My Baby Boy is One!

My husband claims I only wanted a baby so that I could have an excuse to throw more parties.  Although that's not entirely true, I do love a good party, and I was so excited to put together this Sesame Street Themed Birthday Party to celebrate my son's first birthday.

Theme
I really wanted to pick a theme that my son would enjoy.  He really loved Elmo and Sesame Street, and I thought he would respond well to the characters he loved so much.

Decor
One thing I didn't think about when I chose the theme, is that all the Sesame Street characters are licensed, and the costs for the stuffed animals and other decorations started to add up quickly.  So I decided to stick mainly with bold colors:  red, yellow, green, and blue, and I added touches of Sesame Street to remind people there was a theme.  I also rented a large bounce house that came decorated with Sesame Street characters.

One of the best decorations I got was the these easy peel off wall stickers and these ones of different Sesame Street characters.  I placed a couple on the front door to greet guests, and scattered the rest of them around the walls in my house.  I even backed one of the Oscar stickers with a thick piece of foam board, and stuck it to the ice bucket to make it look like Oscar and his trash bin. 
















These were a very affordable way to decorate.  I spent more on some of the stuffed animals then I spent on all the stickers.  The best part is that after the party, I removed the stickers from the various places I put them, and I used them to decorate a wall in my son's playroom.

I got inexpensive large outdoor blankets in blue and green (which we still use all the time) and spread toys all around them, to create a large play area for the babies.   I made a similar play area in our living room because the weather forecast was on the colder side (with a chance of rain), but the weather ended up being so nice, that we moved the entire play area outside.  We also had the bouncy house.  I was going to do an Elmo coloring station, but I ran out of time.  We really didn't need it though.

Play area mid-set-up

I ordered 100 balloons (for delivery!) and I spread them around the edge of our yard, and used them for centerpieces (I tied the balloons to fish bowls full of goldfish snacks and I tied little Elmo balloon weights to the tops of the bowls).  I also left some loose balloons floating around inside our house and the kids were excited to play with them and be able to take one home. 

 

Food

The party was in the afternoon, but I figured that a lot of the guests (especially the ones with babies of their own) would head to the party without having lunch, so I went ahead and did a lunch buffet, and I also had tables with snack foods (for adults and for kids).  

• I did a sandwich bar, so that everyone could maker their own sandwich.  I had assorted breads, cheeses, condiments, cold cuts, and various toppings.  I even put out a toaster for those that preferred their bread toasted.  I decorated the buffet with Sesame Street characters (which now live in our playroom), and I also made special labels for the condiments that used a picture of my son sitting on Sesame Street with Big Bird and Elmo (I also used the image on the invitation):

• Side Dishes - I also made a bunch of different salads, including Pasta Salad with Olives and Broccoli, Israeli Couscous Salad with Apples and Dried Cherries, Fruit Salad, Israeli Salad, Garden Salad, and Pear Pepita Salad.

I'm still not sure why, but we ran out of the fruit salad quick!  (and I refilled it three times).  It was just mango, strawberries, grapes, and blueberries.

For the kids snack table I filled plastic buckets in primary colors with puffs, mum-mums, string cheese, and goldfish.  I also had a snack table for adults with my tomato lentil dip with crackers, assorted trail mixes, and other snacks that were easy to put together. 

For dessert we had vanilla cupcakes and chocolate cake (and of course, there was a smashcake for the birthday boy!).  I stayed away from food coloring for the cupcakes, so I used colorful paper for them instead.  I never put the chocolate cake out, and I asked friends to start cutting it before we sang happy birthday, so that we could serve it right after.

Drinks

I filled large beverage containers with water and Arnold Palmer's.  We also filled drink bins with sodas, milks, juices, and beers (our friends without children were grateful).  I had hot water for tea and instant coffee in the kitchen (away from the children), and I had a small sign on the beverage table letting my guests know to check inside in the kitchen for hot beverages.

I had sippy cups for the kids, as well as straws and lids for the cups. 

Favors

For the kids' favors, I packed red, green, and blue gift bags with sunglasses, bubbles, mum-mums, and mini bag of goldfish.  Sort of a mini-version of our party in a to-go bag.  For the adults, I had a Cookie Monster Cookie Bar.  I got a pretty good assortment of different cookies (including girl scout cookies and cookies from a famous local cookie store).  I found great inexpensive jars at Target, and I decorated them with ribbon and labels.  The jars were a great find and I have already used them for other parties we have had.

