Steampunk Birthday Party
Our son wanted to celebrate turning a decade with a retro-futuristic theme-- he chose steampunk.
About six weeks before his party I sent an email "Save the Date" missive, with the message,
Announcing the Event of the Century. I used steampunk clipart to adorn the email.
Once we had the guest list confirmed, I made custom invitations for each guest, using steampunk stickers and letters.
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| I put a letter sticker on each card for the first letter of the invitee. |
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| The insert for each invitation |
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To set the stage I decorated the front of the house to welcome guests:
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| Globes in the ivy; tea cups hanging in the Japanese Maple. |
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| I think I am going to leave the teacups in the tree for a while. |
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| Artist/friend Doug Rathbun made this groovy creature. |
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| I borrowed these gems from a few friends. These were on the brick wall along the walkway to our door. |
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| I had two of these propped up on the two flaming maples out front. Simple touch. |
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| I bought this from Oriental Trading and spray painted it copper to hang on the front door. (The original was many different colors. I used the lid of the spray
paint can to keep the center of the monocle white, not bronze.) | |
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| Here is the birthday boy awaiting guests. |
Party-scaping inside the house:
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| I made clocks by gluing faces to both sides of CDs. I used fishing line to thread the original CD hole before affixing the clock faces. On some of the clocks I put old game spinners for hands. I hung the clocks over the little brick dividing wall between our kitchen nook and the foyer. I also strung old keys and old type writer keys on fishing line to hang among the clocks. (The cat sure liked watching these blow in the breeze but wasn't pleased that they were up out of his reach.) |
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| The backdrop for this party was a cream-colored sheet. I made pennant flags for the garland with steampunk-themed scrapbook paper. On the sheet, I hung gears I purchased from Etsy, from the shop, PorkChop Show. I also hung typewriter key magnets that I've had for years. The globes were borrowed from a friend. I found the wall sconce/candelabra at a local charity shop. I borrowed the rectangular lamp from artist, Doug Rathbun. Inside the birdcage I hung winged keys that I made. In the bottom of the cage were shiny bronze eggs, left over from Easter. |
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| Bought from PorkChopShow on Etsy. |
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| I bought wooden die cuts at Michaels and sprayed them bronze before I glued on paper and metal gears/sprockets. |
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| We sliced the cucumbers to look like gears. (We also sliced the lemons to look like gears-- they floated in the lemonade.) I bought the mustache napkins at Oriental Trading. The cookies were cut from a tea bag cookie cutter. I made custom tags with a P, for Peter, the birthday boy. |
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| I printed these on slightly shimmery cardstock, cut, then folded them. I thread a needle with cream-colored thread and poked a hole through the inside of the fold. We tied them onto the cookies. That took a long time. |
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| Our cookies, made by Sukainah, who also took many photos at the party for us! Thank you! |
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| A sample I saw online. |
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| The tags on the goody bags were bought at Cost Plus World Market. |
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The gift bags were filled with the following:
- gummy mustaches (bought online at Oriental Trading)
- licorice pipes (bought at Powell's Sweet Shoppe)
- mustache stickers (bought on a roll at Oriental Trading)
- mustache finger tattoos (OT)
- mustache bandages (bought in the Dollar Spot at Target)
- lipbalm (bought on Etsy: Creepy Lip Balm, by SteamBath Factory)
- fake, furry adhesive mustaches (OT)
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| Lip balm bought on Etsy, via Steambath Factory |
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| I made a steampunk tree by spraying a branch with more of the copper spray paint. I draped brass chain over the joints of the branches. From there I hung gears, sprockets, mustaches, bow ties, glasses, birds, bird cages, and my grandfather's pocket watch, with the gears exposed in the back. I already had the matching lamps. We set out our son's very fancy copy of the collected work of Jules Verne, one of the writers who inspired steampunk culture. Also on the buffet: a open, hinged book/box that looked very Victorian-- we put chocolate coins in it. Another Victorian-looking box sits to the right. There was a monocular telescope, i.e. pirate spyglass. A top hat. A peacock feather. |
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| We had another birdcage-- this one much larger. Inside it we put a plush crow (that we have had for years). On its head was a top hat fascinator and goggles, (both bought on Amazon). It was sitting on vintage rose party lights that were a gift from a friend. (They were also used for our 16 Going on 17 party.) |
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| A toddler friend thought that Edgar Allan Croe was real. |
In the backyard we put up a covered tent canopy. I hung velvety curtains on one corner. My realtor heeded my plea on Facebook to borrow a large ornate frame. Better yet, she dropped it off as a donation, to do as we pleased. I thanked her profusely and went at it with gold spray paint. We used both fishing line and wire ribbon to hang the frame in its place. It was a party hit. (It has also been loaned out already for another event. Love how that works!) Thanks, Laura Burghardt!
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| Our family's annual shot at the birthday. My husband said this will be our holiday card for every year to come. No need for another shot. |
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| To get in the steampunk spirit, a little sepia goes a long way. |
We do not usually have scheduled activities at birthday parties; our vibe is more of one where the guests wander about and choose to do what moves them.
This year, like last year's Lego party, we put the giant long folding table in the family room. On it we placed all sorts of options for creating steampunk art-- coloring pages, card stock, and cardboard treasure chests. I put out all sorts of wooden, metal, and paper gears, sprockets, trinkets, buttons, peacock feathers, ribbons, stickers, and other ephemera. There were rubber stamps and colored pencils and paper dolls/costumes. Wow. All the kids made at least one item; many came back over and over and created some awesome works. These 4th graders felt wholly comfortable with the glue gun so we just lightly supervised and made our own steampunk art. (I got my sister to add more gears to my already steampunk-decorated shoes.)
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| My shoes |
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| One of the many treasure chests that were adorned at the craft table. (I bought the chests online at Oriental Trading and was originally going to spray paint them copper or bronze but decided that the raw cardboard would be easier to decorate. And, I didn't want to spray over the little metal clasp.) |
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| Some colored the card stock mustaches and glasses (we printed and cut beforehand) to make photo props by gluing them on chopsticks. |
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| Temporary tattoos were also a hot ticket item in the family room. |
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| Tattoo on forehead, mustache napkin below. |
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| Our cat, Edison, snoozed for most of the party, right at the end of the craft table, at the hub of lots of loud activity. No steampunk party was getting in his way of a good nap. |
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At our parties we do take time to open gifts. We sit the gift giver next to the receiver. I can't get too picture perfect but looking back on these snaps I wished I had put both leather wingback chairs next to each other.
We like that some party guests came in steampunk attire and/or colors.
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| My husband read to the guests from one of the Jules Verne stories. |
After gifts and the story, it was time for cupcakes!
I borrowed the suitcase from a friend and lined the inside of the lid with scrapbook paper. In the base of the suitcase I lay a cream-colored lace table runner. (The lid was propped open with a copper-painted branch.)
I made the cupcake toppers: clockface stickers from Zazzle, on black card stock that I cut with my Martha Stewart scallop puncher. The backs had sparkly gold circles, cut from the same puncher. The sticks I bought at Michaels.
Angela was the cupcake baker/decorator again.
We went with the Roman numeral for 10-- X!
The thank you cards were blank cards from Michaels, I believe. (I've had them for a while.) Very thick and with sturdy envelopes. We put some mustache stickers on the outsides of some of the envelopes.
It truly was a swell party. Full steam ahead!
