Rubber Ducky Party -1yr- Bathtime Favor Bag

My precious son turned one, so we had a rubber ducky party to celebrate.  A great big thank you to this web site and all the parents that submitted ideas.  Almost every idea came from you!

Invitations:  We took a photo of our precious boy in a bubble bath with a big smile and a big rubber ducky in his hands.  That was on the front of the invitation with re-written words to the rubber ducky song- "Rubber ducky,______'s one, and we're gonna have so much fun.  Rubber Ducky we'll have a party with you!"  On the inside, along with some rubber ducky and bubble clip art, it said, "What a lucky duck ______ would be if you would join us to celebrate his very first birthday!  So waddle on over to the duck pond for a picnic dinner and playtime for the whole family."  I then printed out our address and the date and time.  Because I needed to have the party outside, I added, "Rubber ducky likes baths not showers, so we'll reschedule in case of rain."  We printed these at home on white cards I had purchased at the dollar store a while ago.  We put big ducky stickers on the envelopes and had delivered them, though we could have mailed them easily. We invited 15 kids ranging in age from 1 to 9-years-old.

Decorations:  We wanted to have the party in the back yard, so we knew we wouldn't be able to answer the door when people arrived.  We made a small sign to hang on the front door that said, "Welcome to the duck pond!  Come on in, the water's fine!" I added a rubber ducky clip art and backed it with a piece of orange construction paper.  Once inside, there were orange construction paper "duck prints" leading a path to the door to the back yard, so everyone knew just where to go.  I used blue, yellow and orange as my colors. 

Outside, we had a banner that said, "Happy 1st Birthaday _____" It was light blue and had bubbles and rubber duckies all over it.  On the left side was a photo of the b-day boy when he was born and on the right was the photo from the invitation.  There were white pearl balloons hanging down from the roof of the pergola like bubbles floating in the air.  We had tables for the adults and some kid sized tables too.  The tables were covered in an aqua blue plastic table cloth.  Centerpieces were blue plates holding snacks with a little rubber ducky wearing a party hat in the middle.  (I ordered 2 dozen of these from oriental trading and used them in the favors as well as the decorations.) 

There was a small table for drinks, covered in a tablecloth that had bubbles and rubber ducks on it.  (The only rubber ducky party goods I could find in my colors was for a baby shower, but most of the pieces didn't say baby shower, so I used it anyway.  This tablecloth was part of that set.)  I had beer, water, and juice boxes on ice in an old wash tub, bottles of soda and some blue cups.  Of course I had to do the blue punch with the rubber ducky's floating in it.  One little girl (5 yrs old) was absolutely delighted by this and came to tell me every time she had a cup of punch. 

We decorated the baby's high chair with a kit from the party store that was blue and said 1st Birthday all over.The really fun thing was the little bathroom.  I took all the rubber ducky stuff from our upstairs kids bathroom and put it in the bathroom I knew everyone would use downstairs.  Then I took all the framed artwork down and wrapped it in ducky wrapping paper.  It was a surprise and had a big effect for only the $1 cost of the wrapping paper.

Activities:  For the most part, the kids just want to play and the parents want to visit, so we didn't have a lot of planned activities.  We rented a bounce house, and got lucky enough to find one that was yellow, orange, and blue, without any kind of character on it.  It was a big hit.  I purchased "duck feet" from oriental trading, so some of the bigger kids tried walking around on those.  We have a big kids and a little kids swing set and climbing structure, so there was lots of stuff to play with, along with every outdoor toy I could drag out.  The kids had so much fun!  We did get organized enough to do a ducky pinata (purchased from birthday express).  It was still too early in the year for any water play.

Menu:  For snacks, we put out plates of animal "Quackers", goldfish and cheese crackers with peanut butter.  My husband loves to make chili, so he made a giant batch for the adults.  We served it with corn muffins, cheese, sour cream, chopped onions, the works.  We made PB&J and egg salad sandwiches for the kids and cut them out with a ducky cookie cutter.  There was a big vegie tray with dip and lots of fruit cut up and ready. 

I found some really cute orange serving things at the dollar store and used those along with blue, yellow and orange dishes that I had.  I set up the food on my kitchen island and everyone came in to fill a plate.  I used plain light blue styrofoam plates and yellow styrofoam bowls from the 99 cents store.  We had the ducky napkins and yellow plastic cutlery.  It was really cute, and the theme came across clearly, even witout having all the paper goods matching.

Cake: We ordered the cake at super Wal-Mart.  It was 24 individual cupcakes frosted in blue and placed together on a board.  A mommy duck and two baby ducks (real rubber duckys) were placed on top.  We let him have his own cupcake to smash, but he really like it and ate the whole thing!

Favors:  We gave each child a bathtime favor bag.  I light blue gift bag that held a washcloth printed with ducks (Dollar Tree), and a bottle of bubbles that I recovered with a label that said "Happy Birthday _____" with ducky clipart.  I made some little yellow ducky and blue bubble soaps and put them in ducky printed plastic goodie bags.  Of course a rubber ducky was included.  My husband made the best part.  He went to I tunes and downloaded eight bathtime/rubber ducky songs and made a CD for each child.  He made covers with a picture of the birthday boy in the tub.  It says, "________ presents... Bathtime Boogie Woogie (In Quackaphonic Stereo)."  It took a bit of time, but we have had rave reviews.  We had so much fun and thought the party turned out great.  Thanks so much to all of you for  the great ideas!