One in a Flash Birthday Party

We recently hosted Griffin's first birthday celebration.  I was so excited to plan his party and went with the theme 'one in a flash.'  I chose this theme because I am a crazy picture taker, my kid is full of smiles, and I wanted to have a fun photo booth for party guests.  Here are the highlights of the party and how I did it on a budget.....

Invitation -- from Photo Affections....got them 50% off with a special they were running.

Our dining room consisted of the food and main decorations.  The color scheme was primary colors.  I made a balloon wreath using coupons for Hobby Lobby (1/2 price ribbon) and Michaels (foam wreath and floral pins).  The balloons I bought from Party City.  I saved the leftovers to be inflated with helium on the party day.  The picture in the middle I printed on my computer and laminated.  The party hat that's on Griffin's head was obtained through a clip art search.

I posted month to month photos on either side of the wreath.  I found two packs of birthday die-cuts at the Dollar Store to use for the pictures (5x7's printed at Walmart 1 hour photo).

We have a great group of friends!  Throughout the year, we've had several gatherings for our kids.  I created a poster with pictures of Griffin and his friends to hang in the dining room.

Everybody loves good food!  Since the party was from 2-4:00, I served finger foods and treats.  Finger foods consisted of two fruit and cheese platters, veggies and hummus tray, veggies and spinach artichoke dip, Tostitos scoops, and pita chips.  The treats were as follows:

 Cupcakes from The Cupcake People in Lawrenceville, GA.  I bought 3 dozen in Birthday, Oreo, and Turtle Flavors.  I had purchased cupcake holders at Walmart in the clearance section after Valentine's Day for $3 a piece.  I made the cupcake toppers by printing pictures of Griffin, clip art number 1, and clip art party hat from the wreath above.

 Camera cookies were made using sugar cookie dough, cookie icing, and oreo cookies.  I purchased a set of 3 rectangular cookie cutters on Amazon.com for $6.

 My mom made G-shaped cookies using a recipe that my Italian grandmother and her aunt made up years ago.  Typically, the cookies are made into an S-shape.  My grandmother used to make L and P-shaped ones for my brother when we were younger.  These cookies are good to have with coffee...secret ingredient - cognac.

I printed labels for each food item and put them on primary colored cardstock purchased from Target.

To go along with the theme, I had a craft table where the kids and their parents could decorate a foam picture frame to take home with them.  Each child had a ziploc bag with his/her name on it. Inside the bag, I placed the frame and ten birthday themed stickers.

I put the craft table in front of our fireplace to prevent any adventurers from climbing up!  The mantle was simple decorated with streamers from the dollar store and some of Griffin's cards he'd received in the mail.

Next, I had the photo booth set up in our sun room.  I hired Tammy from Lasting Moments by Tammy Photography.  I purchased a backdrop from LemonDrop Stop for $70, and Tammy loved the backdrop so she kept it and subtracted it from her fee.  I purchased funny props from the Dollar Store.  I am really glad that we had the photo booth.  The kids could be silly, and what parent doesn't love having professional photos taken of his/her child?!  I plan to use the photos as enclosure in thank you notes. I haven't posted the individual child photos for privacy reasons, but you can get the idea from our photos below :).

We also had some outdoor activity options....I filled our Munchin inflatable duck tub with bubbles and purchased a variety of bubble blowers. Two of our older guests (ages 2 and 3) had a ball with this activity and were soon soaked in bubble solution! I purchased a bubble machine for Target for about $15 and put it on our deck.  The kids loved watching the magical bubbles and many tried to pop them.  I put several beach balls on our lawn and the kids also enjoyed this activity.

Smash cake time!  Instead of ordering a cake, I made a carrot cake for Griffin from a recipe I adapted in one of his baby food cookbooks.  I bought a Wilton 6-inch pan from Michaels using a 50% coupon (approx. $3) and I also bought a pan from the Williams Sonoma Outlet that had 6 4-inch cake pan slots (approx. $12).  I made a bottom layer with the six inch, a middle layer with the 4-inch, and I used my 'one' cookie cutter to make a number one for the top.  I frosted with homemade cream cheese icing - a recipe I got from allrecipes.com and decorated with the cookie icing I had purchased for the 'one' cookies.  Griffin enjoyed his cake!

This adorable felt birthday hat was a random find at Tuesday Morning for a whopping $4.99!!

I'd say this party was a success!  Our family had a great time, and I think our guests did too!  The best part was seeing this happy birthday boy!