Winter ONE-derland Party 1yr

CONCEPTION:  I threw out the idea to my sister in law to have a winter party for her first born who turned ONE in January this year.  I threw my own winter wonderland party when I turned 30, so I had most of the décor and supplies to reduce the cost.  She was all for it, so we got the ball rolling to throw a Winter ONEderland party for her son. 

INVITATIONS: She e-mailed some friends and also sent out paper invitations. The invitation had a very cute picture of the birthday boy in a blue sweater with matching toboggan hat giving a little grin.  The background for the invitation was light blue with snowflake design.  On one side of the birthday boy's picture was a white snowflake and on the other was a white gift with red ribbon.  She worded it very simply as if her son was sending the invite to everyone.

ARRIVAL:  The guest was greeted by a 2-3 foot Frosty the Snowman yard art I found on clearance for 50 cents at a grocery store.  If you remember the movie, when Frosty comes alive he says HAPPY BIRHTDAY, so it was kind of homage to that too.  I purchased 3 so I used the other 2 in the house.  I tied a few of the blue balloons with white writing and solid white to its hand.  This way guests could find the house.  We had a Hot Cocoa Bar to greet the guest as they entered.  We used a small table from one of the rooms and covered it with a white table cloth that I piled on the floor to look like snow.  We edged the table with blue snowflake ribbon and placed a baby blue painted tree branch to one side of it.  On the branch we placed 4 inch white fabric snowmen ornaments as if they were sitting in a tree.  We place hot cocoa in a large urn, with the same ribbon wrapped around it, to keep it warm and able to dispense it easily into 8 oz Styrofoam cups that were placed on a plastic cookie tray with dark blue background, white snowflakes, and a snowman graphic in the center.  We had mini marsh mallows, placed in a mini trifle bowl, and Redi-Whip, with the same ribbon wrapped around it.  We were going to place 3 small wintry plastic frames on the table with the birthday boy's pictures over the past year, but ran out of time.  We did place a couple of blue glass votives with flameless tea lights, a stuffed polar bear ornament, and a ceramic polar bear figurine on the table.  This was to set the mood for the party.  In addition to handing out hot cocoa as the guest arrived I passed out jingle bell necklaces for a game we played. The necklaces were placed on torso statue the parent's have in their niche behind to the table.

GAME/PRIZE:  The instructions were given as they arrive and the game began once they put on the necklace.  The one and only rule was the guest could not sit down without holding something during the party.  If another guest caught you they took your necklace and vice versa.  The guest with the most or all the necklaces by the end of the party was the winner.  The prize was a very nice bar set that the mom placed in a wintry gift box with paper shred with a wintry theme as well.

TABLESCAPE/FOOD:  We pulled together all of our white, blue, clear, and orange serving ware, dishes, bowls, and so on for the table.  We only used the orange and blue as an accent colors to break up the white that was predominantly used throughout the area.  The orange also represented the carrot nose on a snowman or orange beak on a penguin. We used the 8 foot breakfast table for a buffet, so we pulled the chairs out and placed them in the family room for additional seating.  The first layer was a white table cloth and edged with 2 inch satin ribbon with blue and white snowman graphic on it.  We wanted a flow so we placed the plates, napkins, and utensils at the front of the table on the right hand side.  We layered the extra large white and light blue napkins from Ikea and placed them in two piles next to blue Styrofoam plates and white Styrofoam bowls.  We wrapped the same 2 inch satin ribbon that was around the table onto 3 inch diameter clear glass votive holders to hold the spoons and forks.

Next, we used a 2 ring chip/veggie and dip holder that we separated and used the larger of the two for pita chips and placed a plate in the center of the ring for homemade hummus.  In the hummus we made a snowman's face with left over carrot and black olives left over from the next dish. 

