How To Throw the Perfect Bow Themed Party
Some say 2024 is the YEAR OF THE BOW…and we couldn’t agree more! A bow theme was one of the first requests we received for a first birthday party this year and we even wrote about it in our 2024 First Birthday Party Trends blog post a few months back! Now that the fabulous bow themed party that we were planning has happened, we wanted to take you behind the scenes to show you how we brought it all to life so you can throw your own incredible bow party!
Zhuzh It Up Events party set up for Olivia’s 1st Birthday at The Blasket in NYC in April 2024
1. Nail down your color shades
Everything needs to look cohesive to achieve a truly gorgeous and classic bow aesthetic. Dimension with colors is good, but in general softer colors pair better with a bow theme than bright or bold colors. Make sure that for any balloons, florals and other decor, you color match as best you can!
Want to throw a bow themed party that isn’t the usual pink and white?! While we love the classic vibe, we love a rebel too! Check out these gorgeous pastel colors that are also a fantastic choice for a bow themed party!
Customized ball pit for Olivia’s bow themed party!
2. Decide on the focal point
Consider what the central attraction of your party will be. Where will most of your guests spend their time? Start there!
For the party we planned, the focal point was the customized ball pit and photo backdrop. We knew we needed any lettering that appeared in these items to be clean and modern, but also classic and delicate. We also wanted the pinks and whites we used to be very light and very soft - nothing too intense or bold.
The father of the birthday girl also wanted to add some thematic dimension to the party - what else besides “just bows” can we do? Ultimately the parents of the birthday girl decided that some cute animals (named giraffes!) would help bring this party theme to life! We created adorable giraffe decals for the ball pit and included our giraffe animal hoppers for the kids to play on!
3. Get crafty!
Custom favors for the kids!
The mother of the birthday girl did an absolutely fantastic job creating simple and beautiful favors! We loved the adorable customized cups with a simple bow - functional and adorable!
As part of the custom backdrop, we made a handmade, pink satin bow and we highly recommend it! Believe it or not, the internet didn’t have a ton of videos on this topic, so we wanted to share how we created this bow so you can replicate it! Check out our Instagram to see the full video!
Gather your materials and start creating:
We used pink satin fabric, hot glue, 2 large white zip ties and scissors.
Pro tip: We got a TON (about 7 yards) of pink satin fabric so we’d have plenty to work with in case we made mistakes. Hobby Lobby for the win!
Phase 1: Lay out your fabric, cut to the desired size, and glue the edges so that the sides are clean when you fold your bow (you don’t want the bow to have frayed edges). Note this might take some time depending on the size of your bow! Prepare yourself with lots of glue!
Phase 2: Once everything is glued down, it’s time to form your bow - fold and scrunch your material up so that you have a bow shape just to your liking. Once the material is in place, you want to create the center of the bow using the two zip ties. Then you’ll need another piece of fabric (we recommend also gluing the edges so they’re clean, but you can skip this step if desired just by folding the material). After this, we tied a knot, cut the fabric so there wasn’t excess hanging down, and then used a pin and some more glue to firmly keep it in place.
Phase 3: We stuffed the bow to help it keep its shape and quickly realized that was a bad idea because it was just too enormous! So we removed the stuffing, glued the edges, and instead used chopsticks and tape on the back of the backdrop to help the bow keep its shape. A truly brilliant idea from my husband! The end result was a gorgeous, delicate bow that truly brought together the entire bow aesthetic. What do you think?!
The final result of the bow with the stunning backdrop display that included real florals!
The stunning dessert table display!
4. Don’t forget the food!
And last but not least, to tie your bow party fully together, we recommend getting creative with your food choices! For the party we styled, the mother of the birthday girl ordered gorgeous desserts to bring the bow theme to life! The dessert table had 3 cakes and guests took home bow and animal cookies as favors! We highly recommend a stunning dessert table display for your bow themed party!
This trend is not going out of style any time soon! Bows are a classic, elegant and chic theme to celebrate a baby girl’s birthday (or even for a bridal or baby shower!). We hope this blog will help you create your own gorgeous bow themed party…and if you’re in the New Jersey area, we’d love to help make your party sparkle! Get in touch!