Cute As a Button Baby Shower

I wish I could take full credit for this shower, but it was very much a team effort.  I admit, I was at first skeptical of the selected theme - "cute as a button."  It would not necessarily have been my very first choice for a baby shower theme, especially for this particular mama-to-be.  But all the details came together perfectly.

Decor:

The colors were the same as the baby's nursery (mint green and brown).  We decided the best way to bring in the mint green was through linens.  One of the hostesses found gorgeous linens, and they really set the tone for the entire party. 

The same hostess also came up with the brilliant idea of going to the garment district downtown to buy buttons - tons and tons of buttons.  We made napkin holders out of ribbons and buttons, we made a faux runner out of buttons, and we even tied buttons to the bottom of the champagne glasses (we tried to use different ones to help guests remember which glass was theirs).  We also sprinkled buttons around the buffet table and the drinks table.

 

For the centerpieces, we used glass vases that I had on hand (accented with ribbons and buttons), and arranged white hydrangeas and mums in the vases.  Both flowers were so easy to arrange. 

 

The Menu

We served brunch (in case you haven't noticed, I am a big fan of brunch).

We had:

• Bagels, Cream Cheese, and Lox
• Pear Pepita Salad
• Assorted Pastries from Sweet Lady Jane
• Hash Brown Frittata
• Israeli Couscous with Apples and Dried Cherries
• Assorted juices and sodas and champagne
• A beautiful cake by Sweet Lady Jane (clearly the big black oval in the middle of the cake is my way of respecting privacy - and not part of the decorations)

 

Games:

1.  Guessing Kisses -  We filled a jar full of kisses, and we put out a sign asking guests to guess how many kisses there were in the jar for the mama-to-be's baby.  I think every shower should have at least one passive game (where no one has to do much, but someone wins a prize) - and this is a great one.

2.  Quiz - One of the hostesses prepared a quiz about the parents-to-be.  I usually am not a fan of quizzes because I feel they are antisocial.  I like games that facilitate chatter.  But, this was hands down the best quiz I ever played at a shower.  The questions were so personal and hilarious.  The hostess who put this together asked all of us (and the mama-to-be's sister) to share funny and touching stories about the parents-to-be.  She took each funny story and turned it into a question.  We were all laughing as we were reading the quiz, but the best part was reading the answers.  Each question really enabled the mamma-to-be to reminisce about her own childhood and her relationship with her hubby.  It really was the perfect quiz.  Now whenever I do a quiz, I try to make it so that each question is really an opportunity to tell a cute or touching story about the mama-to-be.

3.  Preg or Porn - Yup, that's right, there is a board with closeup pictures of women's faces, and the guests have to guess if the picture is of someone giving birth or someone in a porn.   

Every time I play this game it is a huge hit! 

This was the first time I made a preg or porn board, and I learned quickly that my pictures were too easy, and I have found much better pictures.  (but for the record, it is much harder than you might think to find pictures that work well for this game, and I shudder to think about what my Google search history must have looked like that day). 

4.  Tray Game with a Twist - Shockingly, I am not a huge fan of the tray game (the game where you spread items for the guest of honor on a tray and guests have to remember as many items as they can).  I get that it's a popular game, and maybe that is why I am not a fan.

However, I went to a shower a couple weeks before this one, where they played the game with a twist.  The mama-to-be and hostesses walked around the room with a tray, as we all took turns trying to see what was on it to play the tray game - yet again.  Only, they never actually told us what we were playing.  They just handed out cards and pencils and told us to wait and see what we were playing.  Then, after they waled the tray around the whole room and the tray was put away, the hostess said "OK, now everyone write down as many things as you can remember that the mama-to-be was wearing."

We didn't really have the time to properly play this game (so many guests came late that we were on such a delayed schedule).  At the very least, the mama-to-be got some very useful things from the tray.  If we had more time, I think this would have been a great game. 

Favors
For the favors, one of the hostesses made these amazing button cookies from Martha Stewart's website.  They were so cute, and they tasted great!

