Airplane Birthday Party

I have been planning the MIL's retirement party and looking online at lots of parties. This makes me so excited to plan John's 2nd birthday party. And yes, his birthday is in December, but I am already thinking of a theme and saving ideas! :)

So, I wanted to reminisce a little on his 1st birthday party. Here is how it went...(some of this is reposted from my family blog!).

Birthday Prep!

**John's Party Invitation**
I got the idea from a similar one I saw somone's blog (sorry but I can't remember where I found it!!!). I spent about an hour or so creating it on the computer and just printed it out and mailed it. Very cheap! I got lots of compliments on it and it really helped to set the theme for the party.

**Month by Month**
For part of the decorations, I had thought of making a long banner with pictures of all of John's 'firsts'. Yes I was going to totally copy Kinsey's idea! :) But I figured that would take forever considering I took pictures of EVERY first. I mean, do people really want to see a picture of the first time John had juice? So I modified and made a decorated page of a favorite picture from each month. Then I 'helped' Brad hang them up in a grid on the wall in the kitchen. It actually turned out pretty nicely! I used the tons of scrapbook stuff I already had as well as a gift card that I had to Michael's. So this turned out to be about a $40 project, but I had TONS of stickers left over from what I bought at Michael's so I could have done this for much cheaper. {Notice in the pictures that my table of food isn't set up yet, so ignore that!}





**Mantel Decor**
I joked with Brad that my biggest problem was I didn't know where to put all the decorations that I was making! So a banner and paper airplane 'burst' adorned the mantel, along with a book and toys that my mom got John. Brad so kindly let me use one of his model airplanes as well. The airplane 'burst' was the most frustrating thing to make! I found the idea online but mine kept looking like crap. I finally made different sized planes and that seemed to make it look nicer. I am still not in love with it, but I think it is a cool little twist to the decorations!






**Party Favors**
I really wanted to make cute little favor bags that looked like suitcases. However, I am not that artsy so I just made a luggage tag for each guest and attached that to the paper bag. Each kid will get a pilot rubber ducky, a personalized sippy cup, and a little baggie of puffs and raisens. I set them up in our suitcase, even though I would have loved to have used an old bright blue hard-sided suitcase! I am too cheap to buy one from the thrift store though. :)





I also made little employee ID badges for each kid. It was super easy to make and it has John's birthdate for all the employee numbers. Thanks to my dad, Brad and I have been proud owners of a wing tip, but up until now I have banned that ugly thing to the backyard. However, it was perfect for our party! So, I put it on the dining room table so people could see it as soon as they walked in the door. I attached ribbon to it and hung the badges across it for the kids to get when they arrive and can wear them. Probably a little cheesy, but still cute. I figure that we can also put the presents on this table so they are out of the way!






Party Time!

I had two parties for John- one for the mom's group and one for the family. Although it was more work, there was no way we could fit everyone in the house at one time so we had to split it into two different days. Not sure if I will do that again this year though. :)

John's birthday was a very long but special day. We started out the day with some presents and then when I happened to look out the window, it was SNOWING! What a great first birthday present for John! After breakfast (egg-free!) at IHOP and a check-up with the doctor (John is doing great!!), we had a party for the mom's group. This was a blast! We had a total of 13 babies and 16 adults at the party which made for a crowded living room! I don't think the babies minded one bit.


birthday morning!

snowing in Texas!

yummy IHOP breakfast!

Miss B on the plane

Birthday boy on the plane!

cupcakes with cupcake toppers that matched the invitations

singing happy birthday to John John

Saturday's family party was so fun too! We had lots of yummy food, had an airplane-making contest (Grandma's was the funniest...especially when Dad said there was no way it was going to fly), and great cake. John LOVED his egg-free cake, although he mostly ate the icing. John had tons of gifts- he is so spoiled by his family! Between the two parties, we had toys sitting in their boxes for a couple weeks. It was so tempting to rewrap them and put them under the Christmas tree!

handmade birthday crown...that John wanted no part of!

the fam with their airplanes for the contest...Uncle Ty Ty won!

loved the cake!

Seriously, how is it possible that John turned one 6 months ago??!?!?!

I am sharing at