This circus themed invitation was so fun and I heard the party was even better! Soda-Pop the clown was there to give the kids a real show. What a fun birthday party!
I designed the invitation, backstage pass, cake cone toppers, and party favor tags. It was such a fun theme to do! Kids these days have the funnest parties - thanks to smart moms who come up with these awesome ideas! ;)
My cute niece was baptized into our church last week so my sister asked me if I could make an invitation for the event. She said she wanted soft colors and was thinking more of a mint color. I think it was my idea to add the florals. They go with her floral crown!
It's the middle of summer and I'm sure by now your kids are bored. The otter pops are gone and the kiddie pool and slip'n slide have holes in them. You have watched Moana for the 100th time. You need more ideas to keep them busy because if you hear one more "Mom! I'm bored!" then you're gonna scream!
Have them gather a blanket and their favorite teddies or stuffed animals, you give them some snacks and they'll play for at least an hour. (Yessss!)
OR
You can invite their friends or playgroup buddies and make it a party! I have these free invitation printables for you to use to help spread the word! Ask the kids to bring a snack to share and it's less work for you on the food prep side of things.
I've done both ideas. I've kept it simple with just my kiddos and I've made it a playgroup party where the moms got to participate and have some social time as well.
My friend Tracy asked me to design her baby's blessing invitation for her and I couldn't have been more thrilled for the opportunity!
I really love this idea of an invitation opposed to a baby announcement. I feel like with the internet and word getting out so quickly, by the time you receive an announcement in the mail you've already seen 100+ pictures of the baby anyways. It's always fun to get in the mail. It's one of those items I call "fun mail," but I kind of think they're not as necessary as they used to be. There is always a spot in the baby book for an announcement, but you could put an invitation there instead! (Sorry, if you're hatin' - I'm just such a practical person!)
Tracy is an Usborne consultant and we just did a straight up trade for both of our services. I got some sweet activity books for a road trip which my daughter will be able to use on our trip to our family reunion at the end of the month! Exciting!
I grabbed a few bags of pink balloons for $1 each and two different colors of pink regular yarn at $2.50 each. I blew up the balloons to different sizes to create variety and taped onto the wall with masking tape or painters tape. Then I used this tutorial from Crafts Unleashed for the yarn tassel garland. I did my own small twist to the tassels by using different twines to tie off the middle part. I feel it gives more variety to the monochromatic pink scheme. I bought a spool of hot pink bakers twine from Target for $3 and a pink pom-pom spool at Target also for $3.
I will post a tutorial on how to make the feather garland because it was of my own invention. ;)
I used a plastic table cloth ($1) for the backdrop and folded it in half so it wouldn't be transparent. Those plastic table cloths are pretty see-through! I taped it to the wall so it would hold and then I added the balloons, then the garlands, "Happy Birthday," palm leaves, and paper "lanterns." The Happy Birthday banner was from Target. It was in their dollar spot for $3 that I had previous bought for a different party. I bought just 1 bunch of palm leaves from Hobby Lobby. It was on sale for $16, which is pricy for me considering they're just fake leaves, but I'm so glad I got them because they seriously made the finishing touch! I cut each leaf from the bunch and taped them behind balloons to hide the tape. The paper lanterns were from Target in a pack of 5 for $5 that I already had.
Total money spent so far is: $30
(notice I didn't take into account the Happy Birthday banner and paper lanterns)
I planned simple snacks that were healthy and had variety in case kids didn't like some of them. The snack cups had mini pretzels, dried apple slices and pink mini marshmallows in them. And then I served Veggie Sticks ($3) and cheese sticks ($4). I wanted to serve a drink that was pretty well contained which was why I chose to do Gatorade bottles (2 packs of 12 for $12). Juice boxes would serve the same purpose as well. I designed and printed out the bottle wraps.
Food Total: $19
(I already had the pretzels, dried apple slices and marshmallows on-hand. It's great when you're able to use what you got!)
What I used to serve the food on were pink plates ($1), polka dot napkins, and pink straws ($1).
My daughter chose a strawberry cake ($1.50) and a vanilla frosting ($1.50). We already had the Legos and flamingo decorations. I got separate plates for the cake ($1) and forks ($1).
Total so far: $56
Inside the bags I had pink crinkle filler (which I made because I wanted to save money... and Target didn't have any in their dollar spot!) with two pieces of candy and a mini plastic flamingo figurine. I got a Valentine's candy mixed bag with 3 different types of candy on sale after Valentine's day (because it would've been pink! and cheaper) which was $2.50 and the mini flamingos were $0.59 cents each. I bought 20 and it was $17. I bought them online from The Big Zoo and had to pay a ridiculous amount of shipping... But it was the only place I could find that sold mini plastic flamingos in larger quantities! It's just crazy when the internet fails you, amiright???
On the outside of the favor bags I already had the pink feathers and the pink bakers twine was already mentioned. I designed the tags and printed them myself. I'm feeling like I should do a tutorial for these bags because the assembly of the feathers wasn't just a one step process.
