Monday, August 15, 2011

Meeska... Mooska... MousekaPARTY! Doodle's 1st Birthday (A year later)!

Miss Doodle will turn 2 years old in less than a month.  I can't believe how fast this past year has flown by! What do you think? Maybe it's just me.
I had so much fun planning her first birthday party last year and remember making little notes to myself to blog about the party details and the wonderful Etsy vendors that made it possible.  Oh, you didn't see that post?! That's probably because I kept pushing it off and am finally writing it to you here... nearly a year after the fact.  Sorry about that.
Let's face it-- babies have little clue as to what's going on in their first year.  I remember trying to get Dagny to sit down and watch a show with me (she wasn't a cuddler then, so this was my attempt at snuggle time) and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was just about the only thing she would sit and watch for a few minutes.  At about 6 months old, we could get her to show off that big cheesy grin by singing, "Oh Toodles!"  Now, she'll sing the entire Hot Dog song to you if you have enough patience to sit through it! ;)  We haven't actually watched Mickey more than a handful of times in the last year, mostly because it's an early morning show and she sleeps in until about 9am on weekends (and goes to daycare on weekdays).  Thus, I'm so glad we had a Mickey-themed 1st birthday party last year while she was "into it!"
I love throwing parties (that might be an understatement) and had a lot of fun piecing this one together!  I really don't have any secrets per-say, but here are the details and places that helped me put together a great party on a budget...
Invitations... We did a little photo shoot in the park with Doodle wearing her Mickey-madras outfit that Aunt Jillie gave her via my baby shower!  I used a photo of her that I thought captured how she was at the time and designed the invitations myself and had them printed at VistaPrint
 Location... This is when having In-Laws who own/live on a summer camp comes in handy! ;) We had her party at The Ranch!
Doodle's Dress... Going into this party, the only thing I really cared about was that she would have an adorable dress for her party!  SunKissedFaces was so helpful in customizing the design of the dress and making sure it was sized properly (even though Doodle was turning one, she was still in 6 month clothing!).  Her shop appears to be down at the moment, but the second that she's back up, I'll be scanning her goods again!
Kippy ignored the plea for no gifts... This is the best shot of her in the dress that I have!
Party Lanterns... run, don't walk, to JustArtifacts.com for these! After a great experience ordering from them for Katie's Bridal Shower, I went back for more! I added the foam ears and bows to the black lanterns to make the Mickey's and Minnie's.
Highchair Decor... I had planned to cover the seat of the highchair with black fabric, but completely forgot to do it before the party!  I bought the components for the garland from FunCakeStudio on Etsy and put it together myself.  Doodle's bib (not shown) was made by Bowhead Bowtique on Etsy!
The Mickey's on the ends had photos... her name was spelled out along the front of the garland.
Food... My sister made her delicious shish-kabobs for everyone! We had hamburgers and hot dogs, among with the usual party munches, but it was really all about the kabobs!

Treats... I bought a Mickey-shaped cookie cutter from the Disney Store and ended up making nearly 100 Mickey-shaped rice krispie treats for party guests.  I didn't want to do "favors" as she was turning one and the attendees were mostly adults, but I'm glad I had little treats for everyone!
Picture Frames... I picked up a handful of $1 frames at Michael's and went to work.  I used chalkboard spray paint to cover about half of them and then used red scrapbook paper for the others.  I embellished with polka dot ribbon, Mickey stickers, and chalk pens.  After the party I hung up the red frames and the name garland on her bedroom door!
Treats and a frame/plaque that I painted.
 Topiary... I need to find the blog that sparked the idea, but I ended up making this up myself with materials from Michael's.

Autograph Frame... I just love scouring the clearance bins at Michael's and came across this frame for about $6.  We had asked folks to not bring gifts, so there weren't going to be any birthday cards for the baby book... I wanted to have something to remember the occasion by, so I thought this was worth a shot!  Having everyone sign the frame worked out beautifully-- it now hangs in our hallway with a smash-cake photo of Doodle in it.  I still find myself glancing at it and smiling at the words of love from our family and friends!  (Note: While I don't have a photo of this, I thought it was an idea worth sharing.)
Finally, The Cupcakes...
CupcakesWhile you're all off spending $2-$4 per cupcake, you're missing the good stuff that comes from none other than the Walmart Bakery.  When my Mom proposed Walmart I thought she was off her rocker, but they'll do custom orders and they are flipping delicious.
Cupcake Wrappers: The cupcake wrappers were custom made by StudioFrog on Etsy -- I messaged them and they created a custom order for me at a great price.
Cupcake Toppers: This party took place during my pre-Silhouette days, so I reached out to Taz's Scrapping Fun House on Etsy for some cupcake toppers.  I soon realized that I didn't order enough, so I made the Doodle-Faced toppers with some photoshop magic printed off at the Target photo kiosk.
Tower Topper: I reached out to FunCakeStudio on Etsy for this custom order.
Cupcake Tower: My Mother-in-Law purchased this for my Sis-In-Law's Baby Shower a year earlier... and thank goodness she did! I've borrowed it for nearly every party I've done.  You can buy similar ones on Amazon.
The best component... Friends and Family!  This would have sucked wind if we didn't have such an amazing group of family and friends there to celebrate with us!  Seriously, the rest is just details.
Now... Don't go expecting this extravagance for her 2nd birthday party! I've promised my Dear Hubby that it would be small and low-key.  I'm having trouble controlling the size of the guest list, but am doing well keeping it to a cake-and-iced-cream pool party.  Many have asked if we're having a princess party, as she's clearly obsessed, but she still doesn't really "get" that it's her birthday and I'm pretty sure I have many princess parties in the future, we're sticking to a good old fashioned pool party.  With some LP accents of course! ;)

2 comments:

Ellen Zschunke said...

Saw this and thought of you: http://www.etsy.com/listing/44601110/pink-and-white-polka-dot-with-black-and?ref=sr_gallery_12&ga_search_type=all&ga_includes%5B0%5D=tags&ga_search_query=pillowcase_dress&ga_facet=

As I'm looking, it looks like you may have already discovered the pillowcase dress.

Ellen Zschunke said...

And as I'm looking more at etsy there are about a million Minnie dresses! Too funny - Happy Birthday Dagny!