Hedgehogs and Berries
For Aiden’s 5th Birthday last year we celebrated with friends and family in our garden with a hedgehogs and berries & cream theme.
In planning this party we started with Aiden’s request for a Strawberries and Cream cake. As he loves all berries and not just strawberries we extended the concept out to make it a “Berries and Cream” theme which enabled us to also incorporate more blue colours which Aiden loves.
Whilst we were in the midst of planning Aiden fell in love with hedgehogs and asked for this cute little animal to also be included. As the natural habitat of hedgehogs is the English country hedgerows of which blackberry bushes are a prominent feature it was a natural decision to combine the two ideas together to create the overall party vision.
The centrepiece of the party was a dessert table filled with the special requests Aiden had made. Alongside the central strawberries and cream cake he also requested his other favourite desserts - panacottas, jellies and macarons. I set the table up using the crates and market stand as this felt like a nice match with the English countryside setting that suited the theme.
Aiden tucking into one of his strawberry jellies.
Strawberry and Pandan macarons made by Arelio Sweetbox
Blueberry and Nutella hedgehog macarons made by Arelio Sweetbox
For the savoury dishes we kept with the English countryside theme with a ploughmans platter, cheeseboard and rustic breads and salads.
For the party games the children shuffled around the grass like hedgehogs collecting berries and I created a pass the parcel shaped like a strawberry with each layer filled with little hedgehogs and berry themed items.
As part of the party decorations I also painted and cut many large hedgehogs to hide amongst the undergrowth, bushes and amidst the dessert table setup. These were also a fun item that the kids could also pick up and play with during the party.
strawberry themed pass the parcel
mixed berry fruit tart
Another party decoration I created was the balloon garland of mixed berry coloured balloons interspersed with large painted watercolour berries. Large hedgehog balloons were also used to decorate the garden.
Heart shaped red balloons made the perfect ‘strawberry’ base with crepe paper leaves.
Strawberry lanterns and strawberry honeycomb balls hanging from the trees.
Flowers will always be one of my favourite styling features. We had two bouquets made up for this party from two of my favourite florists. Each florist was given the same brief of hedgehogs with berry tones and it’s fabulous to see the different creative approaches taken by each florist.
Flowers by Flower Infusion in Wahroonga
Flowers by Ipsen Botanica
For favour gifts I made lolly jars out of jam jars tied with hand-painted watercolour strawberries. In keeping with the theme we filled the jars with strawberries and cream gummy lollies, spearmint leaf lollies, milk bottle lollies, dried cranberries and other treats that tied in with the berries and cream theme.
I always love working on creating a beautiful party for my son and enjoy the creative challenge of how to apply the theme across every element of the event. The weather was perfect for our outdoor garden party and it was wonderful to spend the time with family and friends as we celebrated Aiden turning 5.
Hand-painted watercolour cake topper
If you loved all these party details and would love to create something unique for your next celebration I’d love to hear from you and work with you to make something beautiful.
Invitation design for the hedgehogs and berries in the garden party.
Credits:
Styling: ELK Prints
Invitation: ELK Prints
Cake Topper: ELK Prints
Watercolour Hedgehogs: ELK Prints
Photography: ELK Prints & Ralph Kelly
Balloons & Meri Meri partyware: Favor Lane
Flowers: Ipsen Botanica & Flower Infusion
Macarons: Arelio Sweetbox
All other cakes including the main cake are homemade.