Ok, so now our total is up to: $81.50
Now we move onto the flamingo centerpiece. What's a flamingo party without more flamingos?? I really wanted to get some of those plastic lawn flamingos, but this was friendlier on the budget. I found this tutorial from Frog Prince Paperie on how to make this flamingo. The glitter paper was $1 each for pink and black and the hot pink tissue paper was $1. I already had a small wooden rod and small flower pot I used for the base. The base was plastic and wasn't heavy enough to hold the flamingo up! So I taped it to a small can of pumpkin, covered it with palm leaves and all was good in the world.
This added to the total makes it: $84.50
The games the kids played were:
. Tissue paper art on a flamingo
. Duck Duck Flamingo
. Who Can Stand Like a Flamingo the Longest?
. Limbo
. Go Fish
All of the activities were essentially free except Go Fish. I bought a blue plastic tablecloth ($1) to cover a small up-turned table and decorated it with green crepe paper to make it look like sea weed. I totally forgot to take a picture of it, but it wasn't super grand. If it were the highlight of the party I would've given it more detail. The prizes they fished for were candy and stickers. The candy was from the giant Valentine's bag I previously mentioned and I bought 1 pack of stickers ($1) which I cut up into fair pieces. I didn't have a fishing pole, but I made one with supplies I already had on-hand: a wooden rod, twine, and a clothespin.
Total is up to: $86.50
These two elements are so simple, yet, they really transformed the room into a magical party room! Every kid who stepped in had their eyes lit up from how fun they were. They do take time to make, but for someone on a budget, it was very pocket friendly.
Total so far: $90.50
I also had some crepe paper hung in the doorway and had made flamingo footprints leading all the way to our door! I did an Instastory of them, but totally forgot to take pictures!! The way to our basement door is kinda involved and I didn't want the kids getting lost in my in-law's giant garage, so all they needed to do was follow the footprints. PLUS I remember as a kid, most likely around this age of 5, where one of my friends had a puppy party and she had paw prints on her front walkway which led to her front door and I thought it was the greatest thing ever. I mean, it's been 20 years later and I still remember it! So, I dunno, maybe Avery's friends will remember following flamingo footprints 20 years later too.
I did need to buy extra orange paper for the footprints (I know, I should've done pink or black. What flamingo has orange feet??) so that cost me an extra $4 because I had to buy a huge pack of paper because I live in a small town with very limited options.
So here I will leave you with my grand party total: $94.50.
Some of you may think that's a lot and some of you may feel it's a steal! But I hope by breaking it down you were able to see what goes into a party like this. None of it was catered or I didn't rent out tables and chairs or a venue, but I also didn't just throw up crepe paper and call it good (which is totally fine if you do this!! You do you - it's about balance and I'm not about to mom-shame anyone who throws parties like that! ;). I just did what I felt was important and made it into a themed party.
Each party is different and has different needs, but I am confident I can plan a party for under $100. I've done it every time I've thrown a party except for the times I had an actual meal. (Real food requires more money, but it was still done as cheaply as possible.) I hope this served you as some quality party inspiration for your next birthday party and if you need an extra hand, please don't hesitate to ask me! I would love to help you plan your party and if you need a quote, just e-mail me and I'll be able to let you know what I can do for you!
A month or so ago my daughter wanted to watch Horton Hears a Who, so after it was over I decided to watch the extras which are available on the DVD. There was a small clip of Dr. Seuss's life and how people had always thought his ideas were crazy and didn't think he'd ever get very far in life. His wife commented how he was always sketching odd things and would make up funny words. Little did she know how much his peculiar imagination would create an such an empire in Children's Literature. His books they truly are timeless and I'm so grateful for the people who believe in themselves and have the guts enough to block out everyone else and do what they love.
I was once told if you do something different, at least one thing needs to be familiar so people actually "get it." The example was if you're going to do a space movie and everything is all space-y with different planets and lots of new things, you need to keep the people human. Or the opposite route would be to have aliens on planet Earth - the aliens are different, but planet Earth is familiar. Makes sense, right?
Ok, off my teaching box.
So I love this color combination and how this baby girl birthday party isn't just PINK. Now without further ado, I bring you my baby's first birthday party.
Why yes, this entire party was themed from her dress! Perfect inspiration!
Baby's first piggy bank is a cute little touch for decor and it gives guests the option to drop a few bucks if they feel inclined to do so...
I wanted to create that same magical moment for my little one and asked the guests to bring a letter instead of gifts. Being the second girl, she already has everything she needs and the letters will be such a treasure when she's able to open them.
I also had her Baby Book and Baby Calendar (for milestones) laid out in case anyone wanted to look at them. If I was really on top of my game I would've made a little video of her with the videos of her first year. I'm going to try and make one for her time capsule.
String cheese is her favorite food so I had to have that.
Here's the explanation for the dollar bill: another activity I love to do is this Korean tradition they do for their babies. I don't know what it's called, but you lay out 4 objects (paint brush = creativity, book = intelligence, string = long life, money = wealth) and whichever one the baby chooses will supposedly be what they become as an adult! And my baby chose the dollar bill. So it's just a fun little tradition and it will be fun to see if it comes true or not! (And it's also a great time filler because there's not a whole lot you can do for a one year old party!)
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