Tags: DIY First Birthday Mom of Boys Party Planning
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I love planning parties. I think I enjoy putting the party together more than I enjoy the actual party. I like to pick a theme and take that theme from invitation to party favor and BEYOND! My goal is always “over-the-top spectacle of awesomeness.” By the time I’m done planning, I have more decorations and activities planned than would ever fit in one party. Every time! But parties SHOULD be over-the-top. They should be wild and free…like kids.
Kids parties are my favorite parties to plan. I particularly love planning parties for toddlers because they don’t have opinions about themes or party details, so I get to plan whatever I want. Liev turns four in December and I talked him into a “camp out” themed part, but something tells me this will probably be the last party I get to plan my way…it’ll be all PJ Masks or Superman from here on out—whatever cheesy kids show he’s into at the time *sad sigh* Anyway…back to Silas’ party.
Since it was his first birthday, I knew I wanted to do something bright and colorful. I also wanted to keep it simple and focus on a few decor details…I didn’t want to go too crazy and cause him sensory overload. I decided to go with a “rainbow of color” theme. This would give me the opportunity to make everything very bright and colorful using only a few basic tools.
I’m obsessed with the huge balloon garlands that are popping up (pun intended) all over Pinterest. It’s such a wonderful way to add big drama to your party without breaking the bank. Plus, they’re so customizable. You can hand pick your colors and make it any size you need. I decided on a balloon garland centerpiece, and since I was going with bright colors, what better color combo than “rainbow” (duh!). I inflated a bunch of primary colored balloons and strung them together using kitchen twine. I used a mixture of 5” and 12” balloons for variety. Ideally, I would have had it cascade down the end of the table onto the floor, but our dog Sam is terrified of balloons, so my garland had to stay on the table…more of a runner I guess. Can you imagine how adorable my rainbow garland would have been cascading down? Oh well…
I also needed a backdrop for when Silas had his first slice of cake. Luckily, we have a huge blank wall in our dining room, a perfect location for a backdrop. But what to do? I dug through my party supply box and found three large honeycomb circles I had used for Liev’s birthday party last year—orange, red, and blue. I went to Target and found they have honeycomb party decorations in just about every color and also a few shapes. I picked up a few and instead of opening them up all the way and having them hang (their actual purpose), I opened them halfway and adhered them to the wall. It worked beautifully. Simple and inexpensive.
The cake! The most important part of ANY party in my opinion. I had this crazy idea…well, it didn’t seem like a crazy idea at first…I wanted to carry over the balloon garland idea to the cake as well. I knew I wanted to do a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting because I figured the least amount of food colors and things, the better for Silas, right? Vanilla…the healthy cake option! Haha, whatever helps me sleep at night, right? Anyway…how do you dress up a vanilla cake? I thought about covering it in sprinkles, but I changed that plan. I thought about white fondant with colorful watercolor designs (I’m so into that trend right now) because I could cut the fondant off Silas’ piece. I was overthinking it. Let’s keep it simple.
I’m telling you this long drawn out story to explain my thought process. I wanted to keep it SIMPLE, right? Got it? Ok. So, with my very plain vanilla/vanilla-no decoration cake ordered, I turned my attention to gathering the tools I’d need for my mini balloon garland topper—5” balloons and florist wire. How simple was this going to be?! So amazingly simple that I chuckled at my own brilliance. I was going to create a showstopper of a cake topper and it was going to be the easiest DIY project I’d ever done! FALSE!!! This was the hardest, most painful and tedious project I’ve EVER done in my life…and I once made a hundred pinwheels for a baby shower. It took forever and my poor fingers were raw AND it was a complete nightmare trying to get the colors distributed evenly and the stupid tiny balloons all facing the right direction. A nightmare. But TOTALLY worth it! It was adorable and I loved it! I need to perfect my technique, but, I dare say, I might try it again one day…once the feeling in my fingertips comes back.
The smaller details came together easily.
Rainbow cookies served as favors. I ordered the cookies from the same bakery doing the cake which made it super simple.
I used this rainbow plate/bowl/cup/flatware set which we already had. Anytime I can use reusable place settings for a party, is a win in my book.
And finally, I ordered Spotty Napkins from Meri Meri (I get in trouble on that website…YIKES!)
All in all, the party was a success. About ten minutes into the party the balloon garland was torn apart and the balloons strewn all over the living room (much to Sam’s dismay), but the kids had a blast playing balloon volleyball. Memories made? Check! Now time to start planning a December “Camp Out” for Liev.
