Sock Monkey 1st Birthday Party

   We finally had Ethan's 1st Birthday party a couple of weeks ago. Everything looked great and Ethan had a fantastic time. It was absolutely perfect. Which means, the bazillion hours I spent crafting the past 3 months, paid off. I couldn't have been happier with the result. So without further ado, here is Ethan's Sock Monkey 1st Birthday party!

      When the guests arrived, they were greeted by this little guy hanging out in his radio flyer wagon with "ONE" spelled in cardboard letters from the craft store.  I also made a welcome sign for the front door. I started by making a template for the monkey head using card stock. Then, I cut out the pieces using foam. Finally, I printed the welcome page and layered it with different scrapbook papers in the sock monkey theme.  I used the template for both the welcome sign, and Ethan's birthday shirt.

      Ethan's shirt was by far the most meticulous and time consuming of all my projects. Using my template, I cut each piece out in felt. I used embroidery thread and sewed each piece on by hand. It took me a total of 6 hours to make the shirt from start to finish. But it wasn't as bad as it sounds, most of it was done lying in bed, watching TV. Here is Ethan in his birthday shirt. I think it was definitely worth the effort :)

     I made a birthday hat to go with his shirt. But, he wouldn't wear it for even a second. I'm kind of sad I couldn't get a picture of him in it because it is so cute. It was pretty simple to make, I just wrapped a paper party hat from the dollar store with felt and trimmed it with ribbon. Then I hot-glued a '1' onto the front and a red pom pom on top. I finished it with a little ribbon to tie around the neck.

   One of the most exciting things about Ethan's party was the time capsule. I found the idea on Pinterest and couldn't resist including it in Ethan's party. I had everyone write a note to Ethan, to be included in a time capsule, he will open on his 18th Birthday.  With each invitation, I sent a couple of note cards, along with an explanation of the time capsule, and a few ideas of things to include.  Ethan got a lot of sweet notes, and I am going to throw in a few things from the party, too.

    For the food, I really wanted to keep it simple and mainly focus on the centerpiece; the cupcake tower! I made two different types of cupcakes; Banana with Peanut Butter Icing and Oreo Crumb Cupcakes (you can find the recipes here.)I found some cupcake trees on the Internet, but I refused to pay $50 for a piece of cardboard. Instead, I bought some styrofoam boards from the dollar store and had Brian build a cupcake stand. I saved $45 by doing it this way! I got the cupcake wrappers and toppers from Etsy and printed them out from my computer. I bought Ethan's smash cake from the grocery store. I ordered an awesome fondant sock monkey to sit on top of the display, but sadly, it was delivered to the wrong address. At the last minute, I cut a '1' and a sock monkey out of paper and stuck them in the top of the cake with a wooden skewer. I was a little bummed because it didn't make the same statement (and it wasn't 3D) but I was the only one who knew and it still looked fantastic.

Aside from the cupcakes, I kept the food pretty simple. I served a nugget tray from Chick-fil-A, chips and dip, and fruit skewers with yogurt dip. My Dad made sausage balls, spiced pecans, and pimento cheese on celery.

         The last of my craft-apalooza included 2 banners. A 'Happy 1st Birthday' banner and a highchair banner that read 'I am 1'. They were made using scrapbook paper matching the sock monkey theme. 

          

       After presents, Ethan was ready for his birthday cake. He absolutely loved it and ate almost the entire thing. Although, he was nice enough to share a bite with Daddy! :)

       I hope you enjoyed Ethan's 1st birthday party as much as we did!

All printables from Cupcake Express

Inspired by See Vanessa Craft & The Macs

Craft supplies from Hobby Lobby