Planning a 1st Birthday Party
It took us a couple weeks and multiple trips to Michael's, Jo-Ann and Party City (along with LOTS of searching online), but it has (finally) been decided that the theme for Rooney's 1st birthday party will be pink, orange and yellow chevrons, polka dots and stripes. ...If that counts as a "theme."
Before we settled on the color scheme, I think I made Eric crazy with all my What do you think about this??? emails. If there is anything I am good at, it's changing my mind. Also, finding something I like better as soon as I've purchased something else. Needless to say, I've already returned a few items...
I'm not a very visual person, and I have trouble sticking to a color palette, so I use Pinterest as a mood board to make sure everything goes together. I already had a board for party stuff so I stole a few ideas off there and started one for her 1st birthday party. Here's what it looks like so far:
As I mentioned in our financial forecast post, our party budget is $300 (including food for 25 people, decor and gifts for the birthday girl!) I really wanted to spend less ($200-ish), but things are adding up and it's looking like we'll be right at the $300 mark. Which may seem extravagant to some of you, but I'm finally buying some party items/serveware/decor that I've wanted for a long time.
Like glass milk bottles! For a while I've wanted a set of milk bottles for parties (baby and wedding showers, mostly). I'm not sure if I'll ever host another one, but I figured they'd be cute for Roo's birthday parties, too. Or, really, for the everyday. I tried to be thrifty and get them from people who already drink them, so I found one guy at work who drinks them almost daily. I think he's given me 9 so far!
Then someone suggested to find out who the local distributor is and take the expired ones off their hands (since I don't need the actual drink inside the bottle). I thought that was a good idea, so I contact Starbucks, who sent me to Pepsico, who sent me to the local Pepsi distribution plant. I talked with two people and left a message for someone else, but it didn't sound promising. I even called Fareway, a grocer who sells the item, and they said they don't even touch them. Pepsi brings them in and takes them out...yada yada.
So...after that wild goose chase, I gave in and decided to buy a bunch. Luckily, a friend (who also wanted a set for her daughter's birthday party) found them at Costco for super cheap, and a $3 off coupon. So I got 24 bottles of Frappuccino for $22. (That's an amazing price!) Eric's getting sick of drinking them, so I think he recruited some friends at work. Then I'll take all the labels off and scratch off the dates (tutorial here, but let me know if you know of a better way!).
Food will be pasta and bread sticks from Pizza Hut, and dessert will be cupcakes. For cupcake liners I looked everywhere and finally decided that Bake It Pretty has the best ones. I love how they are arranged by color on their website and how the colors are muted. They came last weekend and I love them! (Of course, now I am considering buying cupcakes from a new local cupcake shop instead...so, they might go back.)
Shop Sweet Lulu came to the rescue with the forks, spoons and straws by selling packs in our exact color/pattern theme! (I didn't realize the spoons were mini until they showed up, but they'll work!)
That's where we're at so far! I'll be sure to take photos and do a recap after the big day!
Any tips for planning my first 1st birthday party?