A Monster of a Birthday

I can't believe it.

My baby boy is turning one. He's such a happy boy and he makes even the bluest day bright.
The days leading up to the party were a blurr. I was still in denial. In fact, his real birthday wasn't until 4 days later so in my mind, he wasn't there yet.

What fun I had! Truth be told, I had MUCH grander plans, but alas, being 5 months pregnant with twins put the kibosh on many of my ideas. I did however have an amazing husband who gladly took the Little One on many "adventures" during that week.

All of a sudden, I had a quiet house with time to think and no little hands grabbing at my glue gun cord. It's amazing how much I am able to get done when I'm back in the "zone".

The nice thing about this birthday is that virtually everything I used (with exception to the food, the guests' take home tins and some material I used for the entry way monster), were things I had just lying around or hiding in my craft tubs.

I found this scrapbook paper on clearance back in May and knew I just had to find something to do with it. I bought an odd number of pieces and wondered what I'd create (I'm slowly migrating toward digital scrapbooking- gasp!- and need to stop buying paper and use up what I have already). Needless to say, I had a good number of months to come up with some ideas (many that fell by the wayside as the day grew closer) to incorporate these guys.

The first (and I have to say one of the easiest) was the Monstrous Backdrop. I loved the monsters on this paper set and decided they needed to be larger than life. My first idea was to sew larger felt pieces to create them, but my sewing machine had different plans, so I went to plan B.

I confiscated some large butcher paper from my mom's school and went to town. It only took me a day and a half, though I only worked on it sporadically those two days as sitting and standing and then bending down pose larger problems for me now with this belly in the way.

And here's what materialized. Bless my husband's heart. He was the one putting up the rick rack just so I could stand back and make sure it was straight. That, and he was a real trooper at trying it out before I put the finishing touches on it.
My favorite part was the boy's reaction to them. He loved the Tall Monster and at one point even voluntarily gave him kisses over and over again. I also loved how the kids (and adults alike) got into it. I laid out a tub of dress up materials (it pays to be a teacher for years) and they dressed up, taking their monster picture in front of the backdrop.


The baby wasn't too sure how he felt about the costumes though.

The dessert table was fun. Again, I wasn't 100% thrilled with how it turned out (for instance the pink frosting still sticks out to me),
but it was all I could do with the time and materials given.
This idea of the monster cupcake came from a good friend from the mission. My sad little cupcakes fail in comparison but the kidds sure had fun creating them.
She had made chocolate pieces to use as the eyes, tentacles, fangs and wings. I realized very quickly that this was in fact an art in itself and one that should be practiced (and not just done quickly late the night before). This is one I'll try again, and hopefully one I'll like better the second time around.



Edible "Eye-sicles" (frozen jello balls with gummi rings and M&M's)


The other part of the craft-frenzy was the kiddos' take home tins.
I had found these (ugly, awful) tins at Michaels for $0.60 a piece and couldn't pass them up. I purchased one for every child invited to the party and stared at them for weeks wondering how in the world I could "cute" them up. They turned out to be a lot of fun. Much easier than I first anticipated. The hardest part came when I tried to make sure every sibling received a different pattern, different monster and different colors of favors inside.

Here is the inside stash...
Sorry parents; I know it's a week before Halloween, but I thought I'd give them a jump on the whole Type II Diabetes thing with all the candy!

Because the "eye" glasses became such a focal point, I took it and ran (far!). My amazing sister Jenn creates the most adorable sucker stands all decorated cute (she even makes her own hard suckers to go in them. Show off!). I begged her to make me a couple and found these eye suckers at the $1 store. "Eye" loved them!

Kurt's shirt was suppose to be something completely different. I had even gone so far as to cut out little letters and pieces of fabric with my cricut. However, as I realized late the night before (and worn out from leaving the chocolate pieces to the last second) that I still hadn't made his shirt, this little create was all that evolved.
I have to say, sometimes simplicity is enough. He wore it once (only ironed on- shh! don't tell!) and now it's in my sewing pile to blanket stitch around the little goblin and the 1. I realize he may never wear it again (the shirt was $3.50 at Target and the pieces of material were scrap pieces left over from bibs I made before), but it was a cute little keepsake and one that I hope to look back on fondly.

Speaking of Keepsake, here is the "shrine" to the birthday boy...


I put this up, just playing with colors and photos about 2 weeks ago. I couldn't tear myself to take it down and still sigh as each day I look at the pictures of this once tiny little boy that grew up way too fast, and frankly without my permission.

Months ago, as we were in Calgary, Cousin Katie (whom I just adore) and I saw this book (along with the "Tickle Monster" gloves that came with it) and I just knew I had to have it! Not only is it a darling book (the baby loves it!), but the poetry is catchy (you'll find yourself repeating the words after only a few times through it) but I thought it would make the perfect keepsake for him on his birthday.

I had the birthday-goers sign it and made sure Chase and I both signed it as well. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a big fan of books (in fact that's all I ask for for Mother's Day- a book of their choosing from my children and maybe a fresh flower or two) and this seemed to just fit.

The outside monster was another thing I actually spent money on. I saw this material when I was fabric shopping with my mother-in-law and I thought, "Now what in the world could I do with this?" This is what materialized, and frankly I think the boy could've cared less if there was a wild boar on the walkway; as long as it had balloons tied to it, he was happy.


The balloons were his absolute favorite. Every time he saw one, he'd point and say, "OOH!". That's why his face is the same in all of the balloon pictures.



But boy, doesn't this face just say it all?
After the food, the desserts, the monster dress up bash, and the kids' monster mask craft, we settled down to open gifts. I don't think he had any idea they were for him but he was the best recipient as he just kept saying, "Oooh" and "woah". So cute I could hardly stand it!



We love you Little Man and can"t believe it's already been a year!


Love, Mom & Dad