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I had a lot of ideas running through my mind on the theme for Eli's first birthday. The black, creme and bronze plaid plates Justin and I found at target pretty much sealed it for me though. I ended up with a "Little Adventurer/Bear" theme. Because he is into all. the. things. and never stops exploring/climbing/running/walking/peeking and...you get it. Plus, my little nickname for him is Booger Bear ever since he was a newborn...not really sure why, but it stuck with me. So that kind of fit. ;) I also came up with this little guy who kind of stuck around as a party mascot:
Complete with pine trees, black bears, wood and plaid, I really loved how the party turned out. The trees in the background are spray painted on craft paper. I needed something as a backdrop for the table, and this worked perfectly!
I had a $40 budget and I went a little over. But I was pretty proud of myself for sticking with that. My husband was a huge help. He is good at finding good deals AND convincing me that I could find a better or less expensive route. He helped me a ton with this party.
So did a lot of others! My mom and sister helped me shop and find good deals on things. So thankful for all my sweet family that came and helped me set up and decorate before the party. My dad helped me clean my house like crazy. He deserved a medal. Haha! My sister-in-law, Sherilyn, made the cute cookies and delicious cupcakes. My inspiration for that came from this cute bear bash: http://thealisonshow.com/2015/04/making-life-party-courtney-dahl.html
A lot of ideas came from that adorable party.
Like this bear game! I cut the bear out from cardboard boxes and painted him. He was actually kind of fun to make and FREEE. I heart free.
The kids loved the bear. I basically kept my front door open the entire party because we were all out there so much.
I sewed and painted the little rice bags they threw in the bear's mouth. I found the plaid party containers from Dirt Cheap for 10 cents. When I bought them I didn't know what I would use them for but they were SO PERFECT I couldn't not buy them...and they worked great for holding the rice bags.
Little details.
The little party favor drawstring bags were really easy to make. I took a paint pen and did the plaid design on some before I sewed them. I filled them with little bags of teddy grahams.
I got the party hats from the Dollar Store and covered them with paper that I drew on. If you're thinking "I'm not artsy, I can't draw" then stop riiiiggght there because the plaid I did was SUPER easy. Lines, people. a bunch of them going in different directions. You got this. ;)
His chalkboard turned out really cute. I printed out each monthly picture and used wash tape to stick them on.
That washi tape I found at Dirt Cheap was basically my best friend for the party decorations. I used it as cute little flag cupcake toppers and I wrapped it around the cups for extra detailin'. And how about those birch straws!! Love them. I bought a big box of them a while back to use for different things and I have loved having them. Is it weird that little things like cute straws make me happy??
These were little prints I designed for the party. I found this branch on the ground outside one day when I was playing with the boys. So I brought it in and used it for artwork, duh! My husband loves me. Bringing in all that dirty nature inside and stirring up all our allergies. Hahahaha ;)
I WANTED to cut down a tree and make our own wooden cake servers and stands. No lie. But that involved a lot. And I ran out of time because we hadn't even looked for the tree until the week before. Haha! So we bought this one at Bed Bath and Beyond for $10!! Easy and safe for Eli's cake smash.
Which looked like this. All the heart eyes!
He took his time, but he wasn't shy with grabbing that cake. I wish we got a picture of how much he ate. He went back to the high chair when I took him out to eat the cake that had fallen in the seat!
He loved opening presents but it was kind of a struggle to keep him in one spot! Because, you know, he's a little explorer ;)
I know he won't necessarily remember his first birthday. But we had so much fun, and he will be able to look back at pictures and see how loved he was/is. His one year of life is so worth celebrating all out, bear style ;) We are beyond thankful for our little Elijah Riley. We weren't expecting to have another kid so soon after Kyler, but we can't imagine life any other way and we would not want to try!!
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