I shared a few weeks ago about how I got over my anxiety about Scribble’s first birthday party.  So now we are in full-on planning mode! Of course, as I shared in my last post, spending a modest amount of money on this party is one of our goals.  So here’s how we plan to have a fun and personal party without overspending!


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What and When: We decided to have an ice cream social theme for Scribble’s first birthday.  Having an ice cream social means we don’t have to shell out money on a full meal, or even savory snacks. We will simply provide ice cream, cake, and tons of fun toppings!  We scheduled the party for 3:00 in the afternoon, which is between meals so that no-one leaves feeling dissatisfied.

Who: We have a big family, so our guest list is large (I’m one of four and come from a blended family!). We decided to limit ourselves to inviting friends who have supported us in this first year: attended or threw us showers, visited the hospital, brought meals, gave us advice, etc.  We invited a little over fifty people, but due to the distance,we expect half or fewer to attend.

Where: We considered having a party at a local yogurt shop (surprisingly inexpensive, although it would leave no money for decorations and other extras), but decided to have the party at home. We have a patio and a covered porch, so we are hoping to keep the party outside for the most part.  We have tailgate tents we can use to create shade, and our pool will be available for anyone who wants to swim! Having the party outside means less cleaning before and after the event for me.

How: Invite: The ice cream social theme is helping us to come up with a ton of ideas for decor and details! Because many of our guests are not internet-savvy, we printed our invitations.  We chose this one by LadyJ Design Store.  It is available for download on Etsy.  I selected the fonts and designed the layout for the text; all the fonts were free from The League of Moveable Type and FontSquirrel. I uploaded the pictures to an online photo site (I used Walmart.com but I’m sure you could find a coupon for another retailer) and had them sent to my house instead of picking them up in store. Envelopes are leftover from Scribble’s birth announcements, but came from Paper Source.  I hand-delivered the majority of the invitations so that I didn’t have to pay shipping for them! Since the invite is so colorful, we’re not limited in our choice of colors for the party, which means I can choose the least expensive option!

Food: As I mentioned earlier, we’re serving ice cream and a ton of toppings, plus a cake– as Ina would say, “How easy is that?”  To make it more special, I’ve been making batches of homemade ice cream with the flavors of Scribble’s favorite foods: so far I’ve made avocado and sweet potato! We’ll also make a big fruit salad; I found the berries on discount, washed and sliced them, layered the slices in sugar and froze them in large tubs. So on party day all I have to do is set the berries out to defrost!

The 3 Rs of Party Planning:

Reuse: One idea I have toyed with is trying to make the party more eco-friendly and green, at least as much as our budget will allow. I’ve been trying to follow the 3 Rs when it comes to our party! I have a large store of serving dishes that I’ll be using for the food, instead of buying disposable themed items.  I also used Scribble’s existing wardrobe and some fabric scraps left from nursery decor projects to make his birthday shirt instead of spending money for a new outfit. As far as other decor, I am putting together items from my overflowing craft closet. So far I’ve made a scrap banner and felt bunting.  I got my inspiration from Hellobee!

I also have a monthly picture garland that is left over from my baby shower and which has been decorating Scribble’s nursery wall since then.  The person who made it  simply glued scrapbook paper circles printed with the months 1-12 onto clothespins. I’ll use some yarn left over from a nursery project to hang.

I am also borrowing a projector to show a slideshow of family pictures; this will be cheaper than printing a bunch of photos to make a collage from.  If I am not able to get the projector, I’ll probably just run the slideshow on my television!

For party favors, we’ll be doing bubble wands made of paper straws and pipe cleaners, along with bubble solution.  I thought this would be a good idea since the ages of the children who are attending range from 1 month to 10 years old.  Bubbles always seem to please any age group! I already had the pipe cleaners and the straws, so this is costing me almost no money.  I considered homemade solution, but it was less expensive to buy a giant bottle on end-of-summer clearance.  Here’s a Hellobee DIY for bubble solution and wands! To go along with the cost-friendly and greener theme, I’ve been saving up small jelly and pickle jars to hold for the solution.

Reduce: With the exception of a few items (balloons, crepe paper, washi tape), I’ve been trying to buy things that I can reuse. In particular, I found some thrifted glass parfait cups to serve the ice cream in– thirty pale yellow glasses for ten dollars! I can’t wait to get years of use from them.  I also bought tablecloths, but I got reusable ones instead of disposables.  Summer tablecloths are on deep discount right now so this didn’t cost me any more money, and I’ve already started using them!

While I was researching sustainable party ideas, I found out that the US is in the middle of a helium shortage! And lo and behold, after I read about this, I noticed that my local dollar store no longer blows up helium balloons! I had been planning to do a display of helium balloons in our front yard and around the food table, but have been rethinking this now.  I saw on Pinterest a few ideas for how to style balloons that are filled only with air:

1 //  2  //  3  //  4

So for decor we’ll go with air-filled! Greener and cheaper!

Recycle: I will have to buy the rest of the party servingware.  We are buying eco-friendly wooden cutlery from Etsy.  I have enough old canning jars to use as drink glasses, but I don’t like having glass around our pool area, so we will have to use paper or plastic instead. I wanted to buy some melamine plates to reuse, but I haven’t found any that fit the budget. So recycled and compostable it will be!  I love these from Susty Party, although they are beyond the scope of my limited budget! Instead, we’re going with these bagasse plates and cups. I may get crafty and stamp or paint a design on the cups since they are so plain.

Traditions: I’d really like to incorporate some traditions into his party. I’ve toyed around with making my own DIY Waldorf Birthday Ring, but need to source the materials.  I also love the idea of a doljabi, but feel uncomfortable appropriating it for my own uses, even though I did live in Korea for a little while!  I am part Filipino so I’d love to incorporate some Filipino traditions into the mix, but I’m not sure of any that are specific to the first birthday. We will probably have Pancit on his actual birthday as a nod to his heritage!

Anything I’m missing? Got any birthday traditions to share with me, or tips for how to make this party greener in a way that doesn’t break the bank?