina has designed these beauties especially for the opening of US retailers West Elm, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids and Williams-Sonoma on Sydney's north shore. Get in on the action!

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.