A few weeks ago we celebrated my niece and nephew who turned 6 and 3. They are exactly 3 years and 1 day apart. The dilemma my sister and many parents who have children with close birthdays face is deciding whether to have a separate party for each or a joint one.

Most will agree while they would like to give each child a party of their own, it's more practical to combine them. It eliminates the inconvenience of having family and friends block out two weekends within a short timeframe, especially for those who do not reside nearby, and the extra amount of effort needed to prep two events back to back.

One of the biggest challenges of having a joint party, however, is coming up with a cohesive theme that will suit both kids. This has been the trickiest part for my sister who has a girl and a boy with different interests. Last year, she did a mermaid and pirate theme and that worked out well, but as each year passes, she predicts it will become more challenging. This year, she enlisted me to help with the decor and I happily obliged. We went through a couple of different ideas and narrowed it down to a hair bow and bow tie theme. We ran it by the kids and they were both on board and excited. 

One of the ways to make it a little more special is having separate cakes for each child. This allows them to have something to call their own on a day they are sharing basically everything.  

To personalize it a bit more, I created cake toppers using wood letters of their first initial.

Place settings included coordinating napkins folded into bows.

I had the most fun creating the favor bags. Each kiddo received one, adorned with a handmade hair bow or bow tie. Stay tuned, as I share how to make these in my next post.  

Interested in throwing your own Hair Bow and Bow Tie themed party? Full party printables are now available in the shop.