The Boy's Birthday!

I know my weaknesses. I have no patience for measuring before I hang a picture. My fear of salmonella leads me to overcook chicken. I talk too much. I'm impulsive, impatient, and at times irrational. I'm a bossy know-it-all. But...... I can throw one helluva party! Sure, this is a useless skill in the grand scheme of things. It will not come in handy during the apocalypse, it's an impractical skill to list on a job resume, and it's generally a frivolous waste of time. But it sure is fun! There are two primary pluses of this being one of my strengths: 1) It's fun, and who doesn't like fun? 2) I can do it on a dime.

We had The Boy's first birthday party this weekend even though he won't be one until next week. His room is farm themed (see this post for more) so we carried the theme over to utilize all his farm stuff for decoration. We had friends over for a back-yard-barn- yard party on a beautiful day. I may have a tiny tendency to go a bit overboard. "I never understood why people would go all out for a first birthday party" I told The Husband, as I confirmed the time for the goat to be delivered.  Here are some photos, courtesy of my friend Kati, except for the really bad ones, which I took.

The invitations were just card stock and twine, no envelopes: $9 total.

Our menu included gold fish, farm animal cupcakes, haystacks, chicken feed (Chex mix), fence posts (pretzel rods), dirt and worms (Oreos, pudding, worms), chicken wings, robin's eggs (malted milk balls) and vegetable gardens (carrots and apples). 

                                    

I made the cupcakes and smash cake myself, which cost probably around $15 total. All the decorations here came out of his room or from our back yard. I printed pictures of him at his great grandmother's farm for $6 and put them on our old shutters. 

 Our party favors were metal buckets filled with edible nests and chewing gum eggs. Don't tell the kids, but the magical farm hen found all this on clearance right after Easter. Animal tattoos were $2 at Party City. The crate was an old corn crate someone was tossing out.

 His collection of boots. Do you think I have an obsession?

We decorated his swing set to look like a barn and added hay from the farm $0.

I bought six yards of gingham on sale for $9. I used gingham and leftover card stock and twine from the invitations to make his banner, and spread some more of the gingham (and my red snuggie) on top of the hay.

We pulled our kitchen table outside, along with church pews we already had, and more of the gingham fabric $0

The Husband made horses the kids could ride from hay bales, two old saddles, and some stick horses. $8

 We borrowed a goat for the afternoon, which the kids thought was really cool.  $0

                      We put the baby pool at the bottom of the slide for the big kids to enjoy. $0

 

And OF COURSE there was cake:

The barn made a great backdrop for some pictures. 

Don't we have the cutest friends? 

 Happy Birthday to The Boy!