On the next plate were olive penguins I found on a blog site when searching for party ideas. We laid shredded coconut on the edge of the plates to look like built up snow and then the center was shiny like an ice pond.  The olive penguins were 2 black olives, one for the body and one for the head.  You cut open larger olives and stuff cream cheese inside the body to make the white breast of the penguin.  You place this olive with the on a carrot slice for the feet with a toothpick. On the carrot slice you cut out a small triangle in the front to show 2 feet.  You take the second smaller olive and stick it on the toothpick on its side with the small hole facing the front of the penguin's body.  You use the small triangle carrot you cut out earlier to make the beak by sticking it in the small olive hole.  We made 2 cans worth and what did not fit on the plate was placed on other plates for garnish.  I have a polar bear ornament that has a fishing pole with a blue shoe on the end of it.  I placed this near the edge of the plate as if he was trying to catch a penguin. 

Moving along the table we used a white picture frame as a tray with individual servings of Swedish meatballs in small clear plastic cups (by Solo).  We put a small slice of bread on the edge like a lemon wedge and matchstick carrots around the cups on the tray for garnish.   The trick is to allow the meatballs to cool down to about room temperature before placing it in the plastic cups.  We did not wait for them to cool down so they started to melt the cups, so we went with option B.  We placed a large bowl in the frame with the meat balls, smaller bowl for the sauce, and a plate for the baguette slices. 

Next to this dish was an Asian shredded salad made with white and orange veggies, squid and boiled shrimp.  It is normally placed on a large tray but we put it in a clear glass trifle pedestal bowl for something different and you can see the colors of the dish.  As you made your way around the table we plated an Asian dish which is rice noodles grouped together to make small cake like servings.  It is topped with dried shrimp (orange coloring) and you place fish sauce over it.  We used 3 different size clear glass cylinder vases and placed 3 silver charges on top of them to plate this dish.  Inside of each vase was a 4 inch fabric snowman ornament with fake snow at the bottom.  We put the fish sauce in a round rose bud vase, looks like a fish bowl with a ¼ inch ribbon with a snowman design wrapped around it, with a silver ladle with white curling ribbon tied to it.  A medium to large white ceramic bowl was used to hold pork rice soup with a clear ladle.  

We placed a tray of finger sandwiches made with turkey, Swiss cheese/provolone, and mayo next to the soup.  They were placed on a large white oval ceramic serving tray that we covered with some of the matchstick carrots to add some pop of color to the plate and sandwiches and break up the white on white effect.  We did add some of the olive penguins to this plate. 

We used my 6 orange square bowls to hold chocolate and white chocolate covered pretzels and cookies.  They were placed in 2 rows of 3 and the chocolate and white chocolate alternating in the bowls. 

We are now at the beginning of the table on the left hand side where the punch bowl and clear plastic cups were placed with White Sangria.  We placed white beaded candy canes on the edge of the punch bowl all the way around. In the front of the table we placed a couple of picture frames of the birthday boy with some wintry ornaments hanging from the frames.  Behind the picture frames were a grouping of 2 dark blue and white peppermint striped pillar candles.

We placed the cake dead center of the table for the centerpiece and explained further down.  Above the cake we made a wintry chandelier with the existing light fixture by stringing satin white ball ornaments at different lengths to the edge of the fixture.  We used fishing string to tie the balls to each other and to have the balls hang straight we placed a white pearl head straight pin in the bottom of a few of them.  This allowed us to tie the string to the next ball without it pulling right or left.  We also used plastic snowflake garland in between the stringed balls that we cut at different lengths.  I found some blue 12 inch blue balloons with white writing, HAPPY   1ST BIRTHDAY, and some solid white 12 inch balloons that we tied to the fixture to float above the table. These are the same ones used outside on the Frosty yard art. 

In between, around, and in the plated food were tons of wintry decorations and ornaments that I have on hand for decorating my tree and house during Christmas time.   We used several of my ornaments to label the dishes, such as 3 inch light blue snowflakes,  mini dark blue and light blue wooden sleds, and mini light blue wooden ski ornaments that have white snowflake design, and 1-2 inch snowman and penguin picture clips.  On the clips we cut out circles from blue cardstock and placed the label on there.  We used the more of the blue votive tea light holders and flameless tea lights around the table, as well, with other decorative ornaments.

