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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Luke’s 1st Birthday: Invites and Tea Lights

I can hardly believe my baby is turning ONE in exactly seven weeks! 

2008 and 2009 950(Luke in the hospital.) 

It’s craziness!  I have been having a lot of fun as I start to slowly get things together for his party.  Usually I am a ‘big picture’ kind of person, not a detail-oriented one, but I really want his party to be special so I’m starting the planning early. 

I’m also trying to find a good balance between going over-the-top and not putting a lot into this.  A first birthday is the first chance you have to really celebrate your child – but on the other hand, they will have absolutely no memory of it!  So I’m trying to make it special without going crazy.

I should probably mention that I’ve set a budget for myself of $100 ($25 for decorations and $75 for food), so that is an extra challenge for me!  His theme is Jungle (that was the theme for his showers and his bedroom, so I figured I can drag it out one last time :).  Colors are bright, summery, and happy – yellow, blue, green, and orange – inspired by this fun ribbon I found for $1 each at Michael’s:

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For his invitations, I simply thought of a two-line invite, added a clip-art image of an elephant, and typed the rest of the info into a Word document.

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I had a whole bunch of cardstock already, so I just used different colors to print onto. I wish I had more white cardstock, but it is what it is! 

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Then I just hot-glued that ribbon to the top and bottom! 

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I found a cute birthday lion stamp at Michael’s (also for $1) that I stamped the back of each envelope with.  (I also found a four-pack of birthday-themed stamps w/ink at the Dollar Tree and I bought it since I didn’t have an ink pad already.)

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As for the candles:

A long time ago I saw on The Shabby Nest how she used baby food jars as tea light holders.  I loved that idea and I’m going to do the same thing.  I’ve just jazzed mine up with the same ribbon from Michael’s. 

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These will go down the center of the food table.  I love the pop of color they add! 

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I am having a lot of fun with this party! 

Total spent so far: $4 for ribbon and $2 for stamps/ink pad = $6. 

Anybody else have great kid party ideas – something that’s worked for you or you’ve seen online?  Has anybody else done a jungle theme? I would love to see/hear them and get more inspiration!  :)

Linked to:

Show Us What You’re Workin’ With @ Me and My Bucket
Make It Yours Day @ My Backyard Eden
Penny Pinching Party @ The Thrifty Home

6 comments:

  1. I love the invitations and the baby food jar candle holder. Everything looks so cute!!

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  2. Yay for 1st birthdays! I'm also trying to not go over board and it is SOOOO difficult. Love your color choices! This post really makes me want to jump on the birthday party planning bandwagon! I better get busy with just a month to go!

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  3. I didn't want to go over board either with Gage's first bday! If you want me too I would be honored to make your little guy a happy birthday banner and a matching banner for his high chair! Or I can tell you how I made mine! :) It's really easy and cheap too! Looking back I think I spent over $600 on my first son's bday! Insane! The first child is sooo spoiled! I love what you have made so far! I will keep my eye open for jungle themed bday stuff! I hope you don't mind if I send you links! I love planning bday stuff!

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  4. my son's 1st birthday is at the end of july and i was thinking of doing a jungle theme too! your baby food jar idea is soooo cute, i wish i had thought of that before i threw out all of my baby food jars!

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  5. OH my goodness how cute and so simple!

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  6. Great job!! All the little accents really add up to create an impressive party!

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