Pear Pepita Salad

I am a HUGE fan of Brianna's Homemade Dressings.  The Ginger Mandarin Dressing is one of our favorites.  After we got a little sick of the citrus salad I kept making (baby spinach, oranges, apples, almonds, dried cherries, and Brianna's Ginger Mandarin Dressing), I tried a variation with pears.  It has turned into a favorite of ours, and I often make it for brunches and showers.

Ingredients:
Bag of baby spinach
2 Pears, chopped in 1 inch cubes
1 Cup of raisins
1 Cup of pepitas (which are shelled pumpkin seeds)
Brianna's Homemade Ginger Mandarin Dressing

Directions:
Add spinach, pears, raisins, and pepitas to serving bowl.
Toss with dressing if serving right away, or serve with dressing on the side to avoid sogginess (and have a chance at leftovers).

Halloween Playdate

 

I don't think there is anything cuter than a bunch of babies dressed in adorable Halloween costumes!  So it seemed like a no-brainer that I should throw a Halloween Playdate.  The challenge - maternity leave was over, and I didn't have much free time.

Decor:

I tried to keep it really simple and baby friendly - nothing too scary.  I mainly stayed with black and orange, and happy pumpkins and such.  I curled black, orange, and white ribbon and hung it from the ceiling at the edge of each room.  I also hung ribbons and small pumpkins from the chandelier that was over the food table.

Menu:


The party was between meals in the afternoon.  I decided to just do desserts to keep it simple.  If I were to do it again, I would have had another table with snacks.  I think a lot of people skipped lunch and having substantial snacks would have been better.  Lesson learned! 

• Cupcakes
• Worms in dirt (just chocolate pudding, crushed oreos, and a gummy worm)

• Chocolate spiders
• Fruit Kebabs
• Halloween Oreos
• Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips
• Pumpkin Pie (from Costco)
• Candy!

I also had a small spread out for the babies (who were mostly between 5 and 9 months):

I didn't have time to make any personalized labels for the soda bottles, but I found these premade labels from Party City for $1.99, and they worked great (it probably would have cost me more to make them). 

My favorite part was the skull and bones ice that I made with these ice trays

Activities:
I spread blankets on the floor, and I spread my son' toys around the blankets for the babies to play with.  I also set up a coloring station for the older siblings.  I printed free Halloween coloring pages from the Internet and I put crayons in a pumpkin treak or treat pail.  The best activity of all was seeing the kids all together in their costumes.

Twighlight Bachelorette Party

The bachelorette of honor's only request for her Bachelorette Party, was that she wanted to be able to include her under-age-21 sisters in the festivities.  That meant no bars, and a relatively tame evening.  One of the hostesses figured out the perfect solution for the Twilight-loving bride-to-be.

I have to admit that I never read any of the Twilight books, and I had not seen all of the movies.  Luckily, two of the other hostesses knew more than one ever needs to know about Twilight, and Google helped educate me as well.

Blood Inspired Drinks

When I came across this party featured on Hostess With the Mostess, I could not contain my excitement.  My favorite part of the decor from the featured party was the drink and food signs, so I tried to design some.  Then, out of nowhere, the wedding photographer sent me a copy of a beautiful picture she took (and edited) of the bachelorette with her soon-to-be-hubby, and I could not resist.

The picture screamed Twilight, so I found a way to include it in all of the labels.  (Because I want to respect privacy, I covered the best part of the photo, which is their vampire eyes.  You will just have to trust me that it looked amazing).

As an extra gift to the bachelorette, I had an 8x10 printed of the picture of the happy couple (without Twilight quotes or names of drinks).  

  

We made a drink menu so that everyone could easily identify the drinks.  We marked alcoholic drinks "positive" and non-alcoholic drinks "negative."  We also used red font for the alcoholic drinks and white font for the non-alcoholic drinks.  We made sure to tell each of the under-age guests about our system, so that they knew which drinks were off limits.  Finally, we filled a large drink bucket with sodas and labeled the bucket "For the Humans."

 

 

We served blood shots after dinner (we made them by mixing punch, pomegranate juice, and vodka, but we also made a non-alcoholic version for the minors without the vodka), to toast the bride-to-be.  

 

Menu

For dinner we served the Twilight-obvious:  Italian food. We made the food ourselves, and it was two of my favorite things:  cheap and easy. 

