I can’t even believe that Hudson is so close to turning 1 year old! Time seriously flies. I honestly don’t miss the tiny baby stage– this stage is so much more fun. He plays games with me and laughs all the time. He is playing his own version of “boo” where he buries his head in the sofa and pops it back up. I think he thinks that because he can’t see me that I can’t see him and it must surprise me when he pops back up. So cute. I would like to take this time and just freeze it.
But little boys have to grow up. And I get to plan a party. We’re celebrating Hudson’s first year of life, but we’re also celebrating our first year as parents. We’ve all had quite the eventful year and we’re ready to party.
Because we don’t have many (or any) friends our age with kids, we’ll be inviting all of our friends that don’t have kids. Hudson’s Little Gym friends and their parents are invited and we’re also going to invite a lot of our friends that have older kids. We’re asking that no one bring a gift– this isn’t about gifts. We were spoiled by our friends and family enough when Hudson was born. Todd and I will give him a few big things from us and I’m sure his grandparents will spoil him even more, but we don’t want our friends to bring gifts. This is just a celebration!
But I love to throw a party, so I’m going to let you in on my preliminary plans. I’m planning it around an inspiration board that I did for a baby shower that I never planned, so it will have a lot of the same aspects except it’s for a birthday party and not a baby shower.
The baby shower board was based on Green Eggs and Ham. I think orange and green are a great color combination.
This was the original board that I created back in 2008:
This is the new board based on my plans for Hudson’s first birthday party– and still following the fun green and orange, Green Eggs and Ham theme:
thanks to Nina for helping me modify the board since I no longer have Photoshop
I have lots of fun plans for the party–most of them revolve around fun food, but I’ll be revealing more and more as the planning progresses. I don’t want to give too much away before our guests get to experience it.
Any good, helpful first birthday party tips? I already have a few bloggers and Etsy sellers helping me with invitations and decorations, but I’m looking for tips on activities. I’m thinking of having a giant ball pit. Any experience with that?
LOVE it! The color combination is great and perfect for a little boy! I can’t wait to see how everything comes together. Did you ever find the perfect outfit?
Too cute, Erin! I love it, and can’t wait to see how everything turns out!
I love the theme! Of course, we have a Dr. Seuss nursery, so I’m a little partial, but nonetheless!
You obviously have things well in hand. Love that you’re looking at serving orange and green veggies as well as sweets. Always nice to see a like-minded mommy!
LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! some of my girlfriends had mention doing me a shower with this theme a while back! Maybe one day 🙂 Can’t wait to see your party!!!!
thanks for the shout out, it was my pleasure to help! this is going to be a perfectly over-the-top 1st birthday!
So adorable!!
this is adorable!!!!
and
i love the color scheme :o)
Hudson will have a GREAT time!!!
I recently went to a first birthday party that was very unorganized, and although the little girl was sooooo sweet and thrilled to have attention and cake (!!) We ended up not staying long after she did the “get messy eating cake” bit. So without having any real constructive feedback, I would say that something for the adults is nice change of pace for a first birthday party. But your party looks adorable and I am sure it will be blast!
I just had our daughter’s first birthday party and as crazy as it sounds, we rented a bounce house. The kids LOVED it!
So cute! I think it will be so much fun! I am glad that y’all are requesting no gifts- that was part of my issue with the 50+ one I went to- we all brought gifts. Then recieved a pre-printed postcard thanking me for my gift “from” the one-year old. I was not expecting a thank you, so it was fine. . .but maybe just a picture of her would have been better?
I’ve been putting away birthday party ideas, since before getting pregnant. I’m going to have the best time planning Amelia’s! This is going to be such a cute, fun party! I LOVE color – your choice of green & orange look so good together. Hudson is a blessed boy to have you as a Mother.
Hey Erin! I helped one of my best friends plan her twins’ first birthday party a few months ago, and she printed out photos of the twins throughout their first year and backed them on different colors of cardstock that fit with the theme of the party. Then, we hung them all around where the guests would be so they could see them and remember their first year. Everyone really liked that! Also, they asked everyone to bring a gift to donate to the Ronald McDonald House instead of a gift for the twins– it was a great way to give back to a local organization. And like another comment said, the party was more about the adults since there weren’t many kids there. We had a really great time. Can’t wait to hear more about your plans for Hudson’s party!
Check out this post, she recently threw her little one a Dr. Suess 1rst Bday. She is great inspiration and great to work with!
http://www.amberhousley.com/2010/04/dr-seuss-first-birthday-invitation.html
Wow! I love it all and those colors look so good together! I can’t wait to see it all put together for the party! It is going to be an amazing celebration!
