Thursday, July 19, 2012

Caleb's 1st Birthday - "Bouncy Ball" Theme

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." Psalm 126:3

While our son's actual birthday is July 21, we joyfully celebrated his birth anniversary with our family and close friends at our home this past weekend. It is amazing to look at him and see how he has changed in twelve short months. He even took his first steps at his party! So cool! I was overwhelmed with gratefulness for him several times during the party...enough that it brought me to tears. Aren't children an absolutely amazing miracle from our Father? I just can't get over it, and I hope I never do :-) I hope you enjoy the post today, and if party-planning isn't your thing, rest assured that I will be back tomorrow with more spiritual encouragement!!

To say that I enjoy pushing a theme to its limit is an understatement. My father-in-law lovingly suggested that we have a car theme for Caleb's party, but I regretfully informed him that I could not possibly come up with enough food options that were in a shape of a car. Let's just say it's a good thing that he loves me so much...a less nice person wouldn't put up with my craziness! If you plan to throw a "bouncy ball" party, feel free to use as many of these ideas as you want! I found several ideas on Google, and of course, on Pinterest.

Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of the back yard. For $10, I bought a bag of ball pit balls at Walmart. I threw them out all over the grass, and the kids loved playing with them. I also bought about 20 10-inch bouncy balls for them to enjoy as well as four 99-cents beach balls. We put outdoor toys in the yard, and they all had a blast!

I also had a Fruit Loop necklace station (buy the cheap brand!), but do make sure that the scissors are out of reach for string-cutting. Ask a parent to help. Finally, I had a sugar cookie decorating station. Put sugar cookies out, with store bought icing (I found some on clearance...woohoo!), and various circle-shaped candies and sprinkles for decorating. The kids loved this!

While this doesn't have to do with the theme, we enjoyed having a slide show going of our favorite pictures of Caleb from the first year. I am not talented enough to set music perfectly with pictures, so I had toddler tunes going in the background. No one noticed :-) Also, I put his photo albums and any birthday cards we had already received out on the bar for guests to look at. Finally, we set this party up as an open house. Guests came and left as they chose from noon to 5pm. This worked great for us! Consider it for your younger one, if you think it may work. This seemed to go over well!

On to the decorations...

Yay for Costco! Their 1/2 sheet cakes are $17.99. Compared to around $16 for a 1/4 sheet cake at the grocery store, you score a deal!!! Plus, they are delish.

Balloons are a natural decoration for parties, especially bouncy ball parties! I used them on the staircase, outside on each of the lights, taped to the ceiling (did not use helium!), on the fan, on either side of the banners, and floating about for the kids.

Packing tape allowed the balloons to stick to the ceiling and fan all day...and, the paint didn't come off!

The banner is made from scrapbook paper using Tupperware lids to cut straight circles. Use a Sharpie to draw the letters, and you can make your banner say whatever you want!

I used a punch bowl to hold the party favors. I bought bags of ball or circle-shaped candy from Walmart along with some gumballs from a party store. Put them in a plastic baggy, tie with a ribbon, and kids (and adults!) will love having treats for the road. I also let each child take home a bouncy ball with them (the ones in the back yard). Lately, I've found them at the grocery store and Walmart for $1.50 to $2.00.

Again, scrapbook paper is amazing! I printed out 30 labels on solid-colored paper, then attached them to the polka-dot (a.k.a. bouncy ball) paper I found at Hobby Lobby for 30 cents a sheet! Keep your eye out for those Hobby Lobby sales!

This mini-cake was $5.99 at King Soopers. You can choose flavor, frosting, colors, words, and design. I told them the theme and let them run with it. You can order a 1/4 sheet cake for about $16 from them and get one of these for free, but I found Costco had a better deal on a 1/2 sheet cake. The hat was a splurge for $2 at the party store :-)

Streamers from the ceiling using thumb tacks (party store) always adds some fun!

I buy some theme plates and napkins and then I buy solid-colored for extras. Stack them every other one, and it looks kinda cute! Use a regular plastic cup to hold utensils, and be sure to pick those up at a dollar store for the best price.

The "bouncy ball" food menu included round tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole, mixed melon balls, Oreos, mini PB&J's, cheese balls, olives, baguettes with mozzarella, tomato, and basil leaf with olive oil, mini pizzas with pepperoni, an actual cheese ball with Ritz crackers, and grapes and cherries with fruit dip. 

Another shot of the food table.

My sweet mother-in-law used a wine glass to punch out round sandwiches from PB&J's...way cheaper than Uncrustables!

Like the party favor bags, I made food labels in the same way.

I used bouncy balls in vases with lollipops to add color and fun to the table. I also used brightly colored fabric that I had stashed in the basement for a pillow-making dream that I once had. It worked great for this party!

A family picture...just for giggles!



Happy party planning, mommies!!!

1 comment:

  1. That’s picture perfect! Happy birthday to the little one! I decorated an event space NYC just like this last year for my nephew’s birthday. Even I like celebrating at home a lot. We had just shifted in the city last year and so we booked a venue for that. This year it will be at home with our relatives coming over.

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