Kylie Mae's Party Ways: Winter Wonderland

My sweet boy is officially a one year old! In one day he's gone from little baby to rambunctious toddler. It's hard to comprehend how fast this year has flown by. Perhaps it's the sleepless nights that have merged the days together. Whatever the reason, I wasn't quite prepared for his birthday. Sure I was prepared for the party, but I wasn't ready to admit that he was becoming a little boy and, with that, becoming more independent. Thankfully, to my relief, not too much has changed although my husband did finally talk me into cutting his unruly hair, making him appear even more like a little boy and less like a baby. He's still my sweet boy, and he's still my little cuddle bug.
For his first birthday, I knew months in advance that I wanted a winter one-derland (I couldn't resist the play on words). Specifically, I wanted to incorporate penguins and polar bears but still keep the party boyish, which led to a color scheme of aqua, black, and white. The house was transformed into a wintery scene, from the welcoming entryway sign to the penguin beach balls in the backyard. The foyer hosted a hanging banner displaying a picture of him from each month, large felt snowflakes, a statistics chalkboard (displaying his accomplishments and favorite things), penguin favor bags for each little guest, and glass jars filled with color coordinating candy for the older guests. The main food table (pictured below) was decorated with snowy white tree branches and themed treats such as "hot" chocolate pudding mugs and a cheese ball igloo.

Menu:
Snowballs (popcorn balls)
Snow capped cupcakes (shortcake, filled with fresh strawberries, and topped with whip cream icing)
Smash cake - white covered cake with blue fondant snowflakes
Cotton candy snow
Icicles (white chocolate covered pretzel rods)
"Hot" chocolate pudding cups (chocolate pudding topped with homemade whip cream)
Cheese ball Igloo
Northern lights fruit cups (mandarin oranges, blueberries, and sliced apples)
Arctic circles (white powder donuts)
Penguin snacks (fish shaped mesquite turkey and white American cheese sandwiches)
Snow flurries (white cheese puffs)
Yellow Snow (lemonade)
Melted Glacier (blue punch, sprite, white cranberry juice and an ice cream "glacier")
Melted Snow (bottled water with personalized labels)

Get the Look: Main food table
Tablecloth: white twin flat sheet (Wal-mart)
Runner: material (Hobby Lobby)
Cupcake toppers: personalized toppers made by using a Cricut machine and cartridge
Sparkling white branches: branches spray painted white and added to vases filled with fake snow and poly-fil
Food tents: black card stock and handwritten using a chalk marker
Plates (Dollar Tree)
Cups (Party City)
Straws (Hobby Lobby)

Although it was close to 70 degrees outside that day, I had planned on a much colder day in February and had a hot chocolate bar available for our guests. We have such wonderful friends that they even humored us by helping themselves to the hot chocolate, coffee, chocolate sprinkles, and homemade marshmallows.

Menu: Hot Chocolate Bar
Variety of hot chocolate k-cups
White chocolate chips
Crushed peppermint
Mini chocolate chips
Mini marshmallows
Chocolate sprinkles
Pirouline cookies
Whip cream
Caramel bites
Homemade marshmallows

Get the Look: Hot Chocolate Bar
Backdrop: 2 yards of aqua material (JoAnn Fabrics)
Snowflake garland: individually cut snowflakes attached to fishing line
Canvas: painted a canvas black then added the words with a white paint pen (no stencil was used)
Cups: insulated cups (Target)
Straws: coffee stirrers from the grocery store
Mix-ins: displayed in both clear plastic cups and glass pedestal bowls
Wooden spoons for mix-ins (Tomkat Studio)
Tiers used for mix-ins: styrofoam blocks wrapped with blue tissue paper with blue snowflake card stock attached to the top
Stuffed Polar Bear: a favorite family Christmas decoration
Cocoa Bar sign: painted a wooden sign (Michaels) with chalkboard paint and added words with a white chalk marker

The birthday boy spent the afternoon doing what he loves most: playing outside. He LOVES to dig in the dirt, chase bubbles, and drag his wooden pull toy puppy through the grass. He was all smiles as he dug his hands into his snowflake covered smash cake. Since it was a gorgeous day, the kids happily played outside. I had crayons and foam penguin crafts available for them (just in case we were indoors), but I completely forgot about them due to the beautiful weather. The kids stayed busy sliding into the ball pit, running after penguin shaped beach balls, and chasing bubbles via a bubble machine (thanks to my husband's genius purchase).
My husband and I feel so blessed to be the parents of these two precious boys, and are so happy to celebrate such a huge milestone with our closest friends. I could not have asked for a more perfect day.

Get the look: Outdoor table and decorations
Tablecloth: vinyl tablecloth for easy clean up
Center: white bucket filled with individually bagged foam pieces to make penguins, 5x7 white card stock sheets decorated with snowflakes, and two small white buckets filled with crayons and mini wintery coloring books
Place setting: white square plate (Dollar Tree), penguin drinking cups (Wal-mart), napkins (Party City), penguin utensil holders (handmade)
Penguin utensil holders: made by gluing two squares of black felt together and attaching a white face and orange beak to the top square.
Snow covered tree cones: paper mache cones covered in white wrapping paper and covered with white glitter (large tree), white nonpareils (medium tree), and white sparkling sugar (small tree)
Igloo: handmade by cutting a styrofoam ball in half and attaching sugar cubes to the outside with a hot glue gun
Chalkboard sign: wooden sign covered with chalkboard paint and written on with a chalkboard marker
Penguin beach balls (Oriental Trading and Amazon)
Balloons (Party City)
Winter Wonderland sign: wooden stick (Michaels) cut in half and angled on the end. The base was painted with white and blue stripes and the top painted with chalkboard paint and written on with a chalkboard marker. The sign was surrounded with fake white snow and aqua snowflakes.
Favor bags: black paper bags decorated with penguin faces and tied at the top with aqua ribbon and a personalized thank you tag
Favors included: snowflake cookie cutter, Whatch it Grow snowflakes, light up squishy winter characters (penguins, snowmen, etc.), finger puppets and stickers.