• We served bruchetta and olive tapanade (both from Trader Joe's) on premade crustini from Whole Foods as an appetizer
• Salad
• Dinner Rolls
• Pizza (we made assorted frozen pizza from Trader Joe's)
• Pasta
• Cupcakes (one of the hostesses made three kids of cupcakes, one to represent each team:  Edward (red velvet with white frosting and bloody red drips of blood), Jacob (chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and choclate sprinkles), and a final team named for the groom-to-be's first name (decorated in a theme that was very personal to the groom-to-be). 

Decor

For the decor, we stuck to black and red.  We set up a long table underneath some trees in the corner of my yard to feel like we were in Forks (where Twilight takes place).  We strung white lights in the trees to evoke the white lights from Bella and Edward's wedding.  We rented black tablecloths and black chairs.  I then created a faux runner out of boas. 

One of the guests owned this cut out of Edward (the bachelorette's favorite), and it was a true source of entertainment throughout the party. 

 

Activities

The bachelorette made it very clear that she did not want a stripper, and that she didn't want to play any games that would be inappropriate for her sisters.  We went back and forth about whether we should bother to play any games.  We finally decided that we would have one game - "Pin the Penis Onto Edward."  We would play the game towards the end of the night, but during the party we told guests to make and decorate a penis.  Making the penises ended up being one of the best parts of the game.

The other great part of the game was the result of an awesome plan B.  The hostess in charge of getting the Twilight poster for the game couldn't find a poster of Edward.  She improvised and got a poster of Jacob, Bella, and Edward, with Bella front and center.  Because Edward was off to the side, we changed the game a bit, and guests had to pin the penis to Bella's mouth.  I think that actually made the game much better (we all got a lot of laughs out of it).  

Not only was there a winner for the penis pinning game, but the bachelorette also picked out the top three penises, and the artists won prizes as well.  

Breakfast at T's

When it came time to decide on a theme for a bridal shower for a good friend whose favorite color is blue, who is an avid movie lover, and whose first name begins with a "T" - the decision seemed obvious - Breakfast at Tiffany's!

There are so many great ideas out there for Breakfast at Tiffany's weddings and showers, and I had so much fun putting this party together.

The theme was introduced with these invites made from folded cards I found at Paper Source. The "pool" color at Paper Source was a nice match for the Tiffany's theme.




The Menu



You can't have a breakfast at Tiffany's theme without serving breakfast, and who doesn't love brunch? We made most of the items ourselves, and everything came out great!

• Bagels and Cream Cheese
• Lox, Tomatoes, Red Onion (for Bagels)
• Hash Brown Frittata
• Baked French Toast
• Cheese Blintzes
• Mushroom Quiche and Spinach Quiche (from Costco)
• Croissants with Butter and Jam (from Costco)
• Scones (from a local bakery)
• Yogurt and Granola
• Israeli Couscous with Apples and Dried Cherries
• Cucumber Salad (from Brent's Deli)
• Whitefish Salad (from Brent's Deli)
• Edible Fruit Arrangement

We also made sure to greet each guest with a Bellini. It was a great way to get everyone started in a good mood!

The Decor

I used linens to bring in the Tiffany Blue color, and kept things simple with white accents. I also used white linens on the cake table and present table for a bit of contrast.

For the centerpieces I used glass containers I found at a discount store, and filled them with Tiffany Blue glass stones. I then arranged white hydrangeas and roses in each vase.



I originally planned to purchase favor boxes that look like the Tiffany's boxes (they were filled with white Jordan almonds), but after a logistical detour, I found these boxes at a local Party City, and I filled each one with M&Ms that matched the party colors. They worked really nicely with the theme, and were a less obvious choice. I made Tiffany box themed signs out of folded cards from Paper Source and ribbon. Each item on the buffet was labeled so that guests did not have to wonder what they were putting on their plates.



For dessert we ordered cupcakes to match the party colors. We also filled martini glasses with different candies. One of the hostesses decorated a cupcake stand with white lace to evoke a wedding dress.






For games, of course we played my favorite game - the paddle game. Always a hit! We also set up an area for guests to write wedding advice to the bride, and the guests then placed their advice in a Tiffany's box. We read some of the funnier and more sentimental peices of advice out loud. Finally, we played the timer game. (Basically, you set a timer to go off, and whosever present the bride is opening when the timer goes off, wins a prize).