Behind the Scenes of the Big Little Man Party

The preparations and decorations were so much fun themselves, I think they warrant their own blog post for those who are interested in this sort of thing.  Plus,  I didn't want to over shadow the joy of celebrating Weston's birthday with all the details of the decorations.  We got the inspiration for the party theme from our friend Kim who saw the idea here on the HWTM blog before Weston was even born ;)

 

DRESSING THE PART

I found Weston's adorable tie T-shirt here on Etsy. I mean, seriously, is he cute or what?  He thinks so ;)  Tim and I had to get in on the action too with Tim sporting his own tie over his T-shirt and an argyle sweater for me. I wanted these Trumpette argyle socks for Weston, but we just couldn't justify the $$ for socks that most people would never even see. It is so easy to go overboard. But aren't they just adorable?!?!

DECOR & MORE 

I made a pennant birthday banner out of some beautiful paper given to me by my lovely friend Ofelia at one of my baby showers and hand-wrote the letters with a Sharpie on scrap card stock I had.  I used the scraps to make some bow-ties to hang from the ceiling with fishing line over our bar.  It was crazy how perfectly the paper worked out … there were 19 pieces of paper … the exact number in Happy Birthday Weston … and after making the bowties, I threw away only teensy scraps.  Talk about resourceful!  That was my goal for decorating … I think I only bought the paper plates, napkins, cups and party hats … the rest we just used stuff we already had. We pulled out Tim's ties the morning of the party and put my sister Kendall to work hanging them all over the house … over the curtains, on the plate rack, even the wreath on the front door.  The night before the party, both grandmas helped pull together our picture displays using pictures of W throughout his first year and attaching them to wooden kabob skewers and standing them up in styrofoam blocks covered in a paper tablecloth from IKEA.  And the picture in the bottom right corner is of the little birthday music box that was Tim's growing up … so special!  We also had a slideshow of pictures from Weston's first year playing on our TV throughout the party.

SWEET 'STACHE

One of my favorite parts of the decor were the cupcake toppers!  I found a mustache template online, shrunk it down and then cut out different shaped mustaches from black, brown and gray paper and attached them to toothpicks!  They were such fun!  We used decorations that we already have from around the house for the cupcake display … the silver W is normally in his room and the K in our living room.  The Weston Scott sign is from Danielson Designs and is the reason I fell in love with them and am now selling products for their new company, Rendi.  

I also made the cupcakes from scratch, for the first time.  Note to self … don't make things from scratch for the first time for a big event.  They were alright, I guess, but I seriously overcooked them (kept waiting for the tops to brown like boxed cupcakes … and they didn't) so while they tasted fine, they were the consistency of cornbread.  Sorry everyone!  But the food was delicious!  We had beef tacos that my sister Michelle made for us for the first time on Thanksgiving '09 when Weston was just a day old and we packed our hospital room with friends and family to watch the Aggies play t.u.  I honestly don't remember who even won, but that memory is a winner in my book for sure!  I thought they were the perfect meal of choice to celebrate the special day!  And easy enough to eat without a table and utensils.  There was also a baby snack bar with cut up strawberries, cheese, peas, corn, turkey and cheerios.

INVITATIONS

Believe it or not, I didn't make the invitations for Weston's birthday.  I LOVE MAKING INVITATIONS!  But, it took us forever to figure out how to make it all work with Thanksgiving and such that we just ran out of time.  BUT … I found a new website that I am absolutely in love with … www.pingg.com … not only is it FREE, but the designs are SO beautiful!  And you can send reminders and thank yous. It's like evite, but I love pingg WAY more.

I chose this argyle design that featured this adorable picture taken of Weston (at 9 months in August) by the ever talented Sarah of Fish Lips Photography.

Who could say no to this face?