In my last post, I mentioned how much I LOVE planning parties. So, you can imagine my excitement when 2011 started and I realized my baby would be turning one year old.
In June.
Nevertheless, I began brainstorming early because, as any artist-mom knows, there isn't a lot of free time for being creative (unless coming up with an idea for dinner counts).
The first thing I did was choose a theme. I had seen enough buzz on Facebook to know that many of my fellow moms were doing zoo, farm, or jungle themes for their babies' first birthdays. I wanted something a more unique for B's first birthday party, but I liked the idea of an animal-based theme. So, after plenty of lost sleep (WHY does my brain go 100 MPH when I'm trying to fall asleep at night?!), I landed on "woodland" as my focus.
I scoured the web for ideas and began constructing my inspiration board. I found photos of things I knew I wanted to include and also made a list of buzzwords I felt related well to the theme:
I knew I wanted to make favor bags for all of B's little friends, so I began by contacting a friend of mine who had used burlap for her wedding (table runners, etc). She had scraps that she was more than happy to part with, so my mom sewed little square bags to contain the favors (picture coming in Thursday's post).
Then, I began ordering a few specific items off Amazon, including these warbling bird whistles (probably more familiar to us parents than our kiddos!) The whistles came in four colors and we made sure no siblings received the same color. I included a note with the whistle so people would know to "just add water."
I found a picture of woodland critters online that I thought were darling, so I used the image as a template and re-drew them in Illustrator so I could use them throughout the party. I made these magnets using flat gemstones. Each guest got two magnets in their goody bag, and, again, no siblings received the same ones.
I also managed to find some really awesome colored pencils that were made from twigs! Each guest got two pencils apiece.
One of my favorite items in the goody bags were some woodland finger puppets. I found the instructions for sale on Etsy and ordered both sets of woodland animals (10 in all). My mom made two of each critter and I'm kicking myself now for not getting a photo of all of them together! Each child received one puppet. The leftovers (below) will be going in a time capsule for Beau to play with when he's older.
Next, I began to focus on the food table (isn't that everyone's favorite part of a party?) I knew I wanted to make some signs describing the food, and though I'd made table tents in the past, I had always wondered if they could have a more 3D aspect.
They CAN! After messing around with some scrap paper, I felt confident that my little woodland signs could be more like pop-ups than flat pieces of paper! Most people probably wouldn't notice the difference, but to me, this experiment was a big success!
Naturally, I wanted to have a great cake for Beau's first birthday! What sort of baker would I be if my own son didn't have a cool smash cake to destroy?! Since I have limited experience with fondant, I enlisted the help of my friend Anya, who is a fondant figures GENIUS! She came over to my house and gave me a lesson in figure-making. Since the party details didn't include the eager beaver, I decided he would be perfect for the cake topper.
I did learn how to cover the cake board on my own, and added some chocolate-covered chow mein noodles as a dam...they also served to hold up the beaver's tail since our 100-degree weather and high humidity kept making it want to break off! (ACK!)
And, of course, no party of mine would be complete without some sort of schematic. HA!
Since the party was going to be held at my in-laws' house, I transported all my decor the night before and planned how I wanted the table to be set. Naturally, in my rush to get out the door, I had left my camera at home. So...I drew a sketch that would embarrass my art school professors. :)
But, it got the job done and made the day-of prep MUCH easier. It also gave me a spot to write down what else I needed to grab from my house...something that would not have been possible with a photo.
Come back Thursday and see how all the elements came together! I couldn't have imagined the party would go so well! ((See Part 2 here)