CAKE: The birthday cake on a clear glass pedestal cake plate.  The birthday boy's dad made this white on white 3 layer cake for him. The cake was a box, but the dad made the white frosting from scratch and turned out very delicious.  The light and dark blue candles spelled out HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY were placed in the across the front of the cake.  I have a ceramic 3 inch polar bear ornament standing on his hind legs with a royal blue hat that had a white puff ball and blue scarf around its neck that was placed in the center of the cake with gummy penguin and peppermint wreath lollipop candy sticks. The penguins were blue and white with an orange beak and surrounded by a peppermint wreath in blue, white, and orange stripes.  There was a 3 inch clear snowflake on a stick placed in the back behind the polar bear as well.

DÉCOR: On the wall to the right of the table are 3 wire bowls hanging in a stair step pattern, so the mommy took my white berry floral picks and 3 different snowmen ornaments to tie them into the décor.  She used 3 picks per bowl and surrounded the center. She put a 3 inch fabric snowman in the center of each one.  One of the snowmen was all white fabric with white hat with light blue beads across it and on the tip of it.  It has a white scarf around the neck with a snowflake.  The second one was a fabric off white snowman with an orange carrot nose.  It had dark blue stick arms, scarf, and top hat.  The hat and scarf had tiny white polka dots and there were dark blue mini pom poms down its belly.  The last one was a white fabric snowman with a carrot nose and light blue felt hat and blue/white gingham scarf. On the wall to the left was a piece of artwork we put another Frosty over the artwork and added white garland around the frame as if it was artwork itself.  There is a large window with a seat on the back wall of the breakfast nook that we decorated to be a back drop to the food table.  I laid a snow blanket on the seat part with white garland on top of the blanket to look like snow on the ground.  I painted approximately 5 foot tree branches from our tree with baby blue spray paint and placed them upright into the snow to look like trees in each corner and in between the 2 windows.  I have tons of snowflake and icicle ornaments so I hung them from the trees to make them glisten. 

I also taped the snowflakes inside around the top the window box at different lengths using fishing wire.  Since they were ornaments I was able to hang some of the snowflakes to each other with the string to group them in 2 and 3 as well.  I taped plastic icicles in white, frosted, clear, and/or glittery in different sizes to the blind cover randomly to make it look as organic and natural as possible.  I used some of the white garland to cover the tape and edge the top of the window.  Around the branches I placed some of the white satin ball ornaments to look like snowballs.  In between the branches and in the snow I placed another Frosty the Snowman.  Since we did mostly snowmen in the nook we used all my penguin décor on the fireplace where the gifts would be placed.  She has a brown stained mantle that we hung a party garland from the front of it.  The garland was 12 foot blue string with foil curly q's and Happy 1st Birthday on number one shapes hanging from it.  It was blue and white and we had to double it up since it was so long.  Then we laid a snow blanket across the top and front to hide the string and tacks. 

I covered the top of the mantle with white garland.  The mommy grouped 2 of my 5 inch realistic penguins and one of the small penguin ornaments that has earmuffs and a pile of snowballs in front of it to make a family.  This was dead center of the mantle.  Then we randomly placed the other penguin ornaments and the last stuffed penguin on the mantle.  It was about 15 total ornaments in different sizes and style on the mantle.  I have these large ball ornaments, one is a dark blue glass ornament and the other is a light blue with clear beads around it that was placed on the mantle with the penguins.  I have 3 wintry plastic picture frames that the mom printed pictures of the guest of honor and put in them just like on the hot cocoa bar.  There is a wrought iron intricate design fireplace screen on the hearth as well.  I hung 7 inch large blue glittery icicles with 4 inch white glittery snowflakes on it.  

PARTY FAVORS: After the hot cocoa bar was done we cleaned it up and arranged the party favors on the table for guest to grab on the way out.  I purchased mini gift bags, about as big as an instant hot cocoa packet, in dark blue with white and light blue snowflakes.  I found some solid orange cellophane party favor plastic bags.  I got 20 for 10 cents and filled them with a S'mores kit and a pack of instant hot cocoa.  S'mores kit: one graham cracker, one mini Hershey chocolate bar, and 1 large marshmallow.  However I did not use the large one since we had plenty of the small ones from the hot cocoa, so I used 4 of them in the kit instead.  I also placed one half inch white chocolate covered mint in the shape of a snowflake that I found at the last minute for 90%off at Walmart too. Every guest received on, but the kids had a mini bottle of bubble and each baby had a mini teething ring.