A Mercy Watson Birthday Party
My little girl, Mia, first met Mercy Watson in kindergarten. Mia’s teacher read the kids the first book in the Mercy Watson series, titled Mercy Watson to the Rescue. It’s the charming story of a plucky pig named Mercy who lives with Mr. and Mrs. Watson on Deckawoo Drive– and who LOVES hot buttered toast.
Of course Mercy gets herself in all sorts of “jams” throughout the six book series by Kate DiCamillo, who also wrote the much loved book The Tale of Despereaux.
The children heard the story in the spring and Mia’s birthday isn’t until the fall, so we had plenty of time to hunt and gather party supplies. Since Mercy is always in a jam– my Mom and I started collecting gingham-lidded Bonne Maman jam jars… to be used as darling juice glasses later. And, because Mercy Watson LOVES her hot buttered toast, we decided to go with a breakfast for dinner theme… holding Mia’s 7 year old birthday celebration in the late afternoon.
Speaking of jars… the adorable mason jar birthday invites were lovingly created by Jamie from Raising Up Rubies. In additon to a stunning blog, Jamie also has a wonderous Etsy shop. When I told Jamie about the party, she created the invitations. To get the kids in a breakfast-for-dinner mood, we asked them to wear their pajamas to the party– which instantly setting the scene for the partygoers.
One delightful challenge (and I mean that) of having a child’s birthday party without a mass-marketed theme is being creative. A big box party store wouldn’t suffice… there is no line of Mercy Watson party products. So I moseyed around Etsy and found these cute pig noses on a stick, handcrafted by Maro Designs. Giving the little partiers pig noses helped them tap their inner Mercy Watson.
Our little guests were all seven years old and under and we wanted to make everything kid-friendly, including the dining tables. I put the call out to some of the families who were coming to party, asking if we could borrow their kid sized tables and chairs. Before we could say “hot buttered toast” we had fifteen spots for our friends.
What’s breakfast (for dinner) without orange juice? My Mom and I saved all our Bonne Maman jam jars for about six months and our thriftiness paid off. We gathered exactly sixteen! Enough for the party and one to spare. My husband drilled holes in the top of the metal lids and we inserted happy red striped straws from Pick Your Plum. A vintage juice pitcher fit right in. The girls felt so festive, sipping fresh OJ from their cute cups. And since their were lids– they’re weren’t any spills.
Since Miss Mercy is all about the hot buttered toast, I wanted to celebrate toast and kick it up a notch. No ordinary bread would do… so we toasted up some Cinnamon Swirl and a loaf of Cinnamon Raisin to make it extra special. And if you are serving special toast… you need special butter, right?
I whipped up some Chocolate-Vanilla butter and some Pumpkin-Maple Spice Butter for the party. The girls really enjoyed having “fancy” bread and butter, along with little chicken sausages (bacon would have been AWKWARD!) and fresh fruit for their meals.
Of course. we also offered five flavors of jam:
To make it simple, I wrote the flavors on bamboo serving spoons, so there wouldn’t be any cross-jam-ination.
It made for a simple and pretty spread. I have to admit, when it comes to parties, I love the details. Following Jamie’s lead with the mason jar invites– I personalized the goody bags with a handstamped mason jar tag. A snippet of lace was the finishing touch.
To encourage the young ladies to pen their own adventures, we included small lined notebooks and pens in the gift bags, tied up with jumbo baker’s twine. OK I am kidding about the jumbo baker’s twine– it’s plastic laundry cord from the Dollar Tree… but isn’t it cute? Also for the kid’s to take home… you can’t have a Mercy Watson party without toast cookies.
We left little brown treat sacks out so they could select the PERFECT cookie.
A paper doily made the notebooks even cuter.
And of course the kids had to take home a Mercy Watson pig cookie too!
And for their own future toast parties– the guest each got a small jar of Bonne Manam jam, warpped up in a tiny gingham cloth napkin and secured with a bit of lace. Instead of a tradtional cake or cupcakes, I made Mini Birthday PanCAKES for the birthday girl and her friends. They are a yummy combo of cake batter and pancake mix and I used egg rings to keep the size uniform. Some simple glaze with sprinkles was the finishing touch.
