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If you know my sister-in-law and I, you know we live for planning events. Lately it seems we always have something to plan; a wedding, a vacation, a shower, or our first 1st birthday party. I started planning Holden’s first birthday party when he was only about two or three months old, which I know sounds ridiculous, but when you’re couch bound through marathon nursing sessions Pinterest browsing can get boring and I can only watch reruns of Friends so many times. I thought that a “Wild One” theme looked adorable because I grew up a fan of the book and often called people a “wild fing” as my way of a three year old insult, and know with the world of Pinterest there are thousands of cute ideas I can steal!

What makes the Where the Wild Things Are theme even better is that Holden is actually a wild one! He the most busy, active, on-the-go little guy around and the theme fits him to a T. And if it couldn’t get anymore perfect; his birthday is on October 30th, so he had a Max costume that he got to wear for his first Halloween. The cuteness this past week has almost been more than I could bear.

TO GNASH WITH YOUR TERRIBLE TEETH

First things first, I will go over the food. Because what is a party without food? Am I right? Holden has a “fall” birthday. In Texas that means it is about 80 degrees outside, humid as all get out and the trees look exactly like they did in May. I still wanted to have seasonal food that were easy to feed large groups of people, so I decided on hot dogs and chili. People had to option of putting chili on their hot dog, or making a fall favorite, Frito pie.

I also had a table set up for appetizers and a table for desserts. My appetizers consisted of pasta salad and a “moss” cheese ball with crackers made by my sister in law (recipe can be found here.) It was delicious and thankfully I still have some left over that I can eat today. I also had an apple tray with homemade caramel dip that my mom makes. I can’t have fall with out it, and am not allowed to share that recipe.

As far as desserts go, I had a cake obviously, as well as a s’mores bar, and some caramel popcorn curtesy of my mom also. I put the chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers on a there tiered stand similar to this one here. I also got a s’mores maker, so everyone could easily toast the s’mores without having any open flames. I ordered the tree stump serving boards from Amazon as well.

Our cake was made by Sweet Revenge Bake Shoppe and was not only stunning, but also delicious! I had been inspired by some other Where the Wild Things Are cakes I had seen on Pinterest, and decided to combine two together. I had one tier of feathers and one to look like a tree truck, with a fondant crown on top.

For drinks I thought that sherbert lime punch that I called “swamp water.” I got the recipe from wishesanddishes.com and loved how it turned out. The mini chalkboard food labels were ordered off Amazon and you can get them here.

I also had a crockpot full of homemade apple cider, which I did not know was so easy to make. It was delicious and I may make it again just because. The recipe I used was from Sallysbakingaddiction.com.

 

DECORATIONS

Now for decorations. I used my go-to places. Etsy and of course Hobby Lobby. I started buying things a few months ago to make sure that they were all delivered on time. I’ve linked each of the Etsy shops that I bought from, so you can check them out too.

The first thing I ordered was this banner from kaiandkrew. I used it for Holden’s cake smash pictures and to hang in our entryway over pictures from his first year. I added the personalized “Holden” for about $10. I love it so much, so I also used it for our cake smash photos too.

 

I printed out each of his monthly update photos and hung them in this frame from Hobby Lobby, which is exactly the kind of thing that proves his birthday party was more for me than for anyone else, but I just couldn’t help myself.

All of the streamers and balloons from my table backdrop were from Hobby Lobby too, which turned out nicely. I went on a shopping spree there and got my punch bowl for the swamp water, and some treats (bouncy balls) for the goodie bags there.

I filled the goodie bags with some Halloween candy, crazy straws, bouncy balls, and finger puppets. I also had some paper crowns that kids could wear while at the party. Finger puppets, paper crowns, and leaf garland came from Target. The Wild Rumpus gift bag tags came from the Esty shop HeathersPartySpot. They were adorable and perfect for minimalistic dollar tree gift bags.

As far as the signs go my husband painted them! The glory of having a artistic, art teaching husband is that his talents get me some etsyesque things without the price. All the paint and wooden canvases came from Hobby Lobby too, and I think they turned out really well! My sister-in-law was a major help in many ways when it came to this party. She sent out invitations from an etsy shop, CellabrativeDesign. She also printed out the large scenes from Where the Wild Things Are that my husband colored in with water colors.

Finally, I wanted to have the adorable cake eating set up. Complete with a banner for the high chair, a wild thing crown, and balloons. I think it all came together very well. My favorite part of the entire party was the crown from LittleBlueOlive! It was made with such good quality and couldn’t have been more precious. Unfortunately Holden refused to keep it one, but I did snag a picture. Balloons were from Party City. His high chair banner was ordered off of Etsy as well; from RutzerRibbonzandRagz, and the personalized bib came from ModernChicKids. In addition to a Max costume, I also got Holden a “wild one” birthday shirt, which he changed into after everyone got to see the costume. I’m glad we had an alternative because it wasn’t the coolest weather.

Hopefully you found some first birthday party inspiration, especially if you’d like to use the Where the Wild Things Are theme! I had a blast planning and executing my first birthday party to host, and it all went perfectly, except for when I accidentally threw away the #1 candle and had to dig it out of the trash. 😉

Happy planning!

-Alexa and Holden