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Hawaii Babies
1st bday party ideas?
For those of you who have planned (or are planning) your LO's bday party...did you have any favorite resources? (websites, blogs?) We are having a pretty big party for LO (DH's immediate family is HUGE! Hence the reason we pretty much had to get married in Hawaii!) Anywho...just wanted to start thinking about DD's bday party and knew you ladies would have great resources/ideas.
Edit: also favorite Etsy vendors for bday related goodies?
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Re: 1st bday party ideas?
I didn't have any specific inspiration. Since we were going to Disneyland for his actual bday it made sense to go with a Mickey theme. I browsed Etsy for DIY ideas and made a banner, bought a vintage toy to use a cake topper, and found Baby Mickey paper products at the party store and a Mickey hole punch to make confetti.
Do you have any ideas of a theme you are drawn to?
The project nursery website has a party gallery with some pretty neat looking spreads:
https://gallery.projectnursery.com/most-recent/?browse=birthday-party
For party ideas, check out the blog: karaspartyideas.blogspot (dot) com
I browsed Etsy for invitation ideas, but then Bumpie friend Nicole designed one for me in Photoshop and I just printed them from Costco for less than $20 for 50. I also used inspiration from Etsy to design my own party stickers (for hats, goodie bags, etc.) on Vistaprint. That saved a ton of money over Etsy prices.
We did a circus theme and got most of our party supplies from Oriental Trading Company. They're pretty affordable and have a huge selection and many themed items. (You might also want to check out any dollar stores you have because I did spy some OTC items for great prices at the local Pricebusters.)
Hope you have fun with the birthday! I had a blast planning the party, and I'm not usually a party person. ;-)
We also had a Disney theme b/c my kid loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the mornings. Disneyplayhouse.com had a ton of resources, but they've since changed to disneyjunior.com and I think they took some of them down.
I found it almost as stressful as wedding planning - try to have fun w/ it!
Ours was pretty small, so I doubt I'll be of much help!
I googled "very hungry caterpillar birthday" to see if other people had done it (they had) and if their ideas were of any use (some were, most were waaaay more complicated/expensive than I wanted to do). There's a whole section of Eric Carle's website that sells party supplies, but I didn't want to buy those - they were $$$, and I didn't see the need for Hungry Caterpillar themed hats, plates, napkins, cups, streamers, balloons, centerpieces, etc. Instead, I just broke it down into the most basic Caterpillar colors - red and green - and bought plates, napkins, streamers and balloons in those colors to loosely tie in with the theme. The only truly theme thing we did was the caterpillar cake. Oh, and sangria for the grownups (I used all of the Hungry Caterpillar's fruit in the mix lol!).
Like I said, I'm guessing this isn't so helpful for you, but I thought I'd throw out what my process was anyway - not so much "buy everything in this theme" as "break the inspiration down into basic building blocks and go from there".
we didn't have a big party or anything....got some supplies from diapers.com actually (they had a good sale).... i got inspiration from etsy for birthday invites and created my own in photoshop and sent them out digitally through email. we printed and laminated a copy for the grandparents and for the keepsake box.
for her outfit, she wore a pettiskirt from katelyn & co from babysteals and her top was from an etsy seller. malia referred me to that seller and you can see pics on my FB page. it's basically a cupcake with a cute zebra print cupcake liner and chiffon for the frosting. it was really cute!
if you live near one, i think albertsons will make a free smash cake for your LO (not sure if it is totally free or free with purchase of large cake?) but i think it's common for many grocery stores to run that kind of promo
i don't know if you can view these pics (i think you might be able to since you are my FB friend) but these were the most adorable 1st bday pics i've seen and i wish i had seen them ahead of time so we could have done something similar
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
I knew we wanted a bumble bee theme so I just started Googling bumble bee parties. And browsed Etsy for ideas. I Googled DIY party hats and party circles, etc. to find patterns and instructions how to make my own. I also got Lisa's AWESOME banana cake recipe and make cupcakes with it.
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
This! I did order an embroidered $12 personalized bib (although I got 50% refunded to me because they messed up on the font style but it wasn't a big deal so I kept the bib and chose to get the refund) and I bought a $6 Carter's onesie that said "My First Birthday", but otherwise I DIYed party hats, water bottle labels, cupcake toppers, treat cones, etc. Oh and I made carrot cake, but I used Lisa's cream cheese frosting recipe. SOOO YUM and easy too!!
oooohhh so many good ideas! Thanks ladies. We are definitely on a tight budget just b/c with 100 people, even if I am only serving bread and water, it will add up pretty quickly.
I was trying to think of a theme to work with, but I may just work with two or three colors. I didn't know project nursery had party ideas so b/t their gallery, kara's blog & hostess with the mostess, hopefully I can find some inspiration. and since I am starting early, hopefully I can DIY a lot of the decorations and little details.
thanks again for all of the ideas and websites!