Hearts, stars and horseshoes. Clovers and blue moons. Pots of gold and rainbows and me red balloons. As I mentioned, Vincent’s fourth birthday is coming up. The theme he requested was colored balloons, which made me think of the Lucky Charms commercials. So I made an invitation to reflect that theme.
A bunch of rainbow-colored balloons, rainbow confetti and a number four with the birthday info. When I asked Vincent what he thought of it, he said, “Huuuuhh (that was him sucking in his breath) It’s beautiful!” I love that he’s still pretty easy to please.
For more fun and color, I gathered rainbow-colored envelopes with coordinating mailing labels.
I thought about adding confetti, but decided against it. That might be annoying for unsuspecting party attendees to have to clean up off their floors. Our guests have received the invitations and the response has been great. Though, we have had a few questions about the no gifts policy and the time. The reason? Our boys have been showered with love, affection and toys, and don’t need anything. As for the time, the 21st is Vincent’s actual birthday, but because it falls on a weekday, we decided to host a dinner party.
How do you decide your child’s birthday party theme? Do you let him or her choose? Or the time? Have you instated a no gifts policy? Ever opened an invitation filled with confetti? Did you think it was cute, or annoying?
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so cute! we’re having a small party for our son’s 1st bday in october…it’s going to be mexican themed! (purely because i’m obsessed with mexican food and will take any chance i can to stuff my face with it!)
its just going to be family – 20 people max. i plan on having a taco bar, yummy dips, and margaritas for the big kids! 🙂 the decor will be super simple/cheap – colorful banners, DIY poms, etc.
with your theme, you could construct pretty much anything and it will look great! i’m pretty sure you’ve already noted it but those balloon wreaths are so cute too!
oh, and good call on not putting confetti in the envelope!
p.s. we are going to attempt to put some board and batten up in our mudroom this weekend so i’ll be referencing all of your tips!!! 🙂
Lizzy, That sounds like a fun theme. We kind of had a Mexican theme for Vincent’s first birthday. Mostly because we had tons of bright colors. Ooh, a board and batten treatment is so fun! Please share pictures once you’ve finished (or along the way-or both!)
Jules, I hate that it’s all about gifts. And, they don’t need more stuff. I’ve noticed my kids tend to enjoy the simple things more than toys anyway. Bubbles and balloons rock their socks. And I like it that way. I’m glad to hear the confetti would have been annoying, which is exactly why I nixed the idea.
How cute! Love the no gift policy. We just celebrated my niece’s first birthday and it was all about the presents and the keg beer. One dad had to be removed and their house is full of doubles of toys that will never be played with. I did once receive a winter wonderland wedding invitation filled with fake snow and it was incredibly annoying.
Confetti = ANNOYING. I have a friend who never mails a card without confetti and I always open her cards over the trash. At least I see it coming.
* WITH confetti, sorry
I hear you on the presents thing–my son’s an only child so he has TONS of toys all to himself anyways. We’ve done “toonie” parties instead (toonie is the nickname for our 2 dollar coin in Canada) and it’s worked out great so far. The guests give 2 toonies (some give more, but it’s up to the giver) and half goes to the birthday child and the other half is donated to a charity of the child’s choice. DS actually loves this now because he gets to go out shopping later and pick out something he really wants from all of his friends…..and I love it because it means fewer unneeded toys scattered around the house. 🙂
I have had a confetti card before and it was fine…though it was a surprise and I had to clean it off the floor. I’m sure your guests are happy you chose against it 🙂 I let my kids pick, but it’s so hard because they change their minds all the time. Once decorations and favors have started, I don’t let them change it. I love the colored balloons theme! Too fun!
I LOVE the no gift party…we have also done:
Bring your own gently-used gift…and all the kids went home with one that they picked from the pile (get some more mileage out of the gifts) (5 year old girl party)
And
We also found out what the local Crisis Center needed and we included that on the invitation. I was proud of my daughter for giving up the “getting” and instead was able to “give” in a real way…she ended up with 10 large bags of shampoo, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste…it was awesome! (8 year old girl party)
For our first birthday party we themed it to something we knew she loved (since in utero even-animals). It was mostly family and it was potluck style since I don’t have the biggest budget. We always end up with an overabundance of food and never have to worry about food allergies and the like this way. if you bring something you can eat them you don’t have to worry about the stuff you can’t, right?
As per gifts I have discussed multiple times with family about the fact that we don’t have a lot of space by choice. I put in the invitation that gifts aren’t necessary because we enjoy experiences more. On the back of the card I put ideas for gifts she would actually use since a lot fo my family doesn’t care about the “no gifts” rule. They actually pout if they can’t get her sooooomething. And my DD and I go through her toys prior to the party to thin them out (and her clothes at this age) so we have room for the new toys. Some people will even call me and ask what she wants. For these people I have a list of specific items they can get her that she needs/wants. This way there are little to no duplicates.
And balloons are amazing! Love the invite and Happy Birthday to the bday boy!
I love the no-gift policy. We have done that ourselves. My DD is only 2 and doesn’t even know she is “supposed” to get gifts so I am happy not to have to deal with them anyway. (Although grandparents always get her things anyway).
I let my boys pick the theme. It was so tempting to get involved in the decision making process. Especially after I was planning my 3rd super hero party. But I kept my hopes and dreams of a campout themed party to myself and it has panned out pretty well. Every year I get even more creative. You have to, you know to keep things from becoming redundent. I have quite the repitoire of ideas for decorations and games. Practice does make perfect. It is good to work with what you have and if your kid feels like their ideas are being heard they join in on the preperations and come out of the whole thing realizing that they were the masterminds behind the whole thing. Even though your sweat made it happen.