I know it's not everyone's thing but I absolutely love parties. And more specifically, planning parties. The down side to this is I usually get in a little over my head and end up stressing myself out big time. So to avoid as many catastrophes as possible, I started planning Preston's first birthday party several months in advance. It helped some but I was still running around the day before the party finishing odds and ends and ended up as stressed as usual. Oh well, it's all part of the fun.
On party day, my wonderful Mom came to babysit Preston while Blake, my Dad and myself headed up to the clubhouse to start setting up the party. My sweet friend Amber came to help me too. We had just arrived and Amber and I went to start unloading my car. Now keep in mind my car is PACKED full of stuff. I open the hatch and immediately we hear not one, but two crashes. Two of my glasses I'm using for candy rolled right out the back of my car and smashed to pieces on the sidewalk. Instant tears on my part. Amber, very calmly says, "I will go to Michael's right now and buy two more. It's going to be okay." So I calm down. Crisis averted...so I think. Amber leaves and I return to the car to get some more things. I had made six dozen mini cupcakes for the party and they were in two separate boxes. I pick up one of the boxes and make my way inside. Halfway to the kitchen the box literally folds up in my hands and falls to the floor. I FLIP OUT. Poor Blake and my Dad. They didn't know what to do with me. This all happened within 10 minutes of being there. I finally pulled myself together and had the guys unload the rest of the car. I didn't touch another thing from that vehicle. Thankfully, that was the last of the catastrophes and the actual party was perfect. Preston had a blast and absolutely loved cake time. I was very pleased with how everything turned out. Below are details and pictures of how everything came together. Enjoy!
P's party theme was tigers and the colors that accompanied the tigers were orange (duh), aqua blue and lime green. I researched the internet for some unique party ideas and came across this awesome blog - Kara's Party Ideas. It has some phenomenal party ideas for every occasion.
Preston's invitation was done by Kottageon5th who has an Etsy shop. She can customize any of her invitations for you or make one from scratch. She emails you the finished invitation and you print out yourself.
One of my favorite ideas that I found online was the balloon wreath. It was a cinch to put together and I customized it to coordinate with Preston's party colors. I'm planning on using it every year and just changing the balloon colors as necessary. Here is a step by step picture tutorial on how to make one.
Here is a picture of the entry table. We used the canvas as a place for everyone to write their special birthday wish to Preston. More details to follow about the other items on the table.
I wanted to make tiger tails for the kids to wear so I lucked out and found sheets of tiger print felt at Hobby Lobby. I simply cut them in half lengthwise, rolled them up and hot glued the edges together. I then hot glued the black pom poms on the end.
Another favor for the "lil tigers" were bags of "Kitty Kibble" which consisted of Goldfish, Cheerios and Kix cereal. Preston loves it and it's a pretty good snack for Mommy too :)
This is the main food table. I love the "candy bar" idea so I gathered all of my clear jars and glasses from home and set to work arranging the variety of candy and snacks. I also made sausage balls, ranch dip, chicken salad sandwiches, pb&j and pb and cream cheese sandwiches. And we still managed to display a few dozen of the unscathed cupcakes...grr
Here are a few more up close picture of the food table. Also, the cupcake tower letters read "P is 1". A few people got confused...
The next table was the drink station. I hand made the birthday banner using a circle cutter I bought from Michael's, cardstock and raffia ribbon. I also made the photo board (details below) and the water bottle labels. I used the circle cutter to make all the food labels too.
I got the inspiration from here but I did mine a little differently. I used my circle cutter again to cut out the pictures. That thing is amazing!
Some of Preston's Presents!
One of the guest tables.
These were tiger tunnels that I made using large cardboard boxes, orange tablecloth paper and spray paint. The kids had a blast in them.
Preston showing off his tiger tail!
Here are some more pictures of the birthday boy. He had so much fun opening his presents and soaking up the attention.
Cake time was the best! You wouldn't thinks so with this first photo but he was mad because he didn't want to wear his party hat. He forgot all about it though once he saw the cake (made by yours truly). I was nervous he would get scared of everyone singing to him but he absolutely loved it. He laughed and dug right in to his cake. What a ham :)
And the loot! He got so many great presents and we are thankful for such sweet family and friends who helped give him such a great birthday!
Congratulations! You made it to the end of the post. Hopefully you enjoyed it but if you did get tired of reading...can't say I didn't warn ya!
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