Mom Pulls Off Daughter's Epic Timothée Chalamet-Themed 12th Birthday Party: 'I Had My Marching Orders' (Exclusive)
The tween mom tells PEOPLE about the celebration and helping her daughter's vision come to life
A newly minted 12-year-old girl is giving even the most die-hard Chalamaniacs a run for their money.
Ilana Wiles, @ilanawiles on TikTok and @mommyshorts on Instagram, recently shared scenes from daughter Harlow's 12th birthday, with a theme entirely dedicated to the Dune actor.
"Harlow is a very funny person with a unique personality who is unapologetically herself," Wiles tells PEOPLE. The 12-year-old's interests include Broadway, theater, dance, baking, watching Saturday Night Live and, of course, Timothée Chalamet.
"We do a birthday party every year, but I wouldn't say there is always a theme," the mom explains. "She chose it for this year because she's currently obsessed with him. Plus, I think she knew it would be a funny twist on a party and reflects her sense of humor. She's turning 12, so it was a way to do a traditional little kid party, but with a big kid spin to it."
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Harlow didn't just think of a theme — she had a whole idea fleshed out. She presented her mom with "an Amazon cart of items she thoughts we needed," Wiles shares.
"There was the Timothée Chalamet sequin pillow, pin the tail on the donkey, candy bins, stickers and more. We went through them and decided what to get. It was high concept, but a very easy execution," she says.
Once they got their supplies, they got to personalizing everything to fit the vibe.
"We printed out pictures of Timothée Chalamet's face and glued them onto the spaces for Twister, as well as the donkey's face. Harlow filled the candy bar and decorated with Timothée Chalamet stickers. We cut pictures of Timothée Chalamet from all different movies to use on the cake, taping them onto toothpicks and sticking them in. She almost always designers her own cake."
The day of the bash, guests entered to the sound of "Statistics," a rap song Chalamet shared on YouTube as an ode to his statistics class in high school.
Guests enjoyed playing "Timmy Twister" and "Pin the Tail on the Timmy." They snacked on treats from the Wonka candy bar while watching Wonka and finished off the night with a "Timmytastic cake."
"'Timmy Twister' turned out to be a huge hit. "I thought we would do one line of Timmy and Harlow was like, 'No, we need to make each line a different Timmy,' " the mom laughs. "There was a lot of printing, cutting and pasting for that one."
Harlow was excited that "All her friends embraced the theme and had so much fun with it."
"They really enjoyed all the activities. They are a great group of kids aren't necessarily obsessed with Timothée Chalamet in the same way as Harlow. I thought they'd play Twister for about two seconds before moving on, but they appreciated the unique idea and have as much fun with it as Harlow did," Wiles says. "It wasn't just a funny visual for them, they actually enjoyed the activity and played to win."
For Harlow, the night was a resounding success. "I think seeing her vision become a reality [was the best part]," her mom shares.
"She really devised this plan from start to finish herself. She got me to agree to a date, time, place and number of kids and then she made invitations on her own, came up the activities, listed them on the invite and texted it to all her friends. It was really fun seeing it all come together, and I had my marching orders that I executed to the best of my abilities."
The content creator mom admits she had a hunch the party idea "could go viral," but was still surprised by the hilarious responses to her Instagram Reel.
"It's just a silly wholesome thing that I knew people would appreciate. It's so fun to see to the reaction. I love that people in their 20s and 30s are talking about throwing similar parties, because really, I don't care what your age is — who wouldn't have fun at this kind of party?" the proud mom shares.
"I think the fact that the execution is pretty simple is appealing too. But the part that I love the most is that it wasn't my idea at all. It was all Harlow," Wiles says.
"And I love that she knows how much people appreciate her ideas or that she is inspiring others to do something fun. But really, Harlow doesn't place too much importance on the feedback," the mom adds. "It gives her a little thrill to read the comments, but I think she's most excited about the fact that she now owns that Timothée Chalamet sequin pillow."
Read the original article on People