Kids Parties: A Little Golden Book themed First Birthday

PARTY #1
Recently, we celebrated Master M's first birthday - in fact, I have been planning this Little Golden Book themed party since he was about 5 months old after being inspired by Vanessa over at Tried and True Blog who created this gorgeous Little Golden Book Baby Shower and also Dylan's Little Golden Book Birthday by Nashville Moms. I collected so many Little Golden Books from op-shops, friends and family, to use as decorations and to start a collection for Master M to read. I scrolled through Pinterest and Google images to get more ideas and there were plenty to choose from. After months of planning, it was finally time to put everything together and I am really happy with the way it turned out! Master M had a great first birthday with his friends and family and now I get to share it with YOU...Enjoy!

THE INVITATIONS
I would have designed my own invitation however I found this gorgeous one on Etsy via WonderAndWishes (click on the name to see more invitation designs). I couldn't resist and had to purchase it. I was very impressed how quick and easy it was to order from Etsy (first timer). The printable digital (.jpeg) file was emailed to me within 24 hours, I saved it on my usb and had the invitations printed on 6x4 photo paper at The Warehouse Stationery. The invitations looked amazing and I absolutely love them. 
SAMPLE ONLY via WonderandWishes
Sending out the birthday invitations... I added two strips of golden washi tape on the side of the envelope to set the theme...and wrote names & addresses using gold pen. It was a nice surprise for our friends who received 'happy mail' in their letterboxes. And it suited the vintage (old school) theme I was going for. 

THE DECORATIONS
Table display
As I have mentioned before I collected Little Golden Books from op-shops, friends and family for over 6 months prior to Master M's first birthday. Pinterest is such a wonderful tool when planning and organising parties (of any kind) - and that is where most of my ideas came from. I love the old school, vintage feel that the Little Golden Book gives! 
I found this gorgeous white frame from The Warehouse on special for $5 - it was perfect for the invitation (I did the same for Miss B's party invitation too). I bought a wooden M & some mod podge from my friend Tracy at The Scrapheap and decoupaged images from a spare copy I had of The Poky Little Puppy. Add a copy of the book and the mantel piece looked complete. 

"Everything I need to Know I Learned from a Little Golden Book" book was perfect to use as a keepsake for Master M's birthday. I got everyone that attended his party parties to write a little message for the birthday boy. This is something he (I) will treasure forever. 

Wooden blocks - I spelt out Master M's name using these blocks too 
Books galore - I managed to get a nice collection of Little Golden Books for Master M
I made my own bunting using pages from the Golden Books and hung them diagonally across the lounge. I also made yellow & white tissue poms-poms. Simple, yet effective DIY decorations to suit any theme.

This was my favourite decoration: Each month I took a photo of Master M with his giraffe friend, "Raffe". He wore a white onesie and I used Monthly Stickers, that I got from a friend, to capture his first year. I printed them out on 5x7 and stuck them on to the inside cover of the Little Golden Books. They look really cool and it's a great way to showcase how much our baby has grown in his first year.

Milestone bunting
Bunting: View from the kitchen
All ready for our guests to arrive...Play Area...
I put a vintage (woolen) blanket in the middle of the lounge for our toddler friends to play on and Mums to sit around. I had a treasure basket,  DIY Drum and shape sorters for the kids to play with on the blanket, plus there was the ball pit, a range of toys with 'wheels' and other toys to keep them entertained. (no games - just play)


BIRTHDAY OUTFIT
 This was a last minute decision and I absolutely LOVE it! I didn't know what Master M was going to wear to his parties, so I grabbed a white onesie and some Sharpies and created this Little Golden Book '#1' outfit for him! Super cute!

PARTY FAVOURS
I wasn't planning on doing party favours, but these windmills are super cute and a perfect little keepsake to give to your guests. I only spent $5 for the doweling (bundle of 4x1.2m), the rest of equipment I already had e.g. the pages from Golden Books, and pins (tacks).

Anneliese from Aesthetic Nest shared these awesome free printables on her blog a while ago (thank you, Anneliese. You're a gem!). I printed the cute little book covers and put them on white lolly bags that were filled with gummy worms (Party favour: Bookworms). I also used the same little book covers and made cupcake toppers (see photo below).

FOOD & DRINK
I made The Organised Housewife's amazing and easy to make Easy Tropical Punch, and used the little milk bottles (you may remember them from the Little Man Baby Shower). I bought the yellow straws and plastic cups from KMart. I also had bottles of water available (24 for $10 from Countdown). 
Tropical Punch
A massive thanks to everyone that brought a plate to share, we had a range of sweet and savoury. It's the best way to do things nowadays, saves costs, and your guests won't mind (well, mine didn't).
Mini cupcakes with the Little Golden Book cover cake toppers I made using Anneliese's printables. (How cute do they look!)

Some more yummy treats....





THE CAKE
I had big plans of making a giant cupcake for Master M's cake, but with other things happening all at once, I just couldn't do it all. I bought this Indulgent Chocolate Cake instead, added a gold ribbon, my own DIY Cake Bunting and a #1 candle. That's it! Something simple, yet perfect for the theme! Master M thought it was pretty cool and that's the main thing! (check out more cake pics below).


