Let Them Eat Cake!!

So I've been thinking about Jackson's party since June. Pretty much since we went to Dylan's 1st birthday. I've thrown around about a dozen themes and could never stick with one. I mean, how hard could it be!! I'm sure I made a bigger deal out of it than I should have but this is a very special birthday and I wanted it to be great.

I'm not sure what finally made my mind up, perhaps what little time I had left, but AJ and I Skype'd with my mom one day and I said "We're doing Goodnight Moon". She was so excited. It had been thrown around a few times and I wasn't convinced. But I started looking around for what others had done with the theme and decided it was perfect since we either read or I recite the book every night before bed. At 6 months, Jackson would 'pat-pat' the moon once we were finished reading. As he got older, he could point to a few things on the pages. He's so smart! Since no one makes cookie cutter theme packs for GNM, I definitely had my work cut out for me. With my mom's help and some party blogs, we really focused on the great colors in the book; red, green, blue, orange and yellow. I got lots of ideas from a baby shower blogger Hostess with the Mostest created and a few other Goodnight Moon parties people have posted online.

The invitation was the number 1 priority and it took about 70 different versions and tweaks to get it right. I used Picnik to design the invite and with some creative help from my mom and Toni we came up with the most perfect invitation. I absolutely loved it. Since I was printing my own, I decided to do a post card. I thought it would be really cute...and it was. I'm just sad the the ink in the copy machines at Kinko's didn't stay on as well as it should have going through the mail and some invites were delivered with some imperfections. And I some people didn't get their invites so that stinks; I'm betting some people thought it was junk mail or something, but oh well, everyone knew about it anyway. The day we printed the invite, I still didn't know what I wanted to do with the back. So this was an up-to-the-last-minute venture! I'm so happy with how they turned out. {sorry I can't show the back of the invite, my printer won't scan ): }

We made a bed out of my kitchen table, complete with a pillow, sheet and blanket. I placed yarn balls I had made (with some help from Auntie Na) all around the room and on the "bed". It was perfect for some added pops of color and texture. I also found GNM blocks online so they were super cute placed all around as well. We also had some knitting needles and a little mouse as added decor.

A former coworker decorates cakes on the side so I contacted her to see if she would be able to do a GNM cake. I was so nervous since it was a huge focal point but she did a fantastic job. We both agreed on a design we found online and I couldn't have been more happy with it. She delivered it to the house as the party was starting and I'm so glad she got to see her work sitting with all the decorations. Everyone thought the cake was awesome and it tasted good too. {Thanks again Jennifer, you absolutely outdid yourself!}

One of the bigger items I was charged to make was the banner. I scoured the web for ideas and am so pleased with what we came up with. We bought 2 paperback version of the book and cut out 6x6 squares and glued them to 8x8 squares or rounds of colored scrapbook paper. Then I downloaded the font we used on the invitation and we made our own stencils. The letters were dark blue and I made a special 1st on a red balloon. We went page by page so technically you could read the story on the wall. Now that the party is over and the banner has been taken down, I'm going to bind the pages together and make a little book for Jackson's keepsake box. How special!!

I found 3' (yes, three foot!) red balloons and they were brilliant! I hung one from the rocking chair my mom brought from her house and put one outside so everyone knew this was the party house. It was so windy or I would have put it on the mailbox. The one outside the door brought lots of fun for the little ones hanging out by the door. I also had a few groups of blue, yellow, orange balloons throughout the room for added color.

One idea I saw on Pinterest was using big block letters to spell O N E. I really wanted these outside but again, the wind changed my plans a little. I painted the letters yellow and hung a red balloon from each of them. I wish I would have remembered to get a picture of AJ standing next to these. :( It was so cute!! I think this will be an ongoing craft for all of his birthdays.

I also painted 2 11x17 frames yellow to use as my version of a photo booth. Unfortunately I forgot about them until after most people had left (oops!). But we still went around taking pictures of people posing with them. I loved it!! It might be something we always do at his parties since it was so fun and made for some great pictures.

The week before the party, I planned out all the decorations but decided something was missing. I had extra scrapbook paper so I made my own mini bunting for the high chair, mantle and bookshelves on either side of the tv. It really made a difference and brought everything together, especially with the yarn balls placed throughout the shelves and mantle.

My friend Lauren made an adorable photo book of her son's first year, week by week. She has more discipline than I because I was just lucky enough to get something printed off before his party. I did a month by month book with lots of photos and left part of the pages blank so I could write in everything Jackson did that month. I wish I would have had time write for everyone to read and enjoy but it was still awesome to share all the photos since I also didn't have time to print out and hang pictures throughout the house like I had planned. On one of the last pages, I made a family tree which I absolutely adore. I left the other side blank for the guests to write Jackson a little Happy Birthday note. I hope to make one of these every year. How fun for Jackson and his future family to have such a wonderful archive of his childhood. I love how it turned out. I placed it on a table next to a copy of the book, a cow and a vase with a lamp shade (for the blue and yellow lamp in the book). I added a couple of yarn balls and a group of balloons. It looked so cute and I'm so glad because I had no idea what I was going to do with that table until the very end.

And who could forget about the food! We catered sandwiches, wraps, fruit and cookies & brownies from City Bites. We also made an oriental salad that's always a big hit and made our families yummy punch. There is no other punch in the land. After this punch, no punch can match up. I promise!! We bought colored cups and napkins so everywhere you went there were pops of color from the book.

We had 26 adults and 11 little ones. It was so fun and I never felt like we were over crowded. It was warm and inviting and I enjoyed every second. Jackson took a fabulous nap before the festivities which allowed us to finish up the final touches plus he was in a good mood all day. Once he was up and the party got started, everyone got some lunch and Jackson and I dug in to his gifts. The little ones played all around us and at one point, there was quite the scuffle for the corn popper!! Jackson got some wonderful presents and we are so grateful to everyone for their generosity.

After presents we moved to cake! I made Jackson a gluten-free cake shaped like the moon, complete with craters and everything. We sang happy birthday and Daddy and I helped him blow out his candle. He dug into the icing but since the cake was quite dense, I had to "start" it like it was wrapping paper! He seemed to really enjoy it and didn't make too much of a mess with it though it was all over his face. It was really cute.

After cake, everyone continued visiting and the babies played. We got a fantastic picture of all the kids on the couch. This is a must every year from now on. So much fun!! I wish I had gotten more pictures of everyone that was there. I seem to be missing quite a few people. Maybe I'll hire a pro next year so we don't miss anything. We had so much fun and are so grateful to everyone who made the trip to our house. It wouldn't have been a celebration without you all. See you next year. ;)