My Boston’s Safari Adventure 1st Birthday!

Birthdays, especially first birthdays, are big deal in my home. My children are adopted. Often we have little control over the timing of when they will land in our overjoyed arms! The regular planning and showers that accompany a pregnancy – do not apply. With little Boston, we were matched mere days before his delivery! To counterbalance the lack of planning, I enjoy making my children’s first birthdays extra special. This year, we flew to Utah from Texas in order to celebrate with the whole family! Annie was kind enough to host the event in her beautiful backyard! Thanks, Annie!

We are thrilled and feel beyond blessed that God sent this little spirit miraculously to our home.

Here are a few of the details of Boston’s Safari Adventure Birthday!

First things first, here is the Birthday Boy.

A perfection confection. I can’t help but kiss him day and night!

Okay, one more photo of him and then back to the party…

Okay, Okay…one more with all my kiddos not looking at the camera. Nothing unusual here.

Now for the part you may or may not care about. Here is the party.

The invitations. With so many jungle and safari kid parties out there, I wanted the invitation to set a fresh Safari tone. I designed it as a vintage postcard complete with Safari Park Management Warnings and a place for the stamp! I thought it made it a fun first impression. You can find it at my shoppe here.

Here is the tablescape!

This little banner made out of burlap was was a cinch and costs pennies. We’ll definitely do a tutorial on it soon. Get your stapler ready!

We used plexiglass on top of apples to create an edible stand. We also placed wheatgrass behind each plate of food to create a grassland effect!

What’s a party without cupcakes? Here are the cupcake toppers I created to coordinate with the invitations. They will also be available at my shoppe soon.

For the adult guests, I ordered large sandwhiches from a local deli.

Annie and I wrapped them in wax paper, cheetah-print tissue, and twine.

One of the most tedious moments at a big affair for a parent with small children (in my humble opinion) is dishing up all the little kiddo plates. I wanted my adult guests to enjoy the party and not have to worry about whether their child wanted potato chips or cheetoes. Lunch sacks were the perfect solution. I filled each lunch sack with peanut butter sandwhiches, carrot sticks, grapes, 1/2 banana, and mini whole milk and water bottles. This kept the kids happy and the parents free to enjoy the party! I placed a humorous Park Management Warning label on each sack – more for my enjoyment than the children’s.

Here my husband is apparently offering his mom a kid’s lunch sack.

Waterbottle labels that coordinated with the invitations were simple and chic. Print and stick! I always use Great Value (Walmart brand) water bottles for parties as their labels tend to come off easily.

Here are the favor bags. Tucked inside each animal print bag was a cellophane bag filled with animal crackers. It was inexpensive and something I knew families with little ones would definitely use! You go through a lot of animal crackers with toddlers!

To save time and effort, I made a bag for each family invited in lieu of each guest. This kept it easy for parents …and me!

Before I had kids and often traveled for work to Europe, I would live on Kinder’s Happy Hippos during late night work sessions. I {heart} them.

Naturally, I orderd fifty of each flavor for Boston’s Safari Party. It was the perfect excuse.

Happy Hippos are so cute, they deserve two photos! We lined them up on a blue plate. You can find Kinder’s Happy Hippos here or here.

Annie and her husband John cut out large sillhouettes of safari animals for the event. To keep it simple and easy, we painted them solid bright colors and placed them around the yard. They were a huge hit! The kids loved “going on a safari” to find them! Here are a few of the animals:

We also did a fun sign with arrows pointing towards the “Grasslands,” “Safari Lodge”, etc.

To keep the men folk out of the food while we were preparing (the cupcakes were a problematic temptation), Annie and I had them set up a “safari” tent for the kids to enjoy and escape the heat!