08.02
2011

A Jane Austen Birthday Party
 
This past winter Jamie suggested that we have a Jane Austen themed book party this summer while the girls and I were up in New Hampshire. We also planned on having a tiny little party to celebrate Jamie’s 25th birthday. Well, it turned out that trying to do projects for two parties in the midst of everything else this summer was completely impossible so instead we decided to combine the two and have Jamie’s little birthday party with a Jane Austen/book theme.  We have only had a couple of days this summer where Lillie and Lola cooperated and took naps at the same time, which has made it very difficult to get all of the projects we had planned done. I guess I was a bit delusional in my grand plans for projects this summer.
We all are a bit strange in our family and as much as we love to make things and decorate for a party we don’t necessarily like to have an actual party. I am guessing most people are the opposite and like to go to or host parties but don’t enjoy all of the preparation. So, for the party we had a ton of fun decorating for it but just had us girls and our mom for it. As I discovered when I tried to take photos of Jamie’s and Josh’s  guest room, it is really hard to get good shots in the upstairs of their house in the afternoon. These all ended up horribly shadowy and a bit blurry – sorry! 
We set everything up in Jamie’s studio/office. Actually Jamie did most of the setup herself. I can’t wait for you all to see this whole room. Jamie is planning on doing a post soon with pictures of the rest of the space. It is amazing!!! I am completely and ridiculously jealous. 
By using things Jamie already had we were able to spend only the tiniest amount on this whole party. I think all we bought for it were the candles on the cake, some thin black satin ribbon for the banner, the white meringue cookies and some cardstock. Unless I am forgetting something I think we spent less than $15 for the whole party! We even saved on flowers by just picking some Queen Anne’s Lace from the field.

 

We will have a tutorial soon for the banner and the mini books, and we plan on selling both cardstock and vinyl silhouette cutouts in our shop when we reopen.

And here is a photo of the beautiful birthday girl with Miss Lillabel. And yes, she is in her wedding dress… There is a reason though. =) We have been trying to reshoot many of our products, including some of the tutus, but even though Lillie loves wearing her tutus (in fact she often requests to wear them) she does not like me taking pictures. We thought that if Jamie put on her wedding gown and was in some of the photos with Lillie, Lillie might get a bit more into it but it didn’t quite work out as well as we hoped. =) If the weather isn’t too hot we will probably try again tonight and hopefully have some better luck.

To view all of our parties, please visit our new parties page!

I hope you all are having a fabulous week so far!

Joyfolie
A Party Preview and the Winner of the Je Taime Pillow
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50 thoughts on “A Jane Austen Birthday Party”

  2. Jennifer, it is so funny when you apologize for your photos that you think aren't very good. They are so much better than most of ours! This is such a cute idea. I don't like entertaining very much either and we don't except at holidays. Thanks so much for your kind comment.

  6. Jennifer, I too am so jealous, in the nicest of ways, about that gorgeous room and the white/cream bookcase. How lovely! Your party is detail perfect. I love all the little special touches! I am waiting for the tutorials.
    I belong to a fabulous book club. Our members range in age for 20 something to 70 something. We will be reading Pride and Prejudice in the spring! So I'll be saving this post and beg to host it!
    Everything you do is magical!
    Yvonne

  8. What a beautiful party Jennifer! Jane Austin is my favorite. I'm curious where you found the black birthday candles? They're so unique and striking on the white cake.

    ps Can't wait for your shop to re-open!

  9. Thanks! I really like this picture of them too, Dana.

    Sarah – I will check with Jamie but I think she got them at a store called iParty.

  15. What a special birthday for Jamie! So pretty. I was so excited to see that I'm not the only one that feels that way about decorating vs. hosting parties..I've never heard anyone else say that! 🙂
    P.S. I really enjoyed post on Joan's house (found you through her). Will you be posting any more about that visit? Being from VT, it's fun to see you both post about this area of the US.:)

  17. Thank you for posting those wonderful photos. Are the silhouettes on the pot and the plates the ones you will be selling on your etsy site? Does Jamie have her books covered in white all the time? It's a gorgeous, cohesive, clean look…does she have the titles of the books written teeny tiny on the spines (or the books may be just for effect)? Is your header new? Is that Little Lola in the bucket?

  18. I really get liking the party planning more than the party itself. Most of the time my decorating and things I do are for my little family of four. 🙂

  19. Beautiful! I used to teach high school literature, and just love your ideas – and the way you incorporated the little books into the party. I'm so glad I saw you on Tip Junkie today!

  20. Your photos are perfection and so is your party! It is jsut beautiful! This does need to be in a magazine! You are so so talented. I love the photo of Jamie and Lillie.

  21. Love this! I too am curious if the books are covered all the time and if the spines have the names of the books on them. If I had the time I would so do this to my collection! Great photos and love the new header which includes Lola in the bucket! 🙂

  23. Thanks everyone!

    Miss Kitty – Yes, we do plan on selling those silhouettes as well as the ones on the banner. Jamie does have her books always covered. She is working on a numbered system where the names are all recorded. The header is indeed new. Well the header isn't but I did switch out the photos and yes, that is little Miss Lola in the bucket. =)

    Take Life with a Grain of Chocolate – I am pretty sure they are from iParty but I will try to remember to check with Jamie.

  26. This caught my eye on someone's sidebar – I'm such a huge Austen fan. What a charming idea! I love the ruffly Austen wreath you mad e and everything looks just beautiful. I would have loved to have been a guest at this party!

  27. Wow Jennifer! This turned out to be such a beautiful and elegant theme for her party! It seems decorating and getting all pumped up, then just sitting back and enjoying it yourselves is how my paties always turn out as well. ha! Can't beat that though! Way to go girlies!! 🙂
    PS Sorry I have to post as Anonymous. I get caught in this crazy loop of it erasing my post and asking me to log in (when I already am logged in) when posting comments for some crazy reason. This seems to be the easiest way to post them. ugh, haha! Enjoy your day with your sweet girls!
    Terrell @ Frou Frou Decor

  36. I am new here and absolutely love your blog! I would love to know if you put the silhouette on the teapot and plates or if you bought those… Too cute! I am a big Jane Austen fan. My daughter is named Elizabeth after the wonderful Miss Bennett. 🙂

  37. Thanks, Kim! Yes, I did put the silhouette on the teapot and plates. I used black vinyl. We actually plan on selling vinyl cutouts of Jane Austen and some other silhouettes soon.

  39. HOW BEAUTIFUL! I am sure Jane herself was smiling down upon it! I am going to have to throw one of these for my sister and myself!

  40. Jennifer, your party theme is gorgeous! I'm huge Jane Austen fan (I called my dog Darcy – I know, it's sad!!). Your styling is just fabulous, the silhouettes are beautiful! I would LOVE to do this for a party sometime – I can't believe you did this for under $15!!! Genius! I also love Queen Anne's Lace, so pretty. Love it all!

    Sharon

  45. *Dreamy eyes* Me want! Oh my goodness, every book lover would absolutely go crazy with this party. You are such angels of creations! The table setting, the Austen pages, the teapot… everything! Now, I’m dreaming of the perfect setup for my own book party with my favorite author.

    Tucker Inman

  46. SWOON! I am just in love with this party setup! How do you come up with such clever ideas? The tiny books nestled in the teacups is just TOO perfect! You are truly blessed with an eye for detail 🙂

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