Noah's Ark Party -1yr- Stick Noah To The Ark

Noah's Ark Birthday Party  This party was for my 1year old twins, a boy and a girl, and was a Noah's Ark theme.

The invitations were handmade -- we started with blue heavy paper and cut out a brown ark, complete with doors that opened on the front. When you opened the doors, there are pictures of my son and my daughter, and on the inside of the doors was the party information, where, when, etc. The ark was decorated with cut-out animals (one of my friends who is artistic drew the whole scene for me, and then I photocopied the sketch onto heavy paper to use as templates. Then I cut out the templates for the ark and each animal, and traced and cut them individually out of the proper color paper and added eyes, etc.) On the blue background (the sky) was a white vellum cloud and the words, "And they came two by two..." there were also waves around the bottom of the boat. 

The food for the party was simple but themed for aminals -- hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and macaroni and cheese that was bunny rabbit shaped (I found this in the organic foods aisle.) I used commercial napkins, plates and cups with animals on them (available at any party supply store). I did get the animal shaped plasticware that is made by the company that makes those animal face plates (I don't know if I'm allowed to say the name) -- these were a big hit with the kids at the party, and everyone took theirs home to enjoy. 

The cake was a photo cake with the invitation on it, made by my sister-in-law. She also made two smaller cakes (one for each birthday child) with their own picture. She then embellished the photo with icing to make them into animals -- my son was a lion and my daughter a bunny.

Decor was stuffed animals (in twos, of course) and a wonderful Noah's Ark set on the cake table. We also had a display with their hospital pictures, their preemie outfits, and other various photos. We also had the usual streamers and balloons (two of each color) and some more expensive mylar balloons that were actually animals (again, two of each animal.) Some of their gifts went with the theme as well -- we got them a set of plush "ride on" zebras that we had set up for play.

The other decor item was actually part of a game as well -- my sister painted a lovely Noah's Ark scene and then cut out and painted individual Noah's for all of the children. We used it to play "stick Noah to the Ark", with a box of animal crackers going to the winner.

The other game that the kids played was a beanie baby toss -- a laundry basket and a bunch of beanies was all that this game needed -- tossing distance was determined by age, and again, the victor went home with animal crackers. I also had a "Noah's Ark word unscramble" for the adults who wanted to play -- the prize was a personal cooler -- and the words were some of the animals that Noah must have had on the ark (ie, snow leopard). Finally, there were treats for everyone to take home.

Goody bags (same theme as the plates and napkins) with pencils, stickers, and a bag of goldfish crackers; a Noah's Ark memory game for each child that consisted of small sets of animal pictures that they could color and an "ark" made of votive candle boxes spray painted brown and adorned with animal stickers (multiple boxes were used for each one to create the bottom and the top "deck" of the ark). There was a slot cut into them for storage of the animal pairs, or it could be used as a bank. I also made personalized coloring books for each child with the story of Noah and the Ark. They were about 8 pages (16 sides) and had the story and then pictures to color that went along with it. At the end was a "thank you" from our family for sharing our special day with us. I just copied the front and back pages on a heavy stock and the inside on regular paper, 3hole punched the edge and tied the pages together (not too tight or they won't turn!). If you want to try this, leave yourself some time -- it took about 2 weeks to make 25 invitations -- and the favors were time intensive, but I'm so glad that I took the time to make their 1st birthday really special. Hope you enjoy!