So exciting! I love that you are celebrating both Hudson and you two as parents! What an amazing thing parents are, right? And how amazing are babies! You deserve to celebrate and what a fabulous inspiration board to plan off of!
oh I love the board even more!! it’s going to be perfect and everyone is going to have so much fun celebrating Huddy’s sweet little life and you’re right your first year as wonderful parents!!
Love it! The baby shower I threw for Anne and baby Mac had this color scheme (or, more specifically, the colors were “mint” and “sherbet”). ” 🙂 I even used the image of the mini ice-cream sandwiches for inspiration — if I remember correctly, it was originally published in InStyle magazine back when they did a “party plan” and menu at the end of each issue! I miss that feature.
I decided the other weekend for my husbands 35th birthday to bring out some silly party games. One that we did invovled tieing a ballon to a piece of string and then said string around the participants ankle. At the start everyone had balloons tied to their legs. On ‘GO’ the goal was to pop other people’s balloons without yours getting popped. If yours got popped you were out. It sounds somewhat lame – but let me tell you – we laughed and laughed. (We had a couple kids and did make a rule that an adult could not pop a kids balloon – but they could pop adults. So we ended up with one adult winner and one kid winner) It was a BIG hit. You could easily blend this into your party by having only green/orange balloons and string etc.
Um, I kind of love the ball pit idea. I wish I could still play in ball pits!
And, perhaps I’m an easy sell (or an alcoholic) but all it takes for me to be entertained “as an adult” is a beer or glass of wine… A glass of pinot grigio, some orange sorbet, and an adorable kid smashing birthday cake? I’d be a happy gal!
Although I do really like the photo idea Melissa had – that would make the less social folks like my husband happy!
Love this idea! Such sweet little boy but whimsical! I don’t have any 1st party tips (no kiddos yet), but know that he’s gonna appreciate it, even if he’s just 1. My mom was a HUGE party planning mom when I was little and I always had a blast. Remember Penny Whistle Party Planning Books?? Ha!
Good luck!!
Such a sweet theme! I actually just made Dr. Seuss cookies for a baby shower for twin boys, aka Thing 1 and Thing 2. I really love the atypical color combo – there are so many fun things you could do with it. This blog post also has some great ideas for whimsical decor: http://stemparties.blogspot.com/2009/03/inspiration-thing-one-and-thing-two.html
Good luck! Can’t wait to see pictures!
Perfection!
I love the colors for Hudson’s birthday. I too am in the process of planning a fun first birthday party for my son Ryan who will be 1 on June 15. I am doing a color theme of blue, green and brown. I LOVE the candy buffet idea. What Etsy shop are you using for invitations? Can’t wait to see how it all turns out!
So cute! It will be great and yes, the no gifts idea is a great idea. We’re doing that for all of Lallie’s parties becuase it is not about gifts (and frankly, once everyone starts having kids and you’re invited to 4 or 5 month, it gets expensive and causes me want to politely decline). Just remember, this is about you as a family and about Hudson and you won’t be disappointed! And the peek a boo thing…it doesn’t stop. My 2.5 year old still plays it with us and it’s so fun! 🙂 Cheers!
Love, love, love it!
I recently happened upon a blog and she planned her little one’s first birthday with the Green Eggs & Ham theme, the cake is absolute madness (wait until you see it!) -here is her link:
http://andeverythingsweet.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-babys-first-birthday.html
What a fabulous theme!
Just thought I’d share an idea I did for my little one’s 1st b-day (I read it in a book or internet somewhere. I got the Dr. Seuss book Happy Birthday to You and had the guest to sign and leave a little b-day message for Walker. I love the keepsake that we can read every year for his b-day.
This is such an adorable idea! Green Eggs and Ham and Dr. Seuss in general is such an awesome staple of childhood. I wouldn’t have thought that the orange and green would work, but it looks amazing! Great job!
So cute! Can’t wait to see pics of the party! The Green Eggs and Ham is such an adorable idea, I just love Dr. Seuss.
Hey Erin!
Orange and green go so well together and it’s a fun colour scheme for a 1st birthday party! You’ve probably already seen this (cuz you seen so on top of everything party-planning related!) but it is a 2 part baby shower with green and orange that could be adapted for a birthday party:
http://www.hostessblog.com/2010/04/real-parties-contemporary-urban-baby-shower-part-1-drinks-decor/#more-11705
http://www.hostessblog.com/2010/04/real-parties-contemporary-urban-baby-shower-part-2-menu-sweets/
Have fun with the planning!
