Ava turned five a few weeks ago. I can hardly believe that she's five. I'm pretty sure each birthday that goes by I say that, but it's true. This year though, I think because five is such a milestone year I was more of a mess about it. She's five now, she's so big and I feel like over night she just grew.

This birthday she had lots of ideas and opinions of her own for what she wanted her birthday party to be. Truthfully I was thinking that we'd just not have a party this year, but then when she came to me with all her ideas I thought "how can we not have a party?"

She wanted and "Elsa" party, not a Frozen party..... just Elsa. She wanted to make crowns and decorate cupcakes as well. So we set out to throw a fabulous Elsa themed party, but a modern one. As much as my five year old loves all things Elsa and Frozen Mama does not. So I set out to do a Elsa themed party without buying everything Oriental Trading Co had to offer.

I found the Pinwheel party collection from Minted and I knew it would be perfect for this party. I loved the icy blues and the chevron details. Also the swirls looked like snow to me and I thought it would coordinate well. All of the table confetti, Hooray flags, bunting, and food signs are from this line. Minted has some great party collections, check them out here.

All the parties I throw start with an invitation, for me they set the tone. I found a few that I liked on Etsy and then let Ava choose the one she likes best from the ones I choose. She choose this one from Paper Tinker. I had Beca change the wording a bit since this was an "Elsa" party. She was great to work with and I love how the invite turned out. Every year I put them in her baby book as well.

Dessert tables are always so fun to put together. This year we kept the really simple and just had a variety of desserts. I made them all myself a day before the party to keep party day stress free. I frosted my cupcakes an hour before to make sure they were fresh. The adorable donut trees are inspired by Paging Super Mom. When I saw them online I knew I wanted to make them for this party. They just scream snow!

Frozen drink station, simple punch and water. The glass bottles with paper straws are always a favorite of mine. The paper straws are from The TomKat Studio. Drink dispensers are from Zulily.

We set up a dress up station for all the girls that came. We asked them to come in their favorite party dress or princess dress. It was fun watching them change outfits over and over again throughout the party.

As I said, Ava wanted to make crowns. Lucky for me crowns were apart of the Pinwheel Collection from Minted. They each had a different pattern already on them, we just jazzed them up with some glitter and gems from the craft store. The crowns also came with a string that you could add so you could keep it on.

We also let each girl decorate their own cupcakes. Cupcake wrappers and plates from The TomKat Studio.

I kept the party favors simple this year, I found these mini Frozen coloring books in the dollar section and added a Frozen lip balm that I found in a multi pack at WalMart. They were the perfect little treat to take home.

Happy Birthday sweet baby girl, Mommy and Daddy can't believe you're five! Please stop growing now!

Trying to get all these girls to look and smile at the same time... good luck! It was so fun watching Ava with all her friends. I love seeing them interact together.

Paper Straw, Cupcake Wrappers, Plates TomKat Studio

Invitation Paper Tinker

Pinwheel Party Decor c/o Minted

Andrea Worley