Polka Dot Party -1yr- House of Dots

Polka-Dot Party: For my daughter's first birthday party, I chose a Polka-Dot theme.  It was a fun, easy and festive way to celebrate!  

Invitations: I printed my own invitations using my Print Shop program. They were very simple with multi-colored polka dots as the border.  After the party I created thanks you cards that looked very similiar to the invites, except a picuture of my daughter was on the front, polka dots as the border and "thank you" across the bottom. 

Decorations: I cut out tons of different size circles from bright colored construction paper. I put them up all around the house, hung them from the ceiling, taped them to our glass doors, etc.  I bought an array of polka dotted birthday decorations: table clothes, streamers, balloons, plates and napkins and collected them from different stores and websites prior to the party. On the cake table, I set out square vases filled with round shaped candy: M&Ms, jelly beans, gumballs, and skittles.  The entire house was filled with color and polka dots!

Favors:  I baked M&M cookies on a wooden popcicle stick. I use a green craft foam and cut out little leaves to put on each stick. I wrote each child's name on the leaf and stuck them in little flower pots, just like a cookie bouquet. I also wrapped each cookie in plastic wrap and tied it together with a ribbon (polka dot, of course) to keep the cookies fresh. 

Games:  Because this was a first birthday party, we didn't really have any organized games, although the older kids did play Twister (polka dots!).  I had lots of balls for the kids to play with outside as well. 

Food:  For the kids, I served circle shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  For the adults I had shredded bbq chicken sandwiches and a cheesy potato casserole.  We had fruit salad as well, with some of the fruit in the shape of little balls--melon balls and grapes.

Cake:  The cake was very simple...white frosting with multi-colored icing polka dots all over.  We baked it ourselves but it would be very easy for a bakery to do as well. 

Overall, the Polka Dot Party was a hit!  Finally, if you have any left over plates and napkins, you can use them for anything--polka dots work anytime!