Unicorn Birthday Party Ideas

I have always called our youngest my little unicorn, so we decided very early that she would have a unicorn first birthday party. I had a lot of fun planning this very special celebration. My unicorn birthday party ideas included a custom unicorn birthday invitation, unicorn birthday decorations, unicorn birthday food, a unicorn birthday cake and the most magical moment of all — real unicorn rides for the kids.

Unicorn Birthday Party Invitation

I knew that I wanted to use a symbol of a unicorn, rather than a full unicorn throughout the party, and I was pleased to find unicorn clipart on Etsy that was exactly what I wanted. (This is the file I purchased). From there I designed a unicorn birthday party invitation, matching thank you notes and other various unicorn party printables. I also had the unicorn background, my daughter’s unicorn shirt and other unicorn decor made to match.

Unicorn Birthday Party Decorations

When I initially decided to use a unicorn head as a background for the party, I planned to make it myself. But I was short on time and big on ideas, so I ended up ordering this set on Etsy. The seller was great and allowed me to customize my flowers, eyelashes and leaves to match my party decor. She shipped the paper party decorations perfectly, and I could not have been more pleased. For the effort I saved myself, I am quite glad I ordered these.

Note – I swapped out the unicorn horn sold in the set for one I made with glitter paper. The shinny gold one in the set was pretty, I wanted an exact match.

To make the unicorn head really stand out, I used an iridescent white sequin tablecloth as a background. It is pretty in the photos, but it was even more magical in person. It shines with a pinkish hue depending on how the light catches it. I highly recommend this sequin tablecloth. It made the perfect background, was inexpensive and I will defiantly use it for future parties.

Unicorn Birthday Party Favors

Because I planned so far in advance, I was able to score unicorn headbands for all of the party guests for a couple of dollars at Target at Halloween time. Later I found these fancy matching unicorn headbands from Amazon for about the same price, and kind of wish I had gotten these because they look similar to the one I bought the birthday girl on Etsy.

Unicorn Birthday Party Printables

On the entry table with the unicorn headbands, I created unicorn party printables that say, “Always Believe In Unicorns” and “Dream Big Little Unicorn.” The printables were designed to print them at home on 4×6 paper or send them to any place that prints photos. I use these white plastic frames to display them, and after the party the printables are cute for a scrapbook.

Download the Dream Big Little Unicorn and the Always Believe in Unicorns printables HERE.

In addition to the unicorn party invitation, I designed matching unicorn Thank You notes. To print the Thank You notes, I uploaded the file to Shutterfly and used a blank design for 3×5 cards to order these thank you notes. You can also print at home.

Download the Unicorn Thank You notes HERE.

Unicorn Birthday Party Centerpiece

The unicorn party centerpiece was made using tissue paper flowers. If you haven’t made them before, they are quite easy (tutorial). Then hot glued the tissue flowers together and added a paper horn.

Unicorn Party Supplies

My favorite special detail on the table was the DYI unicorn cups. They were so simple, and yet they were adorable. Plus, I always like to have cups with lids at birthday parties. Other unicorn party supplies I purchased included:

Unicorn Wreath

I love to begin a themed party with a themed wreath hanging on the door, so I thought a lot about how to make a unicorn wreath. In keeping with the rest of the party, I created a simple unicorn wreath to be hung on my daughter’s bedroom door after the party. I really like the way the unicorn wreath turned out, and I love seeing it hanging on P’s door.

Unicorn wreath tutorial coming soon.

First Birthday Party Decoration

To highlight my daughter’s first birthday, I wanted to display the monthly photos I took of her. I picked up the gold frame from my father in law when he closed his photography studio without knowing what I would do with it. Several years later, it became the perfect display. (You can often find large frames at thrift stores.)

I hot glued twine to the back of the frame and used mini clothes pins to hold the photos, mounted on cardstock. My favorite part about this is that after the party, I transferred it into her room as a hair bow holder. I clip her headbands and bows to it for storage.

I made the highchair skirt using a selection of ribbons I found at Michael’s. The I cut the “one” out of gold glitter paper with my Silhouette and attached it to the skirt with monofilament.

Unicorn Birthday Party Food

I had so much fun creating unicorn food for the party, I might have over done it on the sweets. But no one complained, and they were so cute.

Pretzel sick unicorn horns – recipe coming soon.

Unicorn marshmallow pops – recipe coming soon.

Grab the recipe for my unicorn popcorn.

I also displayed unicorn horn lollipops like these on the dessert table and sent each child home with one as a treat.

Other delicious unicorn treats I planned to make but ran out of time for included these unicorn pudding cups and unicorn cream cheese spread.

Unicorn Birthday Cake

Believe it or not, the unicorn cake came from Publix. I printed several pictures of what I wanted and left them with the baker, and it turned out great. Publix now has a unicorn kit now with plastic pieces, but I wanted to design my own toppers to match my decor.

Although I originally envisioned a fondant horn, I decided to make a paper one. Not only would it match everything, but it was a lot less expensive to purchase a grocery store cake and add my elements than a pricy bakery. I used the clip art elements I purchased for the invitation to make the ears, eyelashes and horn with my Silhouette Cameo. For the ears and horn, I hot glued them to lollipop sticks. The eyelashes I stuck directly on the side of the cake.

Unicorn Birthday Party Outfit

My little unicorn was picture perfect in her unicorn first birthday party outfit. (She wore the same outfit for her smash cake photos.) But the outfit almost didn’t happen. When the bottoms I originally ordered from Etsy arrived days before the big day they were not at all what I envisioned. I was distraught. But in the end, I love how the outfit came together.

First birthday unicorn outfit:

Unicorn crown from Etsy
Unicorn bodysuit from Etsy
Sequin bloomer shorts from Amazon
Mon Petite shoes

My older daughters wore pink unicorn dresses from Gymboree. And I wore a pink tutu, similar to this one or this one with a white JCrew tee-shirt.

Unicorn Rides

While party planning usually falls to me, my husband is to thank for the real unicorn rides. He decided this was something we had to have for the party, and just days before the big day arranged everything. I admit that I wasn’t 100% sold, but it was the perfect touch for our party.

Because P is the youngest of three, we had many older children at the party. So the unicorn rides gave them all something to do and helped fill the party time. Since unicorns are so popular right now, even the 10 year olds were completely in awe. And all of the commotion of having a unicorn in our yard attracted a number of neighbor kids, so it was fun to include them as well.

I was nervous the birthday girl might not be into the whole thing, but she totally was. She giggled and signed “more” every time we took her off the unicorn. She took many laps around the yard.

The unicorn rides will forever be my best memories of the party.