Baby Shower Event - Guest Post by The Knit Wit by Shair

I am so excited to be guest posting for Maryanne today, this is my first guest post spot, and it’s my baby’s first birthday today!
Maryanne asked if I could tell you all about my plans for my son’s first birthday party, and of course I said yes...but what she doesn’t know is I got huge eyes and a bit of panic attack at the topic. Why you might ask? Well it might help if you knew a little something about me.
This is my 3rd son 4 and under, and as of January 8th when she asked, I hadn’t even started thinking about party plans! My oldest son’s 1st birthday party was completely planned 6 months in advance, the 2nd ones 3 months in advance, and the 3rd one, well let’s just say I started thinking of ideas on January 27th LOL, poor 3rd baby! Anyways I did get the party planned, and here is what we decided on:
The theme was just 1st Birthday party. We thought it would be easy to keep simple, and also I could easily personalize the party for him. My 4 year old also wanted to make it a surprise party, which is fairly easy to do for a 1 year old! LOL

My mother found a piñata that you just pull the strings at the bottom and when you pick the right one the candy falls. Seeing as most of the kids are small, and it is going to be in my house, we thought this was a great option! Instead of the traditional loot bags, I got a few small items for the younger ones to put in the loot bags ahead of time, and then I am letting them fill the rest with the piñata candy. The picture is not the exact one we have, but pretty similar and a good example. I found the dollar store a great place to find candy for the piñata. I didn’t get it in the party section, but in the regular candy section! It was quite cheap for each bag of candy, and all name brands. Much less expensive then the party supply store.

I had previously made a Happy Birthday Banner for my oldest son’s 4th birthday, and we are using that as the focal point of the decorations, plus a set of mix of streamers and balloons. I always have blue streamers on hand, let’s face it in my house that is a good investment LOL, we will always need blue streamers. Plus I had left over balloons from previous parties, because I buy the huge bulk balloon bag. My oldest feels it isn’t a party without balloons and cake. So while I was at the dollar store I grabbed a 2 pack of Happy Birthday Streamers for $1.00 and that is the decorations done!



I decided that it would be really cool to do a special party favour that I made up myself, so I made molded crayons!  Check these out!  They are really easy to do by melting own old crayons and putting them into a candy or soap mold.

We went to our local party shop and bought party hats, and some plates and napkins with 1s on them.  My oldest son wanted a special party hat for the baby, so we got one that was extra special and had a little faux blue fur on it.

I love to sew, knit and make crafts with my boys, and they are getting to ages that they are loving making crafts and helping me, so I try to incorporate these things as much as possible. Plus with 1 income saving money where we can is always a good thing. I know I can buy a plastic bib with a 1 on it at my local party supply store, but I decided to make one myself. I did a quick swagbucks search, and found this tutorial: http://www.make-your-own-baby-stuff.com/baby-bib.html I added a one to the front to make it match my theme better.


I didn't do invites because whenever I do I don't see our families until after I already need the RSVP #s so I end up handing them out after and it seems silly. So I just did a facebook event and skipped them this time.  My husband assures me, boys don't care about these things. 

My friend started a digital business for making up cards and things you can print off on your own.  She designs them and then sends you the file to print.  She asked me if I wanted to do a review, so I asked her to do up thank you for attending the party cards.   This is instead of doing up invites, and everyone can still keep it as a momento with a cute pic of the birthday boy!

For the cake, hubby is very talented at making and designing things.  When I started doing a cake search on getting a cake made, or making one myself (I have no cake decorating talents at all, NONE), he said he would do something.  Well I keep asking him, and he keeps telling me he is going to wing it.  I mostly thing he is just saying that to torture his overplanning wife, because he is a great hubby but a little cruel like that.  I really really hope he is just teasing me and has a plan, or things could get ugly around here LOL



Well that's it!  The party is on Saturday, so you will have to stop by my blog to see how things all turned out, and what happened with the cake! Check it out HERE.

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Sounds like an awesome party, Shari! Happy Birthday to your son!
I really love that pinata idea with pulling strings. How cool is that for little ones plus much safer =D. Beautiful thank you cards. I can't wait to see what your husband does with the cake. Mine was supposed to help me with my son's, but didn't - I'm no cake decorator either!

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