Elegant Egyptian Birthday Party

Elegant Egyptian Themed Birthday Party and Pyramid Cake

I’ve been dying to share my oldest daughter’s birthday party since, um, January {blush!} Crazy how time flies. I guess it’s better late than never though, right?! In my defense, at first I was waiting to share all the lovely details from this party because it was to be featured over at Hostess with the Mostess, but enough excuses… I’ll start with my favorite party detail — Gilded Egyptian Princess Cuffs!

Elegant Egyptian Costume Jewelry Cuff Bracelets

The idea for these came from my daughter’s first grade teacher. In fact, Attalie requested an Egyptian party theme because she enjoyed so much the Egyptian unit her class had done for social studies at school. Although they look so elegant they are actually made from nothing more than a toilet paper roll, dried macaroni and gold spray paint! (See Macaroni Cuff how-to below.)

Elegant Egyptian Moroccan Scroll Birthday Party Invitations

The guests received a rolled up scroll invitation letting them know how to meet our party “caravan.” You can purchase your personalized invitation template in our Supermom Co-Op.

How to make a Faux White Tent in the Backyard for your Party

When I started brainstorming Egyptian-themed birthday party ideas, I immediately pictured building a big tent in the backyard. I ran the idea past my husband (who is used to my crazy-elaborate party ideas by now), and being the darling Superdad that he is, he figured out a way to build a tent-inspired structure using mainly wire, fabric and safety pins! (See Faux Tent how-to below.)

The tent turned out AMAZING and definitely set the scene for the rest of our activities. My daughters’ other request was that this year be an all-girl party. With that in mind and pulling on my experience as founder of spa and bath brand, Bath By Bettijo, I centered on a Cleopatra’s Spa Day theme.

Yay! You're Here Sign

When the girls first arrived at the party they were greeted by a fun sign on the door and then ushered through the house to the backyard where they met our “caravan.”

EgyptianCaravanSpaWelcome

We had them remove their shoes and change into socks and then each girl received a headband (made out of colored elastic seam binding like this). We began with a couple of gathering activities that would be easy for the girls to quickly join in on as they arrived. We had crayons and the Fill-in the Pharaoh’s Face Coloring Pages set out on a table as well as a Sandbox for playing and “exfoliating” before their manicures.

Moroccan Inspired Birthday Party

We divided the tent space up into four main areas: Food Table, Pillow Corner, Spa Table and Activity Area. Each space had it’s own functionality, but I wanted some way to unify all the spaces. I decided to collect the pieces for each space’s activity (except of course the food display) into matching wooden trays placed in each area. My husband built and stained these simple wood trays for under $5 each (See Wood Tray how-to below.)

Pharoah Coloring Page for Egyptian Birthday Party
Fingerpainting Bejeweled Collars for Egyptian Princess Birthday Costumes

Once all the guests arrived we began our first craft, “Jeweled” Egyptian Collars (using this template) adorned with fingerprint “jewels” made using red, blue, green and gold tempera paint. This was another great idea from my daughter’s teacher. We set the collars aside and let them dry while we moved onto other activities.

Beading Gemstone Bracelets and Egypt Morroccan Birthday Party

Each girl made her own gemstone bracelet, and during this activity we had the girls take turns at our spa table where they were treated to a royal makeover. First up was a pampering manicure including a Dead Sea Mud Mask; hand massage using Organic Whipped Shea Butter, topped off with gold nail polish.

Egyptian Birthday Party Cleopatra's Spa Manicure with Dead Sea Mud

Then each girl was given Egyptian black eye liner and red lipstick.

Egyptian Party Face Painter

Finishing touches were a set of Gold Arm Cuffs that I’d made ahead from empty toilet paper rolls, macaroni and spray paint (See how-to below) and a giant gemstone ring.

