Showing posts with label 1st Birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1st Birthday. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

On the Night You Were Born Party {Part 1}

McKinley, my youngest son's birthday was coming up. Originally I had planned on doing a Neverland themed party. So for a few months, I was looking for ideas for that. But over those few months, McKinley and I started a bedtime tradition of reading his favorite book every night. The book . . .

On The Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman

We read that book out! Seriously. I know it by heart and have even been known to make up songs using the words of the book as the lyrics. So after some reconsidering, I changed his party theme. (Surprise, Surprise)

So I started my planning process over again. But this time, I didn't have as much luck finding inspiration online from other parties. I was baffled, that being such a popular book that there wasn't really anything out there! I thought for sure there would be at least a baby shower or a first birthday that had used this theme.

What I did at this point was use the book and the artwork for inspiration. Now, the artwork is gorgeous! Like seriously, someone needs to buy the book, rip out the pages and frame them in a baby's room gorgeous! [I can't believe I didn't think of that] So it was fairly easy to find inspiration.

Here are some photos I snapped as I was setting everything up . . .






Fabric Backdrop - Joann Fabrics (Lucky it looked just like the night sky in the book)
Gold Letters - Cut outs with Cricket
Moon - DIY using tissue paper, Elmers Glue and Water
Table Cloth - White King Sized Sheet
White Fur Table Clothe - Joann Fabrics
Paper Plates/napkins - Target (again, lucky find that they matched the book perfectly)
Gold Cake Paper Plates - Walmart
Polar Bear Centerpiece - Scanned book and had blown up at Sam's Club Photo
Cut it out and taped it to a paper towel holder
Frog - Hobby Lobby
Crystal Glasses - MINE ; )
Gold Clock - Pier One Imports
Wooden Crate Box - Hobby Lobby (flipped over to put cake on)
Gold Tiered Server - Goodwill

Everything else I either had and don't recall where and when I purchased it. Over the years I have accumulated so much from parties and events that I am at the point now that I get to just reuse them over and over again! And I also like to use things that I already have around the house. Like the gold clock for instance . . . it was in McKinley's room. The wooden crate Box that I flipped over to put the cake on . . . that held our popcorn and napkins in our Movie Themed Basement. The white fur that resembles the snow in some of the artwork is actually used for newborn shoots in my photography business. As well as the white king size sheet!

And my rule about purchasing new things for party decor is that I HAVE to be able to use it in my everyday life! The frog that I purchased in the Spring Decor at Hobby Lobby is now in my garden! 

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Vintage 1st Birthday

I started planning McKinley's 1st birthday right after he was born. He was about three weeks old to be exact. I came across this blog, Young House Love
They did a photo "quilt" with their daughter. It was amazing! {check it out here}
I NEEDED to do this with McKinley! I was too late to do a weekly one, so I opted for a monthly one.
Here's how it turned out!


Now you're probably wondering how this has anything to do with his 1st birthday. Well, really it has EVERYTHING to do with it. I planned the entire party around the colors of the fabrics used in the photo quilt. In fact, I used the actual fabric to make most of his decorations. It truly was so special!



DIY Number Wreath . . . tutorial coming soon! 


The brothers . . .


DIY Hot Air Balloon Paper Lanterns . . .



Notice the bunting flags hanging from the ceiling . . . made from the 12 fabrics!


Vintage paper straws, coordinating balloons . . . a vintage flair.


McKinley's Cake . . . simple . . . DIY Cake topper


Bunting cake topper





DIY Fabric covered party hats



The Food labels were all handmade by myself and coordinated with the invite (below)









DIY hand sewn paper napkins & yarn wrapped letters



Photo credits to the amazingly talented Kim Klein Photography LLC