Curious George Party -1yr- Curious Trivia

Curious George- For my son's 1st Birthday we themed the party on Curious George.

Guests arrived to find red, yellow, and green helium filled balloons lining the street, flying from the mailbox and from light fixtures. The mailbox was covered with yellow poster board decorated with a likeness of George dangling from balloons and the message, "What Fun! Ben's ONE!" As they went up the drive to the house, a series of signs mounted on croquet wickets read= Ben's one, And often Curious Usually fun, Sometimes Injurious! Burma Shave. 

Among other things, the guests enjoyed banana chips, yellow Jell-O jigglers (they freeze well) cut into the shape of bananas and hats, (bend an old cookie cutter to desired shape), food color stamped cookies using a CG ink stamp (Vanilla wafers coated with white candy coating freeze well, stamp well, and store forever!)   Curious George trivia entertained the adults who competed for 2 tickets to the zoo. Cheaters referenced several books left lying about as decorations. Trick question- For 2 points each, give the Man with the Yellow Hat's name. (He never had one.) 

The cake was a ball for the baby using a standard Wilton ball set,  and a yellow hat for everyone else. (Bottom is a thin pizza pan layer, then a 6" Wilton layer, a 5" spring form layer, and half of a ball for the crown) Garnished with tiny fruit candy in the shape of bananas. To serve, remove a layer at a time and cut. The hat's impressive, but an awkward size for the refrigerator. I prepared the cake in advance, frosted it, froze it, wrapped it in plastic, and stored it in the freezer until the day before the party. (Save your yellow tinted frosting for assembly.) The parts fit into various freezer nooks and crannies quite well.

Assembling the cake and smoothing the frosting to cover the joints was a snap. You'll need to buy a large cardboard cake round to serve this on.   We had a bit of a spread, so themed plates were reinforced with red foam plates beneath. (Secured with double stick tape.) Additional large size absorbent napkins were available for Serious Napkin emergencies. 

Curious George toys served duty as decorations on the table and house along with red, yellow and white flowers, reproductions of images from the books and many latex and Mylar themed balloons. (Babies enjoyed bobbing those helium balloons.) The buffet held pictures of our son, from day one, with his stuffed Curious George, throughout the year. (And one of his Dad as an infant, which was eerily similar to a shot we had of the baby.) 

The powder room mirror had monkey ears at adult height, and at baby-being-held-by-adult height, with the message "Look who's monkeying around!" The ceiling was filled with helium balloons.  Coloring sheets made from reproduced images of the books were available for the big brothers and sisters in the crowd.  An enlarged image of George with his hand lifted and an inscribed yardstick just needed the caption "How Tall am I?" to provide a great photo op for the growing guests. 

Adult favors included baby food jars with the lids spray painted red and decorated with CG stickers. They were filled with red foil Kisses and red/silver Hugs. The infants got Duplos. 

As guests left, the reverse side of the signs read: Now that the party Has come to an end, Thanks for a 1-derful day With such 1-derful friends! Have a safe trip home. See you SOON! 

It was a good little party,  and we're all very curious what we'll do NEXT year.