Bonjour! She's Four!

A Madeline themed birthday party fit for a Francophile

This post contains a plethora of pictures, which may cause you to get a message saying it’s too long for email. Just click the link to continue reading in your browser or if you have the free Substack app, you can read there, as well.

---

Last week my daughter turned four. Honestly, I expected myself to be more emotional than I was because, as I told my therapist this week, four feels like a huge step away from babyhood and toward actual childhood; but I only shed a few tears. I asked family members to record voice memos with birthday wishes and I put them all onto a Yoto card and as we laid in her new QUEEN SIZED BED (again, not a baby anymore), tears streamed down my face. Listening to the voices of people who have known and loved her for four years filled me with so much gratitude not only for her and who she is, but for a community who loves her fiercely. I pray she always knows and feels how loved she is.

Another likely reason for my lack of an emotional breakdown is the fact that I channeled all my energy into throwing her the Madeline birthday party of her (our) dreams. She has long been a fan of Ludwig Bemelmans’ classic book, but after our trip to Paris this spring, she turned into a full-fledged Francophile.

This worked out perfectly because after already sending invitations for her third birthday party last year (balleTHREEna), I saw invitations for a Oui Oui, I’m Three party and absolutely swooned. I knew it was too late to pivot for that year, but when the phrase Bonjour, I’m Four! hit me, I put it in my back pocket for this year.

I say all of this to tell you I had been planning this party in my head for a year, so when the time came to actually execute, I had more than a few ideas in mind.

Back in May, my friend and co-committer to a good theme, Kaitlyn, texted me a picture of these Parisian backdrops that popped up on her local Facebook marketplace and asked if I wanted them. I couldn’t say yes fast enough. Somehow, Kaitlyn was able to finagle them into her home until we could come pick them up in Luke’s truck and store them in his office for the next four months¹.

When I tell you these things were huge, I mean they were HUGE. Twenty-seven feet all together. But they could not have been more precious.

I loved how big of an impact they made and they served as the perfect setting for our main party activity—painting.

A few weeks before the party, I found pictures of Madeline and Pepito (the son of the Spanish ambassador who moved into the house next door) and projected them onto the wall, where I taped small canvases and traced the pictures.

In no world would I consider myself an artist, so I was more than delighted with how these turned out.

I also fashioned Madeline and Pepito paint smocks not only as a protective measure for the kid’s clothes, but also for another decorative touch.

I found a free Peter Pan collar template online and cut out the collars from felt. For the Pepito collars, I cut out a zig zag edge and for the Madeline ones, I tied and attached a red ribbon. Another title I do not hold is that of seamstress, so I just slapped some hot glue on the back of the felt and stuck them to the shirts.

Again, I was so pleased with how these turned out! Originally I envisioned the shirts hanging from the back of each chair, but the chairs were much closer to the ground than I realized, causing the shirts to hang into the grass. Thankfully my BFF, Mandy, lives down the street and saved the day by agreeing to let me borrow her daughter’s dress up rack.

While the boys weren’t as interested in sitting and painting, the activity was a hit and it was so sweet to see their masterpieces at the end.

The other outside activities included: a bounce house, Pin the Hat on Madeline, and a piñata, per the birthday girl’s request.

A few years ago we bought a small bounce house to use for our crawfish boils, but as my daughter and her friends have gotten bigger, they are starting to outgrow that bounce house. When I saw this white bounce house from Sam’s on sale, I knew we needed to snag it, and I’m so glad we did. I have a feeling this will be the gift that keeps on giving².

As for Pin the Hat on Madeline, I found an illustration online that I printed on poster sized paper and had laminated. I used Canva to isolate the hat from the rest of the image and copied and pasted enough hats for each child. I printed and laminated those, as well, and cut them out. I used rolled up painter’s tape to attach the hats to the poster and the end result was a cute little game!

When it came to the piñata, that was a simple Amazon purchase—nothing fancy about it.

Before all of these outdoor activities started, though, the party kicked off with a guest appearance by none other than Ms. Clavel herself (!!!) reading Madeline and the Cats of Rome.³

Remember my friend Kaitlyn, the one who appreciates a theme as much as I do? She committed to the part of Ms. Clavel and was so convincing, one of the parents even thought she was a real nun. (Also: peep the adorable Madeline costume my daughter has been wearing every single day since the party.)

Inside the house I also set up a kitchen/cafe (we love our bread, we love our butter, but most of all, we love each other) and a doctor’s office (“nurse!”, he said, “it’s an appendix!”) complete with this impressive banner my sister painted.

As for other indoor decorations and thematic elements, I had the Madeline movie playing on the living room tv and this super cute “Oui Like to Party” banner hanging on the fireplace.

In the entry way, I had another banner strung on the entryway table, along with a framed illustration from the book and party invitation, blue, red, and yellow flowers, and party favors. The party favors consisted of Eiffel tower keychains (half of which we bough while in Paris), a croissant magnet (another former Bullseye purchase), and passport sticker book, complete with these adorable gift tags from Etsy.

On the doorstep I had this doormat and my mom graciously came over and refreshed the pots on my porch and in my front yard that were in desperate need of plants that weren’t dead.

In the dining room, all of the plates and utensils, as well as champagne glasses for the adults, were housed here, next to this cute print my mom found at Home Goods (or maybe Marshalls?).

And on the dining room table was all the food, which included: macaroons, ham and cheese croissants (complete with French flag toothpicks), the most adorable cake (from Texas Star Bakery), champagne and juice, and fruit. Hanging above were more prints from the book, which I got from this Etsy shop.

Other details included hanging photos from our trip to Paris in the kitchen and putting them in frames around the house, this French happy birthday plate I’ve actually had for ten years, these cute pillows from the Target Bullseye section several months ago, and displaying Madeline books on the bookshelves in my daughter’s room.

When it was all said and done, I was completely exhausted but so happy with how everything turned out. Pulling together all these details brought me so much joy and hearing my daughter squeal about how it was “the bestest party in the whole world” told me all my efforts were worth it.

Parties are not everyone’s jam and if they’re not yours, that’s totally fine. For me, I find so much joy in coming up with a theme, dreaming of ideas, and then actually bringing the ideas to life. It also helps that my child appreciates the process as much as I do.

I know children’s birthday parties have gotten more and more extreme over the years and they can contribute to a “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality. My intent in sharing these details is not to add to that noise, but to serve as creative inspiration and to remind you that creativity can manifest in more ways than you might realize. (Check out this post for more thoughts on that.)

Stay tuned for next year (yes, my daughter has already picked the theme). And while I don’t anticipate as many details as this year, I know how I operate and have a feeling I won’t be able to help myself…

---

P.S.— while Paris was a dream trip for my daughter, it turned into my sister-in-law and brother-in-law’s worst nightmare when their two-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia while we were there. Many of you of been praying for our family since hearing our story and this past week, Sarah and Kyle were interviewed on a local news station in honor of childhood cancer awareness month. You can watch their interview here for a synopsis of their story and for an update on how John is doing now. We appreciate your continued prayers for healing!

1. No one is more grateful to have this party over with than him so he can start to reclaim his office.

2. S/o to Luke for helping me blow up all the balloons and my sister for helping me secure them onto the bounce house in this second summer we’ve experiencing here in Texas.

3. This was supposed to be the original Madeline book, but the birthday girl called and audible at the last minute and requested a different book. Ms. Clavel, being the good sport she is and despite having rehearsed for the original book, pivoted and executed a flawless pronunciation of cacio e pepe on the fly.