Safari - themed 1st Birthday Party

A lot of people have a lot to say about "going overboard" for a birthday party when the child is too young to understand what is going on. To that I respond: he may not get it, but we do. Moments are fleeting. Having lost my mom at 17, I carry with me the constant reminder of how slippery time can be and I choose to cherish the times as they come, not at some distant point in the future. I am not ashamed to admit: I thought about that first birthday party for months before he actually turned one. I just felt so profoundly lucky to have this amazing little treat as my own and I could not wait to do something special for my little boy. I felt like he had already given me so much off the bat - an indescribable taste of parenthood that filled me with a love I had not previously known existed - he deserved a celebration. Heck, I deserved a celebration! That first year had been no cakewalk by any means ( and I challenge any dismissive non-parent who belittles the intensity of parenting a newborn to a few nights of an infant with an ear infection), and I felt like completing that first year was some kid of feat. We had all made it out alive and in tact! Hooray! Now let's party!

I chose to go with an animal/safari theme, because animals are abound in baby's first books and toys.

We made a huge BBQ and found cute plates and napkins adorned with cartoon animals. I used pastel yellows, blues and greens for the tableware.

As a centerpiece I found these long plastic cups at Party City and filled them with solid colored Jelly Belly Beans. Clear Yard Glass

For a fun activity we had a zebra pinata filled with candy and safari animal toys. Pinata

Here everyone is, digging in!

Always my favorite part - here is the delicious safari cake. I added some cake toppers for a 3D effect as well.Jungle Animal Cake Toppers

Cutting the cake! I love that the sides were decorated with trees, to keep with the Jungle effect. 

Basically - in our family, when you put cake in front of us - we don't hold back! 

After all the prizes and treats, I did not need to send the kids home with huge goody bags. Instead I found these adorable safari-print Cupcake boxes and made some home-made frosted cupcakes as take-aways.

Cupcake boxes

All in all it was a sweet day!

Aryeh's 2nd Birthday Party

Our little man turned 2! I was super excited to make the prince a fun bash because...dun, dun, dun... he actually knows what a birthday is by now! He had been singing happy birthday Aryeh to himself for an entire month so I felt psyched that he would "get" the party.

This year I decided on a Crayon theme. I like doing a theme because it helps you hone in on decorations so it doesn't end up too cheeseball (not that there's anything wrong with cheeseball, I have been the recipient of many such parties as a child and they were awesome!). I had a lot of options, because Aryeh is "into" so many things right now but I wanted to steer clear of the cartoon themes as I feel my life is already overloaded with their faces (not to mention Elmo was already going to be making an appearance at the party). Crayons popped into my head because they consume so much of Aryeh's days and they just remind me of the essence of childhood. Bright, colorful and fun.

The crayon idea made decorating easy on me, I just needed to incorporate lots of bright colors. I also searched around Amazon often to find different crayon-themed objects that would work at the party. I started purchasing little decorations for the party about 6 weeks in advance, because the week of the party I knew I'd be shelling out a lot of cash for the entertainer, food, drinks, cake etc.

As city-dwellers, our outdoor space is confined to a little patch of grass outside our apartment (don't be fooled, that patch is the envy of many of my friends!) but naturally, that limits party options for us. We couldn't make it inside our apartment because we simply would not have the room if everyone insisted on moving once inside and we wanted to do something outdoors since it was midsummer. My husband and I found a great park in our neighborhood that often is empty and just decided we'd take over. It turned out to be a great spot with room for all of the kids to run around and lots of nearby benches for guests to sit. 

Here's how we worked the crayons into the party, our decorations and the food.

The cupcake stand is from Wilton ($3.99) and the cupcakes themselves are the two-bite Costco Sprinkle cupcakes. I alternated decorating them with crayon cupcake picks and sugared crayon toppers:
Sugar Crayon Cake Toppers
Crayola Style Cupcake Picks
As centerpieces, I used clear plastic martini glasses which I filled with colorful M&Ms.

The colorful rainbow concoction you see here is Fruity Pebble Treats! Prepared just like Rice Crispies Treats using the sweeter, rainbow version of the popular cereal.

I had to snag a photo with the birthday boy before the guests arrived, while I still had a chance at his attention! Underneath the table you can see the goody bags. I used multi colored paper tote bags and filled them with crayons, notepads, colorful toys and some sweets.

Unfortunately, I didn't snap a better picture of the drink table after I rearranged the bottles in a better way (I asked a disinterested family member to set up the drink table ;) - but I had a great cutlery holder that I made the night before. I took one of the rainbow cups and glued crayons all around, then filled the cup with the plastic cutlery and gigantic rainbow lollypops as decoration. You can see my son's little hand reaching for one here! The lollipops were a great decoration because by the end of the party it served as an extra take-home treat for some lucky guests!

I also found these great inflatable crayons online. We blew them up and then spread them out around the party area. The kids had a blast with these as well!
Inflatable Crayons

We had a clown come and do "magic" and balloon animals for the kiddies. Then best of all... after a quick costume change...

Elmo's joined the party!

And of course the piece de resistance: THE CAKE! I took a Costco cake ($17.99 and it feeds a crowd!), with one of their featured decorations in rainbow colors, added some of the sugared crayons, and topped it with a candle of Elmo holding crayons!
Elmo Crayons Candle

I had so much fun planning this party, and an even better time watching it unfold!
There is something spectacular about watching children have a good time... they do it in the most natural, uninhibited manner and it is a joy create that!
What kind of special moments have you created for your child?