I truly can’t believe this guy’s first birthday has already came and went! I wanted to share some of the fun DIY’s I made for his party with family and a few close friends that we hosted in our back yard last month. I didn’t really start out with a theme or wanting one even. I was just thinking naturey / using his botanical bedroom as inspiration as I’ve done for most of his stationery this past year. I started adding some bugs and wanted a fun tagline of sorts so “one cute critter” came to be, ultimately inspiring my bug theme. There are not many bug themed party items out there so I made almost everything and opted for soft greens with hints of baby blue and gold.
I loved how his invitations turned out and they are certainly something I will be putting in his keepsake box.
Scroll on down for the rest of my DIY’s and sources.
I ordered a balloon arch kit from Amazon. This was the first time my husband and I had attempted one and it was a bit of a beast. I didn’t up up using all of the balloons but I think it turned out cute for our first try! My husband cut this piece of plywood into an arch and we painted it with Behr “cooper patina”. I am excited to repurpose this for my local markets and I’ve already loaned it to a friend for another birthday party. So I think this is going to come in handy in the future. Well worth the effort here!
The beautiful cake and his smash cake were made by @sweetsbakehouse, a local bakery in Bradenton. I sent them the invitations I designed to use as inspiration along with just telling them I wanted nature / leafs / bugs. Nailed it. I hand painted the topper on thick watercolor paper, cut around the design and just taped it to two long toothpicks.
I saw a lot of these types of boards around Pinterest and decided it would be cute for everyone to read plus a photo opt! I got the board from Hobby Lobby for $16 and put my spin on it. The peacock chair I actually found on the side of the road. Cleaned it up and spray painted it with Rustoleum French Blue.
I designed the napkins and had them printed at Stationery Studio.
A few more paper items I designed. The scavenger hunt around the back yard was so cute!
I bought a pair of plain white vans and painted little bugs on them with acrylic paint to match the invitations. These were a big hit! I probably need to find a spray or sealer for them but he has continued to wear them and they’ve held up so far.
Okay so these were just silly and I probably spent too much time cutting them out but I could not resist! I printed several photos at Walgreens (very inexpensive), painted the party hats, cut everything out and just used good old scotch tape and a glue stick to put them together.
I thrifted all the blue and green vases I could find about a month before hand. I ordered an assortment of dried florals for the table arrangements (also liked this option so I can use them again) and gold bugs all from Amazon. I used a hot glue gun to stick the bugs on the vases. Hot glue doesn’t leave a mark so this was perfect to be able to repurpose the vases as well.
My friend Ashten of @bolotiebaker made the most perfect cookies ever!
I did hand lettering and photoshopped it onto his photos each month this past year. I printed them at Walgreens and clipped them up to this wicker screen I thrifted a while back.
We went with a few grazing boards for snacking. I hand painted labels on thick watercolor paper, cut them out and taped them to long toothpicks.
We had so much fun celebrating our little man last month!
xoxo
(His shorts are from Target & shirt from Janie & Jack)