Planning a birthday party is not easy. Planning a party that fell between holidays, while family was in town and when my son and I both had the stomach flu -- that felt impossible. Thankfully there are a few things I learned that helped make party planning a little bit easier.
1. Pick a theme in advance.
I think I had the Where the Wild Things Are theme in mind before J was even born. A few years ago I saw this post from Hostess with the Mostess and loved the party idea. Having a theme early helped with shopping. I was able to purchase items months in advance so I didn't have to stress about getting everything right before the party. It also helped spread out the cost over a few months, instead of one big amount all at once (the hubs really appreciated this).
2. Give yourself some alone time.
Since I had to make a lot of decorations for the party, I knew it couldn't be done with the little man in the house. My husband graciously took him out of the house for "guy time" at Bass Pro Shop. They had fun ogling at hunting and fishing gear while I got hours alone with my sewing machine and hot glue gun. *bliss*
3. Ask for help.
When I started planning, I had this grand idea that I wasn't going to ask our parents for help. They have been a huge source of support this year and I wanted them to just enjoy the party and not lift a finger. Ha! I still laugh at my naive self. If we couldn't get through our first year as parents without them, why in the world did I think we'd get through a first birthday party without them?
I needed help, I asked and of course our family stepped up. Our brothers and sisters spent a LONG night making decorations and setting up for the party.
They also managed to get in a few snuggles with the birthday boy.
And our moms were the biggest help. Craig's mom helped indecisive me pick out cake flavors. She kept J while I ran party errands. Then picked up the cake and delivered it to our house in time for the party. My mom is generous with all things: her time, money and talent and in helping me with this party, she provided all those things. She doesn't even wait for me to ask her for help, she sees a need and just jumps in. We couldn't have pulled a party off without these two ladies.
4. Have an after-party celebration
When the guests have gone, presents are strewn around the living room and your little party animal is tucked in bed, celebrate with your husband. Craig and I popped open a bottle of wine, put our feet up and talked about the day and the last year. Give thanks and celebrate because not only did God give your little one their first year of life, he also gave you all you needed as parents to get through this first year.
We are pretty crazy about this little one.
If you want to host your own wild rumpus, I will post more pictures of the decorations and links to products in another blog post. Hopefully it won't take me another two months to write ;)
