Kindergarten Graduation “Book Garden” Theme!

How sweet is this Kindergarten Graduation party sent in by reader, Nancy McPherson?  I adore the darling details like the printables by Paper & Pigtails! The theme was ‘Book Garden’ so it had lots of cute, sweet touches like the dessert labels themed after Caroline’s favorite books! Nancy celebrated her daughter’s graduation with such a sweet presentation…and she shared lots of details, read on!

“Preparing for Caroline’s Kindergarten Graduation was bitter sweet.  It pained my heart to know she would soon be going to “big school” but I rejoiced in the happiness of her accomplishments!  I knew I wanted an intimate yet very special celebration that truly reflected “Caroline”.   So many kindergarten grad themes were bold colors and cartoonish images.  Although cute, this is not Caroline.  Her first criteria was that PINK be the primary color!  She loves her ever-growing book collection and I wanted to include bunnies, florals and a whimsical flair.  The vision for a “Book Garden” began to form.  I contacted Kori Clark of Paper & Pigtails and she created a fabulous hand sketched drawing  – Caroline loved it! Kori included all of the elements we wanted – books, garden flowers, bunnies and PINK!” – Nancy

“Originally planned for the back porch with our garden as backdrop, we had to change plans as rain was coming to our area. I wanted to bring the garden inside so I made the centerpiece by covering a large sheet of Styrofoam with moss which became the base for the Book Garden.  I tucked in a pair of book-reading bunny bookends from Caroline’s room and other whimsical book and garden accents.  I ordered lots of pink and white hydrangeas, pink roses and few fillers from Publix and arranged my own, low clustered arrangements.  I made a miniature banner for one side to personalize the garden and sprinkled the arrangement with delicate pink and green butterflies.” – Nancy

“Each place setting started with a CAKE scroll placemat and we used the Kate Spade polka dot china from our wedding.  Vintage stamped bookmarks for each guest were tucked into linen napkins – pink for the girls and blue for the boys.  The primary bookmark design was a little girl surrounded by books.  It was the perfect fit for the party and Kelli at Seasonal Delights customized toppers and a banner to repeat the image for us throughout the party.   Place cards were made from the Paper & Pigtails design used for the announcement.  I type set each with a guest name and a unique quote from a variety of Caroline’s favorite books.  During lunch we took turns reading the quotes so Caroline could guess the book it was taken from.  It was a little challenging as some quotes were taken from her very first special books! For all of our special family events, we give the children a book to be signed by guests and added to their libraries.  For graduation, we gave Caroline “If I Could Keep You Little.”  I attempted to read the book after lunch through a stream of tears!”  – Nancy

“The dessert table was so fun to assemble.  Each dessert was named after a favorite book.  The background was a simple board that I had covered for Caroline’s Vintage Barbie party.  The small graduation cake was displayed on a polka dot cake stand placed on a stack of favorite books which included everything from Fancy Nancy to Pinkalicious!  Fresh arrangements, a vintage bunny on a book and a garden bunny made from delicate dried white hydrangea accented the table. Fancy Nancy Lemon Parfaits were served in tasting glasses.  (The fab recipe of three layers of lemon came from ThreeManyCooks.com).  The mini graduation cake and cupcakes came from Publix who always works with me on quick, custom orders. The cake was topped with an array of garden flowers and we nestled two little books in the garden.  Custom fondant books were ordered from Edible Details. The book detail was beautiful and even included glitter edged pages which made the guest of honor very happy!  Each book featured the titles (or abbreviated title) of some of Caroline’s favorite books.  The books were used to adorn the “Bunny Cakes” (love that Max and Ruby!) and “Storybook” cupcakes.    Other cupcakes were dressed with the loveliest vintage picks from Seasonal Delights.  Also served was a homemade strawberry cake appropriately named after our favorite “Pinkalicious” book.   The strawberry treat was topped with a pick and a Pinkalicious fondant book topper.  Finally, flower topped Petit Fours were placed in a picket fence tray I made to display “The Secret Garden Petit Fours”.”

In addition to the book marks, party favors also included little 4 x 4 boxes.  A custom label (from Paper & Pigtails) was added and a beautiful, whimsical garden floral ribbon completed the presentation. Each box included a garden of Petit Fours that matched the flowers from the cake.

Announcement and coordinating pieces: Paper & Pigtails
Bookmarks, banner and vintage stamped picks: Seasonal Delights
Fondant Books: Edible Details
Garden cake, cupcakes and Petite Fours: Publix Super Markets
Party design and arrangements: Nancy McPherson