Thanks for joining us at Mia’s Mercy Watson Party! I’ll be sharing the yummy butter recipes soon.
Monday
https://www.brassyapple.blogspot.gr/
https://sewcando.blogspot.com/
https://www.creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com/
https://www.craftskeepmesane.blogspot.com/
https://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/
https://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/
Tuesday
https://carolynshomework.blogspot.com/
https://funkypolkadotgiraffe.blogspot.com/
https://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/
https://todayscreativeblog.net/
Wednesday
https://www.freeprettythingsforyou.com/
https://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/
https://gingersnapcrafts.blogspot.com/
https://southernlovely.blogspot.com/
Thursday
https://yesterdayontuesday.com/
https://answerischocolate.blogspot.com/
https://www.theshabbychiccottage.net/
https://www.houseofhepworths.com/
https://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/
https://alliemakes.blogspot.com/
Friday
https://shabbynest.blogspot.com/
https://romantichome.blogspot.com/
https://www.chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/
https://joyfulstamper.blogspot.com/
Saturday
https://www.itsoverflowing.com/
https://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/
https://thirtyhandmadedays.com/
https://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/
https://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/
https://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/
Sunday
goodness girl! WOW! it’s cuter than cuteness itself :):) what a special birthday … she’ll always remember it! i’m just giddy i got to be a small part of it :) ♥ loves!
Oh my stars – I have never heard of this book, but it looks so cute and your party is amazing!
Such an awesome party and great ideas! Love it all and pinning away. :D
This is honestly one of the cutest parties I have seen! Love it!
Hi there my friend! WHAT A FABULOUS and WONDERFUL party this must have been! You did an AMAZING job!!!!! HOW SPECIAL!!!!! Love it all and a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to precious little MIA!!!!! So sorry that I have been MIA lately — just know that you are in my thoughts and prayers! Sending tons and tons of HUGS to all!!!!! : )
I haven’t read this book, but everything is so cute! All the little decorations and accessories are adorable! Hope she had a great time!
That is one of the cutest things I’ve seen! LOVE IT!!
I think what you did for this party is beyond adorable. SO clever and such a lot of love put into it. I might have to find this little book now! Great work–what lucky kids!
So stinkin’ cute! I love the toast cookies and all the flavored jams! “Something Wonky this way comes” is one of My faves! Such a unique and well planned party…Oh “Mercy”!
Amy*
Innovative and adorable! You “wrapped it all up” Malia.
so cute! I love the little jars with straws in them :)
oh my goodnessssss what a CUTE CUTE CUTE party!!! I love every single little detail!!! :) Thank you SO much for the great inspiration!
Jaime from crafty scrappy happy
What a cute party!
oh my oh my oh MY! HOW STICKING ADORABLY CUTE IS THIS!!!!I just love how your minds works my dear!
LOVE!!
I had to share this on my Facebook page, it’s SO stinkin’ cute!
https://www.facebook.com/MakingLemonadeBlog
Malia…Wow…I mean…WOW! What an incredible party and creative way to bring one of Mia’s favorite storybook characters to life! Every detail is perfect, but I’m especially smitten with the invitations, cookies and snouts-on-a-stick!
I MUST get a copy of Mercy Watson to the Rescue for Max. I know she’s going to flip for it!
Jenn
I love Mercy Watson and hot toast with lots and lots of butter! Just about the cutest party I’ve ever seen!
What a fun, fun party!
Superb idea for party! i LOVE this!
-Amberly!
LOVE! I especially adore the pig details, particularly the pig snouts! Too cute!
so darling and creative…LOVE it!
I really enjoyed reading this fun post! All of the details were so awesome and I can only imagine how much fun the girls had!
So cute. Can you add my link to your post. I would love to feature it.
Cheri
Malia-
This is the cutest!! Thanks so much for linking up to my Pity Party. I’ll be featuring it on Friday. xo
L.O.V.E!
Oh my gosh this is the cutest party ever! LOVE LOVE LOVE! I’m suddenly wishing I was 7 years old and invited to the party :) All the little details are just amazing. Awesome job! I’m crossing my fingers you’ll share this adorable party at my Throwback Thursday party :) Thanks for sharing and I hope to see you there! https://www.hubbymademe.com/throwback-thursday-no-14/