Here are all of the details and recipes for a Parisian Cafe French Birthday Party. This Patisserie theme features homemade French macarons, Paris themed decorated cookies and a Simple Parisian Birthday Cake.

After my daughter's Starbucks Birthday Party the year before, she asked for a Parisian Cafe theme. I was excited for this theme because I have always had a love for all things French.

I took French for 4 years in high school and started collecting Eiffel Towers. Although I no longer continue to collect them, I still have most of them. I was able to pull from these to use as decorations for this party.
I also received a large Eiffel Tower cookie cutter as a gift many years ago, and this was the perfect opportunity to use it!

Decorations
My biggest tips for throwing a themed birthday party without spending a ton of money are to use disposables like plastic tablecloths for color and patterns, pull items already around your house to repurpose for the theme, and reuse decorations from previous parties.

For example, I have two sequin tablecloths that I consider investments because I've used them for so many parties. With so much other themed decor and desserts, no one seems to notice or mind. This rose gold one was also used at my oldest daughter's Nutcracker Birthday Party.
The idea behind this backdrop was to look like the storefront of a patisserie, or a French bakery.
To make the backdrop, I hung hemp twine across the top of each window and the door in this bay window then draped light blue disposable plastic tablecloths over the twine and bunched them up to give this look.
To make the awnings, I cut and folded cardboard in the shape of awnings and wrapped them in black and white striped wrapping paper. I hung these by attaching them to the curtain rods and also to the ceiling using small clear Command clips and thin curling ribbon.
To create the bakery windows, I use two pieces of foam board from a craft store and drew a window frame on them with a ruler and a black Sharpie permanent marker.
Then, I found black and white clip art and scaled them up to the size of each window pane, then printed them on white cardstock, cut them out, and taped them to the foam board.
I already had this wooden frame from Michael's for a Snow White Party. I added some black kraft paper from the Starbucks party to look like a chalkboard and wrote "Ella's Patisserie Since 2014" on it with a chalkboard marker.

For both the kids' table and the counter, I used black and white striped tablecloths.
I decorated the kids' table with Paris paper plates and napkins, as well as name cards that I made in PowerPoint and printed on white cardstock.

For the adult table, I used this clear acrylic 3-tiered server to display some cookies and some macaron erasers. I placed the server on top of a round mirror.

I designed these stickers in PowerPoint with some free clip art of coffee and a croissant. I printed them on full-sheet labels then cut them out with a circular craft punch.

I placed the stickers on white disposable coffee cups and the cardboard sleeves.


I added a black and white ribbon around this cup holder wood block that my dad made. I had these black and white and pink and white striped straws leftover from other events, so I placed them in a glass.

Hot Chocolate and Coffee Bar
This party was held in winter, so naturally a hot chocolate bar made sense. After the hot chocolate bar I created for the Starbucks party, this was just basically repeating that idea.
I made a large batch of Homemade Hot Chocolate on the stove, then transferred it to a crock pot.


I used the same mini chalkboard sign for the Hot Chocolate that I used at the Starbucks party.

I included heart shapes marshmallows and pastel butter mints by the hot chocolate and on the dessert table.

Dessert Table

Although not a dessert, we had to have some croissants. I purchased these at Costco. Chocolate croissants would also be great for this type of party!

For these Parisian themed cookies, I made Iced Vanilla Shortbread Cookies and tinted the icing a very pale pink. Once it had set, I painted some with a gold luster dust liquid suspension. I have details on how to do this in my Painted Watercolor Cookies post. Then, I used black royal icing to pipe the details.


For years, I would make Easy Royal Icing and tint it dark brown and then add black food coloring gel until I achieved a black color. This took lots of food dye and time. After I discovered black royal icing powder, there was no turning back! You just add water! I purchase mine locally, but this one looks similar.

Macarons are the quintessential French cookie. I had never made them before because they are traditionally made with almond flour, which I cannot use due to my nut allergy.
I finally decided to try making Nut Free French Macarons. I made 3 batches and tinted them different pastel colors.
I served them on this pink butterfly 3-tiered server.

Being my first time, I likely overmixed the batter, hence the wrinkly tops. They were delicious though! I have since made Oatmeal Cream Pie Macarons and Valentine's Day Macarons.


My cousin gave me these adorable Parisian "bon appetit" plates many years ago. Each plate is a different design, so I placed them evenly spaced on the table and filled them with different treats.

Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies are crisp, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookies with the flavors of coffee and chocolate. I made these for the Starbucks Party as well.


I found these heart-shaped macarons at Costco so I added these to the table. I think serving a mixture of store bought and homemade is a good tip to manage filling a dessert table without stressing about making so many desserts from scratch.

Simple Parisian Birthday Cake
My daughter wanted a Chocolate Black Raspberry Cheesecake Layer Cake for her birthday cake. Rather than decorate it in buttercream like I did for this Wizard of Oz Birthday Cake, I decided to keep it simple and added a gold Eiffel Tower topper and these royal icing transfer numbers that I also used for this Nutcracker Cake.


My mom requested this Black Forest Bar Cake from Costco for her birthday cake. I had heard that they only sell it around the holidays, so I purchased it in December and stored it in the freezer until the party.
Although Black Forest Cake is German not French, this cake looks like a chic French dessert.

Sources
Rose gold sequin tablecloth
Black and white striped disposable tablecloths
Paris paper plates and napkins - Party City
Black kraft paper - Target (online)
Black and white striped wrapping paper - Hobby Lobby
Chalkboard marker - Michael's
Wooden frame - Michael's
White paper coffee cups with lids and cardboard sleeves
Pink butterfly 3-tiered server
Clear acrylic and gold 3-tiered server
Gold Eiffel Tower cake topper
Mini chalkboard label signs
Tiny wooden scoops
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