Egyptian Princess Dress Up Gold Cuffs
Egyptian Princess Dress Up

After the girls completed their spa treatments we invited them to lounge in our Pillow Corner. I was trying to think of some simple activity to provide in this area that would be interesting but very unscripted and sort of quiet (since we were trying to create a spa atmosphere). My first thought was reading books, but that didn’t seem very partyish. Then I remembered how my daughter pours over the rock collection my aunt has in her backyard. Attalie is totally obsessed with rocks so I decided to surprise her by borrowing a bunch of my aunt’s rocks to set out at the party. I totally pictured all the little girls gathered around a tray of shiny, pretty rocks using a magnifying glass to “inspect” them — adorable in my mind, but I was sure it probably wouldn’t go over that way in person.

egyptian-party-precious-stone-table

BIG SURPRISE – it totally happened. Somehow the zen-like atmosphere rubbed off on them (or maybe it was the lack of boys?) but after each girl was done with her makeover, she joined the others in the Pillow Corner where they admired their bejeweled selves in a gold mirror, inspected the rocks and whispered and giggled. It was precious!

egyptian-birthday-party-kids-activities

Aimée and I tend to like minimalist and modern styling, but since the whole idea of this food table was a spread fit for an Egyptian Princess, we wanted to create a feeling of richness and abundance. This meant going outside our comfort zone a bit and piling things on the table to fill it up. We’re very excited with how the food table came together.

Egyptian Birthday Party Food and Pyramid Birthday Cake

I baked six loaves of bread using this recipe. It is the EASIEST bread recipe ever – I baked all 6 loaves the morning of the party – that’s how easy it is! Not only is this bread as easy, but it also tastes wonderful and looks so natural and beautiful. Plus when baking vs. buying artisan bread, you save yourself lots of dough. Literally!

Egyptian Brithday Party Food Spread Fit for Royalty

In keeping with the whole idea of “Spa” we tried to keep the food selections relatively healthy and natural but still fun and kid-friendly. We served whole dates, pears, chocolate coins and other fruits in pretty glass jars. Sliced bread, grapes, blackberries, olives, veggies and a selection of cheeses were presented at the guests fingertips, and the girls were invited to snack throughout the party.

I really loved the “Sand Cupcakes” made from the always delicious Krusteaz Cinnamon Streusal muffin mix. These are a breakfast favorite at my house, and one morning, a few weeks before this party, we were eating them, and I remember thinking how much the topping reminded me of sand. Aha! Sand Cupcakes are perfect for an Egyptian party!

Egyptian Birthday Cake Pyramid

Attalie thought a pyramid cake would be so cool, and I wasn’t sure exactly how to pull it off. Aimée came up with the idea of making a giant Rice Krispie Treat pyramid. We formed the base by making two batches and molding into a tapered square bowl I already had (similar to this one). The top portion was formed by hand using part of a third batch of Rice Krispie mix. I created the rough shape by hand and then pressed each of the four sides at and angle repeatedly on a wooden cutting board until we were satisfied with the shape. Then I pressed the top and base pieces together. To cover the seam and add a little sparkle, we finished the cake with white-and-gold, Egyptian-patterned ribbon. I mitered the ribbon’s corners so the pieces would fit right with the diagonal lines of the pyramid’s edge, and then I secured the ribbon in place with pins (which we were sure to remove before serving!) We stuck fun party flags in each of the kid’s crispy rice treats before serving. After they finished eating, those clever kiddos took their flags and used them to dress up their sand castles in the sandbox (see photo above).

Cleopatra Milk Bath Party Favor Egypt Party

Each of the girls left the party decked out like an Egyptian Princess with her own pretty bottle of Cleopatra’s Milk Bath. We made our own Milk Bath with this recipe and packaged them in pretty glass bottles found at Hobby Lobby. To finish them off I designed labels featuring Attalie’s birthday age. You can purchase your personalized Milk Bath Label template in our Supermom Co-Op.

I knew we’d hit the mark, when just before leaving a couple of the moms remarked to me about how relaxing this party had been. (Yes – they thought a 7-year-old’s birthday party was relaxing!) Certainly it hadn’t felt relaxing to me at all (as the hostess it never is), but those words were the best compliment they could have given me!

