a birthday party

HELLO......... Sophie's 6th birthday is coming up and she is really excited! She has been talking about it since her last birthday.  At first she wanted a fishing themed party because she loves it when her daddy takes her fishing. She is obsessed.  Unfortunately, all the fish in our lake died this spring with the late freezes, so there has not been one day of fishing this year.  I think she has forgotten about her fishing party.

Now she wants a Barbie party.  Ugh, how many of those have I given my 3 girls?  Too many to count. In my mind I have the talents of Martha Stewart and I can see exactly how my house will be decorated.  This is how I envision my daughters birthday parties.....

                                                                     image from pinterest


All nice  and cute with a table set up and an array of coordinating goodies, snacks, and décor......

                                                                     image from pinterest


With a cake like this all pink and perfect and yummy and of course I whipped it up fresh............

                                                                  image from pinterest

But in reality, when I plan parties, I surf etsy and I find all kinds of cute paper straws, cupcake holders, banners, napkins, place cards, goodie bags, etc.... and I add it all up and then decide to scrap the whole thing because the décor is costing as much as the gifts I have bought for her......and my party looks a bit like this.

Why is my daughter, who is turning 16,  giving me that look?  She has no party décor.  I rarely even have matching candles.  And there is my typical chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. At least it is from scratch with organic ingredients, right?

Oh sweet Portia, with her 4th birthday cake (she is 11 now), at least I tried with the decorating gel (before our healthy eating) and some pink sprinkles.  I even had a '4' candle.  There was no décor.

This was my best attempt yet.  It's terrible, I know.  But at least it was 2 tier and had ballerina decorations on it with some cupcakes and it was on my vintage cake stand, which I stupidly sold at a vintage sale.... This was for Sophie's 2nd birthday.

So I am really in need of some advice and help and actually any and everything you can tell me about having a cute little girls birthday party, without spending a lot of money.

I am going to attempt to make a scrap fabric garland and I do have some red and white paper straws.  But I don't want to throw the typical commercial Barbie party, HOWEVER, I would consider a VINTAGE Barbie party.  We do love vintage Barbie stuff.

So please, please send your advice, links, etsy shops, pinterest ideas, etc....I'd appreciate it so much and so would Sophie!