I am jealous! I wonder if I can find someone near me (in Louisiana) who will help me plan Sugar’s 1st birthday party? What do you think? I’m so not good at all of this but I want to have an awesome party for her.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
You are seriously so talented! I’m loving the color scheme…a little non-traditional but still totally little-boy-turns-one-and-we’re-not-doing-light-blue-with-puppy-dogs.
And, way to go with the walking, Hudson!
I love the orange and green. The inspiration board looks great!
Dr. Seuss is so much fun! We did a Cat In The Hat theme for my son’s first birthday party. My mom made a miniature version of the hat as the smash cake.
This is a great theme! & the board is such a cute idea.. I’m also planning a first birthday party, with ladybugs and flowers. Good luck can’t wait to see the result!!
I absolutely love the colors and theme, I can tell already that it will come together perfectly for a fantastic party! I can’t wait to see the final product!
I love Dr. Seuss! And orange is one of my favorite colors! My sister threw me a beautiful Dr. Seuss themed baby shower. She did an awesome job. I don’t have any suggestions for a first birthday party yet since my little guy is only 3 months but I’m sure the party will be wonderful! If you want to see pictures of the shower, here is my sister’s blog.
http://mylife-theadventure.blogspot.com/2009/01/dr-seuss-baby-shower.html
I just looked at the link Brooke posted for the Thing 1 and Thing 2 baby shower. My sister loves blogs and it looks like she may have found Madeline’s post about the shower and used some of her ideas. I still think my sister did an amazing job on my shower, but wanted to give Kudos to Madeline for the great inspiration! They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. 🙂
I love to plan and throw parties; can’t wait to see it!
I love a lot of the ideas!! Like signing the dr Seuss book!! I’m getting great ideas from this post! I so wish we lived closer because cate and I would be there n a new York minute!! I’m lucky to have you as a friend because I can get good ideas from you for cates first birthday!! I love how you said, it’s also a celebration for you and tc!! Ry and I feel the same way!! I know you will make precious huddys bday wonderful!! Love ya
Looks like so much fun! What a great theme. One of my daughters is headed to your neck of the woods tomorrow for the Taylor Swift concert:0
Wow – I love this theme! How fun! I used to work at an online party supplier called Birthday in a Box and even though I don’t work there anymore, I still LOVE their stuff. They have a lot of first birthday party supplies and cute random things that might work for you. Just thought I’d pass it along!
Oh my goodness what a cute party idea! 🙂 So creative and fun and just adorable!
My suggestion is just to have good food. Cause that’s all you really need for a great party right? 🙂
You are really great at this! Can you tell me where the “bucket” lemonade dispenser is from?
I love the Green Eggs and Ham theme. So creative! And the colors look so fun and springy!
You are so creative! I love the ideas your planning for Hudson’s first birthday — and I love the inspiration boards that you created. Emery’s first birthday will be in August, but I am already trying to brainstorm some ideas for it (although I am not as creative as you!). Like you, I don’t want gifts — just want to have friends and family there to celebrate a wonderful 1st year!
I love it and I love the colors. I can’t wait to see how everything turns out. Hudson is one lucky and blessed boy!
We went to a block party a week or so ago at Shandon Methodist. They had this great “Toddler Town” that was awesome. It was a bunch of appliance boxes and each one was cut out differently (doors, windows, flaps, etc.) and decorated with bright flowers. It was so cute and would be so easy for you to do with your creativity! They also had some whirligigs (windmills?) decorating the area. The kids loved it. They were popping out of the windows running around from house to house. Great for smaller children. Bounce houses are always a big hit too. And Bubbles.
For your theme…Orange krush orSunkist bottles/ 7up/gingerale in a big galvanized tub. A little less expensive than the designer drinks.
Oh and I know it is messy, but bigger kids love Cheetos or Cheese puffs. Love em.
Moment of truth? I was hoarding this adorable theme for Carson’s 3rd birthday party. He’s in love with the book and we read it over, and over, and over. It’s the first book I ever read myself– and the copy he reads every night belonged to my husband as a child… so we were thinking it was a perfect fit! As you know, I’m madly in love with all things orange– his party will be fantastic.
http://andeverythingsweet.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-babys-first-birthday.html
check out the link above for a cute 1st birthday, green eggs and ham party…there are a few dr.seuss parties out there if you just party blog hop! you could also try flikr.
happy planning!
This is so fun! I can’t wait to see it all come together!
You probably already thought of this, but it just popped in my head today and I wanted to tell you – vases full of oranges and limes and pitchers of water with slices of oranges and limes floating in them. Candied slices for eating too!
LOVE the color palette!