Kangaroo Party 1yr

Kangaroo First Birthday  I had a tight budget, but still wanted to do something special for my son's first birthday.  I opted for a family only party so our guest list was 20 people.  Playing off my son's name, Joey, the theme was Joey Kangaroos.  I did a brunch on Saturday morning after Joey's nap.    Invitation:  I took a picture of Joey dressed up as a little Kangaroo and used it to create an email invitation to our family members.  It read:  Little Joey is turning one, Hop on over for lots of fun! Then the details of the event were listed.    Decorations:  I split the party into 2 areas, one for eating and one for playing.  For the eating area I used glass dishes and white table linens that I already owned to save money on paper goods. I did have 6 clear disposable plastic dished I used for the 6 children's place settings.  I printed out placemats I designed with Joey kangaroos and a little rhyme about Joey and laminated them.  They could be seen through the glass dishes.  I put out white linen napkins and I used candy necklaces wrapped around them with kangaroo paper charm I made on the computer as the napkin rings.  At each place setting I put a jar of bubbles that I re-wrapped with a picture of a kangaroo and wrote: Joey's bouncy bubbles.  I also found magnetic picture frames at the dollar store and put in a picture of Joey dressed as a kangaroo and wrote on the photo, Joey is One! as another take home gift.  I bought 2 stuffed animal Roo dolls- from the Winnie the Pooh collection at the Disney Store that I attached balloons to (enough to give to the 6 children at the party).  I took decorations from my son's bedroom to the party area, since I had decorated Joey's bedroom in a kangaroo theme.  I had a 5 x 5 painting of a Joey Kangaroo, which I painted for his bedroom, set up behind the highchair.  I printed out colorful flag shapes with Joey Kangaroos printed on them and attached them all around Joey's highchair as well. I made a bib for the occasion with a kangaroo and Joey's name on it.  I made the classic cone shaped hats with kangaroos from the computer cut out and pasted on.  I wrapped old cereal boxes in patterned wrapping paper and covered them with photos of Joey from his first year with Kangaroo embellishments I printed from the computer.  I had them standing up on their sides and scattered throughout the food and eating area. In the play area I put out some of Joey's favorite toys in the center and in the corner I made a Kangaroo Cave.  I also bought 6 solid color beach balls from oriental trading and drew a picture of a kangaroo on each ball with the 6 children's names as the children's take home gifts.  I put up a pop up tent we already owned and decorated it with printed out Kangaroos in the corner of the play area.  My daughters wanted to help decorate it too, so they attached their drawings of Kangaroos as well.  If I did not have a pop up tent already I could have done the cave out of a cardboard box or pillows.  I made a sign for the front door as well that read: Baby Joey is One, Hop on in for Fun!  I also put a picture of a kangaroo on the door sign.    Food:  The brunch menu combined sweet and savory vegetarian dishes, which was fitting since Kangaroos are vegetarians.  I made and egg Frittata, hash browns, vegetarian sausage links and Paula Dean's French toast souffle.  I used foodtv.com to collect the recipes.  I had a bread basket, cheeses, sliced veggies and a fruit bowl.  For the bread basket I put a cardboard cutout of a Kangaroo attached to the back and covered the basket with brown paper to make it look like the bread was in the Kangaroo's pouch.  For the fruit bowl I cut a honeydew melon in half and scooped out the inside seeds.  I cut, from the fruit, a Kangaroo top half and attached it to the honey dew bottom so the honeydew looked like the pouch of the Kangaroo.  I filled the honeydew bowl with berries.  I put a couple of Joey's step stools that were decorated with his name and Kangaroos on the food table to give height to some of the serving dishes in the back.  I made a low in sugar carrot cake for the birthday boy.  I found the cake recipe in a William Sonoma baby food book and made the cake in advance and froze it, then I decorated it the night before the party.  To decorate the cake I iced it first with cream cheese frosting that the recipe included.  Then I made a template that I cut out from paper with an xacto knife.  The image was a Kangaroo and words that read: Happy Birthday Joey.  I placed down the template and sifted cinnamon all over the cake, so when I pulled off the template the letters and the Kangaroo looked brown and the rest of the cake remained white.  I also circled the cake with blueberries on the bottom edge.  If it was for an older child I may have used colored sugars instead of cinnamon.    Activities:  In the play area, as mentioned above, I put out some of Joey's favorite toys, beach balls for each child decorated with their name and a illustration of a Kangaroo I made and a Kangaroo Cave.  This was great because the kids could play while the adults ate.  I wanted to do a couple of simple activities that I thought Joey would think were fun.  I own a parachute that I got at target, but a big blanket could have worked too.  I told the kids to jump on the Kangaroo pouch and had some other adults help me drag them around for a ride.  I also asked the bigger kids to go on a Kangaroo Safari and see how many Kangaroos they could count around the house together.  Then before the birthday song I announced that there was going to be a Kangaroo Court.  I put out a sign that said Kangaroo Court in Session!  I put the birthday boy's 2 big sisters on trial for Hugging, Kissing and loving their baby brother Joey too much!  Joey was the Judge, I told him to look cute if he thought they were guilty.  They were guilty as charged and sentenced to wearing signs around their neck that read: Guilty for loving Joey too much!, then I pulled out 4 more signs that were the same and had Joey's 4 grandparents wear them as well.  Then we sang the birthday song.  Since Joey was too little to make a wish and blow the candle I gave everyone at the party a little slip of paper to write down a wish for Joey, then we put all the slips of paper into the pouch of a kangaroo I made for Joey as a keepsake, which I attached to the first page of his birthday photo album.  Thank you's:  For his thank you notes I made a card with a picture of a Kangaroo and tucked into the pouch was a photo that could be pulled out of Joey in front of his Kangaroo birthday cake.  I wrote on the bottom of the Kangaroo, Thanks for making my birthday so hoppy! the thank you note was written on the back of the photo.  I had so much fun doing this party and I am so hoppy" to share this! 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