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HOW TO MAKE THE FAUX TENT:
Our Superdad is responsible for this genius tent. Of course the specifics will vary based on your own location, but here’s some basic instructions to get you going. We started by setting three, 10-foot 2x4s into buckets of concrete and let dry for several days until solid. Next we attached three evenly spaced eye bolts to our back patio (we’re planning to leave the eye bolts for hanging lights outdoors for future parties). We placed the center eye bolt 12 inches higher than the ones on the sides to give the tent shape. We also attached three eye bolts to the tops of the 2×4 posts. Then we placed the buckets on the far side of our yard, in line with the bolts on our patio. Since our yard is in the midst of a makeover, we didn’t mind digging holes to bury these buckets and make things more stable. We stretched tie wire (from the hardware store) from each eye bolt on the back of the patio to it’s corresponding eye bolt on the 2x4s. Pull it REALLY tight and secure well so it can support the weight of the fabric. We placed two perpendicular lines of tie wire to frame the front and back of the tent.

We purchased a total of 32 yards of white fabric (60-inch wide) and cut it into three lengths. We used a polyester fabric that reminded me of parachute material, but we selected it simply because the price was right (definitely a good time to check out the dollar table). We draped the three strips of fabric over the wire frame, overlapping the edges of each strip by about six inches. Then we let the ends hang down created the illusion of tent walls. We secured the fabric to the wire frame with safety pins. If your day is windy (like ours was) you’ll need to attach some kind of weights.

To dress up the tent I used inexpensive ribbon clustered onto a safety pin and easily attached to the wire frame. The colorful strips that created the back “wall” of the tent are courtesy of Aimee’s old living room – they are Pier 1 Imports window panels purchased several years ago.

HOW TO MAKE SIMPLE & RUSTIC WOOD TRAYS:
For the tray’s sides he used inexpensive pine 1x2x8s (you’ll need one for each tray) for the sides. Then he cut all three of the bottoms from one lightweight board, cut down to approximately 15×19 inches. He used small tack nails to attach the bottom and sides together, sanded and finished with a medium wood stain.

HOW TO MAKE EGYPTIAN GOLD MACARONI CUFFS:
This brilliant idea comes from my daughter’s first grade teacher. You need one toilet paper roll per set of cuffs. Cut the roll lengthwise on just one side so they create an open shape (resembling a cuff). Next cut each roll in half the other direction (perpendicular to your first cut) so you now have two separate cuffs. Glue elbow macaroni (using regular white school glue) as desired onto each cuff. This part could be fun to let the kids do themselves. Cover with gold spray paint and let dry.

PRINTABLE FREEBIES:
:: Spa Amenity Printable Signs
:: Fill-In the Pharoah’s Face Coloring Page
:: Jeweled Collar Template
:: Cleopatra Milk Bath Recipe

VENDOR CREDITS & RESOURCES:
:: Design & Styling: Aimee Lowry & Bettijo B. Hirschi of PagingSupermom.com
:: Invitations, Party Flags, Jar Labels, Signs: Supermom Co-Op
:: Photography: Michelle Gifford of Jasper and Josephine
:: Giant Gemstone Ring: Oriental Trading

Bettijo Bridges

Administrator at Paging Supermom
Bettijo is the founder and designer of Paging Supermom where she shares creative ideas for family fun. Known for practical and kid-friendly activities, free printables and holiday entertainment. Bettijo was a guest on the Martha Stewart Show and has frequently appeared on local TV. Her work has also been featured in national magazines including Real Simple, O, Redbook, Parents, Family Circle, and Health. She enjoys art, retro-modern design, photography and making new things. Mom of 4 kids.

5 thoughts on “Elegant Egyptian Birthday Party”

  1. Vraiment super! très belles idées, en France, les fêtes d’anniversaires dece type ne sont pas courantes alors on vient chercher l’inspiration sur des sites comme le vôtre!
    bravo!

    Reply

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