Saturday, May 2, 2009

Birthday Boy

So the original plan for Joseph's birthday party was a casual event in our backyard - invite some of our friends, some of Joseph's friends, get a cake and grill out. That is basically how it turned out - except with a few more decorations that originally intended, a much more elaborate and expensive cake than originally planned for and ...

These are the invitations and decorations for our monkey-themed party:


I also went a little over board with favors for all the kids. I had bought the little monkeys a few months ago and decided to do a monkey-related book as well, but couldn't figure out what to put them in. Then one day Joseph and I walked by Michael's and found these cute little pail and shovel sets for $1! I also had a creative moment and thought "Wow, I could paint each kid's name on the pails!". That night Rich came home at 10 pm from NYC only to find me with 10 pails, stencils, paint and paint brushes across the entire den getting all crafty. I think they turned out pretty cute though (I added a toy truck and bubbles to the monkey themed-gifts).

Joseph also got a monkey outfit for his party:

Joseph had a pretty rocking time at his party, despite the 9o degree weather. He played with his friends, ate some hot dog and really enjoyed the bubble machine.

By about halfway through the party, the kids (including Joseph) were losing it quickly and we hauled out the cake.

We weren't really sure what Joseph's response to his cake would be - he doesn't really eat too much table food, but he does like to make a mess with his food. He pretty much slammed his hands into the frosting, but once he got a taste of the icing, was done with his cake. He did enjoy chewing on the candle, though. Here is the video of everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to him. I think he was sort of confused as to why everyone was standing around, looking directly at him.

After he finished with cake, he got really upset that we made him continue to sit in his seat while we got pictures while his friends continued to run through the yard.

So that pretty much sums up Joseph's big 1st birthday party. Until next year...we are already brainstorming theme ideas.

2 comments:

mandie lane said...

I love the last picture...you described it well. "Mommmmmmm! Enough already!"

Looks like a fantastic party, I'm in awe of your super crafty bucket stenciling skillz. Nice work, Countess.

Erin said...

todd was like, "you know crystal better than i do. but i can't really imagine her stenciling stuff. she is really a mom."

and no, i can't really imagine you stenciling ... but on the other hand, i know you always do a great job with whatever you're working on. so if your project is a children's party, then no, i'm not all that surprised that you were stenciling party favors!