Big smile of approval!
Yummy!
***Happy 1st Birthday Master M***
Birthday Boy 

Sibling Love (Miss B & Master M)
Family Photo 
#inthepicture

PARTY #2
In the afternoon, we continued with the birthday celebrations, with a BBQ dinner with our family & close friends. This time we had TWO cakes (Master M's ONE & Miss B's TEN)...again simple cakes - with ribbon, cake bunting and a candle placed on trays that I covered with wrapping paper. I bought the Paris themed wafer paper from Kiwi Cakes and added an Eiffel tower on Miss B's cake. (Miss B's Paris themed birthday party COMING SOON - Watch this Space)

TWO parties in ONE day was full on, however I was passionate about the birthday theme and everything worked out in the end! 

I hope you enjoyed this post, if you did - please Share it, Pin it, Tweet it! 




LINKING UP:

#WeekendRewind
Saturday Spotlight -  All of Life's Little Adventures

FEATURED ON: 

29 comments

  1. Wow, everything was so well thought through, you really paid attention to the details! Well done! It all looks fantastic. I especially like the milestone photograph bunting, what a great idea.
    My little man will be turning 1 in a couple of months, but I think I'm going to wuss out and just have a simple picnic at the park, hahaha. I wish I had the drive to create something amazing like you have!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your kind words MrsW. I really enjoyed planning and organising this party (I will be sharing my daughter's Paris themed 10th Birthday that we had the next day very soon). I was really happy with the milestone bunting - a great keepsake to have! I'm going to be doing something similar every year for him too...so in ten years, twenty years time - we will be able to look back at how much he has grown.

      Delete
  2. Wow! What a gorgeous party you pulled off for your little one. My baby girl turns one in June, and I have a stack of Little Golden Books, so this will be a contender. I love the beautiful simplicity of your party.
    Dani @ sand has no home

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Dani. It is such a cool theme for a first birthday. It brings back memories for us adults - and the passion really shines through. Please keep me posted if you do go with the theme :)

      Delete
  3. You clever Mumma!
    I love the idea of this theme for a party!
    Great job.x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Dannielle :) I loved it too! It was perfect for my little boy!

      Delete
  4. Oh wow this looked so adorable!! You've thought of everything! Lots of love went into this day well done mumma!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Camielle! Yes A LOT of love went in to this day! I loved planning and organising it! It was fun! I love the Little Golden Book Collection.

      Delete
  5. Oh man you must have been so exhausted afterwards hun but what an absolutely gorgeous party idea and all the bits and pieces are just totally adorable xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Sonia. Yes, it did knock me for six - however, after a well deserved cuppa, I had to get ready for Party #3 - Miss B's Parisian 10th Birthday the next day (blog post coming soon) & a Open Home Walk through in the morning (no rest for the wicked aye). Monday was recovery day!

      Delete
  6. This is just GORGEOUS! All the details are amazing! I love the bunting, the month by month photos and the INVITES...those INVITES!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Megan. Yes I absolutely love the invites too! I don't think mine would have been THAT awesome if I designed them myself.

      Delete
  7. Aww what a great first birthday theme!!! I used to love little golden books and the poky puppy was my absolute favourite!! :) Thanks for linking up with us on the Saturday Spotlight! I enjoyed going through your photos xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Tawnya and thanks for letting me link up with you on Saturday Spotlight. It was a great theme to work with and it brought back a lot of happy memories of when I used to read the Little Golden Books - my favourite was We Love Kindergarten.

      Delete
  8. What an amazing party theme. Definitely one I wouldn't have thought of but you pulled it off so well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for your comment! :) I really enjoyed planning this party for my son!

      Delete
  9. That looks like an awesome birthday party, Charlene! I love all the little touches. Almost makes me want to have a one-year old again! ALMOST!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Almost" lol thanks Rabia!! I had a lot of fun putting all these little touches together! It was great party! I would happily do it again!

      Delete
  10. Wow - what a lot of work you put into his party! I love the decorations, and particularly love the invitation. Thanks for sharing on the #BlogFairLinkParty at mummydoit.co.nz

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Karen :) Yes, A LOT of work went in but I loved every minute of it :) It was a fun theme! Great to be linking up with you :)

      Delete
  11. What a great theme for a party! I love everything. The kids would have had an amazing time! I know I would have if I was a parent attending the party! X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Rebecca! The kids had a great time and so did the parents, a lot of them were reminiscing their favourite Little Golden Books from thier own childhood!

      Delete
  12. What a great party theme! A throwback made modern!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh my gosh! What a great theme. 1st birthday party themes are so hard to come up with and this one is great. I wish I had thought of it! Thanks for sharing on #ToddlerFunFriday

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love this! I cant wait to see what you do this year.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow, that looks amazing! I wish I'd thought to have a themed party when my boy turned one, but I was very budget conscious, and we just had balloons and homemade pizza and cake. My husband insisted on getting a bouncy castle though! Now that I've seen what you can do with a bit of ingenuity and some time up your sleeve, I'll have to start thinking about doing a better job with the second birthday. Cuuuute pics of the birthday boy, hope this weekend's celebrations are just as successful :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi! I LOVE your party idea - especially the invitations! Do you have any other contact information for the invitations? When I click on the links you shared, I get a message from Etsy saying the shop doesn't exist!

    Thanks you!
    Sarah

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Sarah. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I was not aware the WonderandWishes has closed her Etsy account. Such a shame! I loved her invitations. Here's a link to the other golden book invitations available on Etsy >>> https://www.etsy.com/nz/search?q=golden+book+invitations.

      Delete

Back to Top