Birthday Party Ideas- It’s all about the Details

My son just turned 1 and we had a little party to celebrate.  I didn’t have a lot of time to plan or money to spend so I tried to focus on the details to make an impression.

Invitations were super easy and affordable!  I designed them on photoshop then saved it as a .jpeg and uploaded it to shutterfly as a photo.  They come super fast on photo paper and are very affordable- just like printing a 5x7 photo!  Then, I mounted each of them on blue cardstock (so imagine the black line above is blue). 

I found these letters at a store in McKinney but I’ve seen them other places.  They come in a box full of the whole alphabet and I tied them one a piece of matching ribbon.

Food!  For the food, I made cake balls and placed them on the end of skewers.  I filled the vases with sugar and candy to place the cake balls.  I used cardstock to wrap around the vases and used a monkey stamp to decorate the front.  It was super fast and easy but helped tie the theme together.  Let me re-phrase.  The vases were super fast and easy, the cake balls were not.  They need their own post… but not on a design blog… maybe a cooking blog.  Until I get that started head over to Bakerella and see the ones she makes.  Then you may never visit here again. 

This was super easy.  I created a label on photoshop and printed it on to sticky paper and wrapped each bottle.  It really didn’t take long but was a nice detail. 
 
More cardstock and monkey stamps.  I used the vases to hold the snack food and a scoop to get the food out.

This was one of my favorite parts.  I designed flags on photoshop, printed them on sticky paper, then folded them around toothpicks.  I cut them out as rectangles then cut the angles off the ends after they had been wrapped around the toothpicks.  It actually didn’t take as long as I thought it would!
Oh, I saved time by forcing delegating cupcake making to my sister.  I recommend you try that for every party.  You have to use your own sister though.
 
Photos are an easy (cheap) decoration but can have a big impact.  These photos are displayed on a photo holder by Umbra.  I like it because it holds a ton of photos (and because its a great centerpiece at home too!).

Since the food was nice but not amazing- I thought I would jazz it up with some fun drinks.  Then, around every drink I put a tag that is similar in design to everything else.  I mean- fancy drinks = fancy party.  Right? 
 
Chocolate dipped pretzels are another easy party snack with a big visual impact.  These were supported by candy and when the pretzels were gone the candy didn’t last long either. 
I hope I inspired you with a few ideas and if you have any questions about specifics just leave them in the comments or send me an email!

This week I’m linking up with:
Show and Share Day
Show Us What Your Working With Wednesday
Whatever Goes Wednesday
Show And Tell at Blue Cricket Design
Works For Me Wedndesday
Make It Yours Day
Get Your Craft On
DIY Project Parade
A Soft Place to Land
Made By You Mondays
It's So Very Creative
Motivate Me Monday
Made It Monday
Something I Whipped Up Monday
Craft School Sunday
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/
Stop by and check out all the crafty things everyone else is doing!