Sunday, June 26, 2011

The Party Planning Post


You guys, I am so psyched about Liam's first birthday party. 

I came up with lots of ideas and at first, I thought I was going to do a carnival themed party, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to save that for a birthday that he'll actually remember and enjoy. (Oh, and I'll be 32 weeks pregnant on his birthday, so I think a party without complicated logistics would be best.) This year, simple is better.

Well, as simple as it can get, if I'm planning it.

After poking around on some kids' party planning websites, Etsy & Pinterest (my new obsession!) I decided on a Goldfish themed pool party. Cute, Liam loves to swim, and we can have the party at my parents' neighborhood pool so that no one has the burden & stress of hosting.

Without further ado, here are his invitations: (click to enlarge):


Stickers for envelopes & napkin rings:


For the decorations, I'll make aqua and orange tissue pom poms & get polka dot ballons: 


Definitely want a few of these:


I've started cutting out my own teal & orange circles to make this garland:


I'll use these to label the food:


Along with aqua and orange tablecloths, plates, napkins & flatware, I want to order some of these:


Liam's Smash Cake will look something like this:


And we'll have cupcakes with these:


I plan on teaching myself to "flood" cookies & if I'm successful, I'd love to make these:


I bought a big stack of these buckets for $1 at Michaels to use for party favors:


I'll use these tags:


I plan on filling them with some fun things like these aqua & orange water bottles (Also $1 at Michaels). I'm considering personalizing each kid's bottle by cutting their name out in vinyl (I can do this with my Cricut) and sticking it to the bottle:


And, I found these fishy pool rings-- at $2.25 each, I plan on putting one in each of the favor buckets, plus throwing a few in the pool for decoration.


Real goldfish are also in the plans for party favors, for kids whose parents who give their blessing to have them as pets. (Yes, I will ask before the party. One mom has already said yes, but I need to check with others.)

I have more ideas, but I'm trying to reign myself in-- the good news is that I already have quite a bit done, and the party is almost 3 months away. If I can just try to work on a few things each week, I'll get everything done in plenty of time. In the meantime, I'm having a great time brainstorming and adding ideas to my Pinterest board  (My username is StefBlakely.) If you're on Pinterest, let me know so I can follow you!

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*Full disclosure*
I know just enough about Photoshop to get me in trouble. I can fairly easily take someone else's design and modify it to be my own. I did not draw this little fishy myself. I "borrowed" it from someone and created backgrounds and layers and text to create my own paper products-- which for someone who has training in Photoshop would probably take a few minutes. For me, it takes hours. I'm proud of the work that I'm teaching myself to do. I just want to mention that I would never sell a design that wasn't entirely my own...but I will gladly use it for my own parties.


18 comments:

  1. I'd love to follow you. And everything looks so awesome for the party!

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  2. Wow! Liam's first birthday is going to be amazing! I love the motif! It's great. I'm so glad I didn't see this before Isa's birthday or I would have felt really, really bad about how little I was doing. Luckily now I'm okay with how it went.

    I hope Liam's birthday party is everything you hope it will be.

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  3. I swear, you are the world's craftiest person. This is going to be one hell of a party!

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  4. Love the theme! We just started talking about Ryan's party this weekend. Currently thinking of doing a cowboy theme. I wish I had your creative talent! All your decorations and favors are going to be adorable!

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  5. Absolutely precious! I just got on Pinterest so I will definitely follow you! I am starting to get ideas for G's birthday party- we have such similar taste- I am going to do a swimming party at my parents' too! I am thinking a circus theme with light blue and red...we'll see. Love the goldfish theme- sooo cute. BTW, I emailed you the other day about your "winning"- let me know what you want me to paint you :)

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  6. The flood cookies are the cuttest things EVERRRR!!! Will be a great party!

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  7. Everything looks fantastic!!

    Everyone is going to have so much fun!

    YAY!! :)

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  8. Woo hoo go mama!! I love everything! Can you plan Jakes Bday please lol

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  9. Um, I think you are a genius and I humbly bow down to your design skills. I kinda want you to come over and help me pick the fabric for some chairs that I'm recovering, but am hopelessly confused about what to recover them in.

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  10. You are truly unbelievable! I am so impressed! Looks like a blast!

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  11. I am totally in awe over here. I want to hire you to plan my twinsies' bday, not even joking. You have SERIOUS creativity and talent my friend, love love love. xoxo

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  12. I love it all! you are awesome at this!! He's going to have one awesome first bday party!

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  13. This is PRECIOUS! Congrats on baby #2!!!

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  14. LOVE everything you've done for the party - those colors are adorable, and I like how everything is so complimentary :) I'm a new reader - my daughter is a few weeks older than Liam, but my hubby and I are the same ages as you and yours :) Looking forward to reading more!

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  15. Love the fishy theme! The cookies are just so adorable. Good luck making them :)

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  16. So fun! You have seriously the best taste in design!

    I can't wait to see how things progress. And I need to figure out if I found you on Pinterest yet or not!

    http://subfertilefrugalista.blogspot.com

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  17. Ugh, I can't find you on Pinterest. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time following people. I did however find you on Twitter...I'm kaseykakes. Love your blog. I believe this is my first time delurking.

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