party planning – Thinker Mommy

Planning our Itsy Bitsy Spider First Birthday Party

Unbelievable. It’s almost time for Number 2 (aka Oren)’s first birthday. I admit I used to roll my eyes a little every time someone said it with a nostalgic sigh, but one day it’ll hit you – the time really does fly! Funny thing about time though: when you’re looking forward to something it can move faster or slower depending on what you don’t want it to do. Ten more minutes until the school bell rings takes forever because you want the day to be over. But I’m so excited to be planning this party and loving every minute of it and then all of sudden I’m like, “Wait… what?! It’s already Thursday?!! I only have how many weeks left?!”

Anyway, Grandpa in California decided he wanted to throw the big 01 party this year and we needed to check off a long-overdue visit on our end, so that decided things quickly. Nana Mark’s monster theme is going to be spectacular but I obviously don’t want to miss out on a second opportunity for cake… I mean, I don’t want to miss out on having a party with my east coast friends masquerading as a party for my one year old who won’t even remember it (except in pictures – which is what I have to keep reminding my husband to prevent it from turning into a lame single balloon and sheet cake type of event). So… we’re having 2 birthday parties; bi-coastal celebrations!

P.S. Since I’m so cool to be having an east and west coast party for my son, I’m also going to pretend to be a movie star as we schlep car seats, a stroller, diaper bags, gobs of toys, suitcases, 2 children and god knows what else through the airport. I’m pretty sure all I need is a funky new infinity scarf, big sunglasses, new books on my Kindle and a secret Godiva stash. I have an excellent imagination.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider theme for the east coast party came about because it’s the first song that ever really caught Oren’s attention – stopped him from squirming on the changing table or fussing while getting into a car seat – and it became a favorite. Unfortunately, the minute we stop the song he usually goes into hysterics, so there have been some memorable never-ending musical adventures. Plus spiders are cool (and my 3 year old is totally into bugs right now – every time we go outside she tries to force an ant to hitchhike on her hand to destiny unknown).

Sorry this post has serious ADD! Anyway, when I started buying things for the party, I realized that most of the adorable shops I love that sell printable invites, etc., didn’t offer Itsy Bitsy Spider themed items. For such a popular nursery song, I was really surprised. Most of what I could find was in Halloween oranges, purples and black – not the happiest colors. But I had already fallen in love with the spider idea and nothing else seemed right for Oren.

So, I made this Pinterest board and decided to emphasize the “out came the sunshine” and “down came the rain” parts of the song. First, I made the color scheme bright blue and yellow – nice, happy colors for a little boy’s birthday party. Then, I focused on those 4 visuals: rain, clouds, sun, spider (I’m pretty convinced there’s no way to make a water spout look good on anything but the invite). There are actually lots of “You are my Sunshine” themed party printables so I tagged a few as something I might be able to use with slight alterations (just add spider, right?). But eventually I decided to enlist the help of a talented graphic designer on Etsy to design something original and adorable for me. Etsy has this great feature where you can request a custom order from sellers that are willing to do accommodate them – so no matter how crazy your idea, someone out there will probably help you make it happen. Luckily my idea wasn’t so crazy (for once). ;)

Here’s what Mia at thepartyfairydesigns on Etsy, came up with for me (also pictured at the top of this post):

clockwise from top left: invite, t-shirt iron-on design (!), treat bag toppers, party hat

And this is just a VERY small part of what I got for only $32 ($12 for the invite and $20 for the rest of the custom party package). Mia even made me a personalized coloring book page for Oren and his little guests, a welcome sign, a custom happy birthday bunting, and more. Click here to see the amazing amount of stuff she’ll make for you in a custom party package.

So the decor is mostly done, just need to do some printing and cutting, buy a tablecloth, plates, streamers and such. Now I can move on to trying to figure out what we’re going to serve our guests to eat. I give Mia total credit for coming up with rainwater as a beverage idea (and I’ve got a cool label to go with it) but I’ll need a bit more than that. Wish me luck! And please, comment if you have any ideas – I’d love some suggestions!

Planning O’s 3rd Birthday Party

This is the outfit she picked today (she's also recently mastered the stink face)

This was today’s outfit choice (she’s also recently mastered the stink face)

I just realized that having complete creative freedom (which I love) over my children’s birthday parties isn’t going to last much longer. Actually, I’m pretty sure this is the last party I’ll be able to dream up all on my own. O is turning 3 in a few months and already enjoys issuing commands and expressing her strong opinions (one of my favorites, complete with finger wag, is “No no no, Mama. No singing!”).

So, even though I have another baby who’s still too young to tell me he doesn’t want to wear the adorable faux suspenders and bow-tie I picked out, I’m sure by the time Number 2’s first birthday rolls around, O will have gained the ability to telepathically communicate his desires for him.

Soon, I imagine I’m going to have to come up with amazing parties based on vague but intense requests like: a big green garbage truck, sparkle magic, flying sharks or tomato soup (I had a nightmare about that last one). But for now I want O’s party to just be a reflection of her personality and interests at this time in her life. Last year I did a moon and stars birthday party because she was obsessed with seeing the celestial bodies every evening on our summertime walks. This year almost spoke for itself. Here’s a list of our most common exchanges:

What do you want to wear today? “This orange shirt,” grabbing well-worn Halloween t-shirt (pants are always optional in her book).
What do you want for breakfast? “Orange juice.” (repeat answer at all meal times)
We’re at the grocery store, what do we need? She points to a package probably containing candied octopus or something equally disgusting and says, “Orange box. In the cart, please.”
Here’s your lunch, honey. “Nooooo, orange bowl!!!!”

my rough but awesome cake idea

But, a party just based on a single color seemed a little boring. So, after looking around online for ideas, I found a gorgeous orange and blue party invite that inspired an accent color. And I kept my ears open for any new favorites cementing in my preschooler’s mind. Luckily, (since we’re t-minus 2 months for this party) more inspiration came quickly: O started talking about butterflies randomly and then non-stop. She makes everything from her toy train and pirate to her princess figurine and squeaky frog fly “with the butterflies” during playtime, and at night, if I tell her the butterflies are going to sleep too, it seems to make bedtime easier for some adorable reason. So it’s now officially an orange party with butterflies (Note: not just orange butterflies because in my mind that = monarchs = Halloween colors. I know, I’m difficult).

VintageConfections Large number 3 hard candy lollipop

I’ve (very badly) sketched out a cake idea above – feel free to share your thoughts and ideas. My fabulous chef sister has offered to make butterfly cookies so I plan on showcasing her talents by sticking 3 or 4 on the cake. And, I think the number 3 is going to be a yellow hard candy lollipop from VintageConfections on Etsy (pictured left) – they have so many drool-worthy flavors, I might end up getting more to ~~hoard and eat~~ use as favors.

The rest is still in the brainstorm stage but follow my Pinterest board for more cool ideas as we get closer to B-day.