Sunday, May 16, 2010

Birthday Pictures (Finally!!!)

Geez laweez, I can’t believe it’s been over a week since we had Piper’s birthday party.  I had full intentions of getting pictures up a lot sooner than now, but I’ve had problems sifting through and finding my favorites!  So, here we go!

Piper’s party was ladybug themed.  Here’s the invitation that we sent out.  I love the print center at Costco- they have a blank template in their cards/invitations that you can use, so I just created a document in Publisher and sent it over there.  I printed out address labels, and the invites were done!  The only problem was that the selection of stamps at the Post Office left something to be desired.  I had a choice between Purple Hearts and ugly fish.  So Piper got the ugly fish…   print invite for blog 

Everything we had was red and black.  And polka dotted. 

Piper even had herself a red and black polka dotted dress, which my mom made her.  Of course she needed black patent leather shoes to match.

Red and black licorice, and red and black jelly beans served as our “appetizers”.P1050358 

Red table cloths with red and black polka dotted ribbon accents.P5080007You can see the visors we had for the little kids.  They’re those little foam visors you can get at the craft store, and I painted black polka dots on them.  The little springs on the backs turned in to some of Piper’s favorite toys; I had to keep the extra hats we didn’t end up needing, just for the springs…

We set up big tents at the park for shade.  As big a pain as they are to set up, they sure worked nicely!  Add some hanging baskets and balloons, and we were ready for our spring party!P5080026

I set up a “bubble and ball station” off to the side for all the kids to play with.  MAN, was THAT fun.  I had about 15 big bubble wands that we set out, along with a huge package of different types of wands, and a bubble blower (thanks to LC and Jace for telling us which one to buy!!!).  Add the 22 kids, and every once in a while you could look up and see the whole side of the park covered in bubbles.  It kept all the little ones entertained for a long time!

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We took up our barbeque, and my parents brought theirs up, too, so we could cook all the burgers and dogs as quickly as possible.  Dad and Luke, and my brother, too, I think, all had a hand in the cooking portion of the afternoon.  Thanks, guys!P5080012

Luke even got a “costume”, especially for him.  I don’t think he was very excited, but I think it was cute…P5080018

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Moving on…

I wrapped red and black silverware in red and black polka dotted napkins and tied them with red and black ribbon.  At this point in the preparations, I started asking myself if I was really buying that quantity of black stuff for my child’s, my little girl’s, first birthday.  And I did it anyway…  P1050548

We also rewrapped little bottles of water and made new labels for the day.P1050547 

Most of the food we had was run-of-the-mill barbeque stuff, but these were my favorite.  I, unfortunately, didn’t have any pictures of ours, so you’ll have to settle for what they kind of looked like:crackers

For dessert, we had red (okay, pink) cupcakes with red and black (ie chocolate) sprinkles on the top.  And cherries, of course.  We also had ice cream cones, just for fun. P5080084

Piper had a fancy plate that matched her dress.  Almost a little too well…   IMG_3516 

I guess all that’s left were the favors.  All the little kids got one of these baskets with a painted bottle of bubbles, a slinky (since that’s one of Piper’s all-time favorite toys), and a ladybug book:  P1050552

…and the big kids got one of these:P1050550

Yoyos, Pop Rocks (I think Luke was hoping that there’d be some left over for him; he never gets these…), a magnifying glass (you’ll see why here in a minute), and a package of those capsules that you put into water and a foam bug pops out.  I took them out of the packaging, put them in a wedding favor bag, added red ribbon and a tag.  

And check these out!  Mom made one for each of the kids who came.  Could there be any cuter sucker holders???

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And, of course, we had to have favors for the adults, too.  I got the little boxes from the wedding aisle at Hobby Lobby, and made the little tags to match.  Fill ‘em up with Hot Tamales, and voila!P1050075

Those are little wedding bottles of bubbles on the side.  But I forgot to put them out, so I’m guessing you’ll be seeing them for a different event in the future…

I also made chocolate suckers:P1050404

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The absolutely best part, though?  Remember this???  Well, I couldn’t tell you what they were for that night, because I was afraid that none of our little kid friends would make it to the party.  I had a sneaky suspicion that we may have scared off some unsuspecting parents.

Yup, we gave away live ladybugs as party favors, too.  P1050274

I found favor buckets, which I painted red and black polka dots on.  Then covered the tops (tightly) with tulle and a rubber band.  The kids were so excited to see the bugs!  I think that most got taken home, although I’m sure that some got let out in the park, which was just fine!

What a great way to celebrate our little girl!  Thanks to everyone who came to help us celebrate! 

6 comments:

  1. Holy Lord. That takes the birthday cake. You are SUCH a creative wonder. I can't think of a better reason to uber-celebrate. And the live ladybugs? Again. BRILLIANT. Way to go, Supermom. I am speechless.

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  2. I am with Courtney! WOW lady! That was one rockin' 1 yr celebration~ I didn't see super party planner in your profile, you should market that ability!

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  3. Holy Cow (I mean ladybug)!!!! Too cute.

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  4. Wow! You went all out with the party. :) It looks like it was a great time though!

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  5. I love it all!! Great job!

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