Sailboat Birthday Party July 13, 2011

Just realized that I never posted actual photos from the Sailboat Birthday Party I threw for my son’s first birthday back in April! Here are some photos from the party. The colors for the party were navy blue, cream, beige, and sage green with accents of orange and dark red. A couple weeks before his party, I found a cute long sleeve t-shirt at Gymboree that said “I run this ship” and it had green stripes on it! How perfect! Of course, I had a welcome door sign to greet guests when they first arrived.

Welcome door sign

Sailboat Birthday Party

 

Banner

The party was in the morning and most of the kids attending were very young, between 12 and 16 months so I wanted the food to be kid friendly but at the same time, appetizing to the adults. My menu was bagels with cream cheese, ham and cheese breakfast croissants, and star (jam filled) sandwiches. I put out goldfish crackers which went perfectly with the orange accents of the party decorations. For dessert, I offered a healthy fruit platter, both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes which were decorated with the personalized cupcake toppers. I also had a large doughnut cake from a local doughnut shop, Allie’s in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. I gave them a copy of the invite and they were able to match the sailboat.

 

Buffet

 

Buffet labels

Fruit platter

 

Cupcakes

 

 

Personalized cupcake topper

 

Doughnut cake

 

For the party favors, I made chocolate dipped pretzel rods. These were very easy to make and a lot of fun! I put each one in a clear pretzel bag (available at craft stores) and then added a personalized label and a bit of grosgrain ribbon. I also had bottles of bubbles with personalized labels on those. The bubble labels said “Ships ahoy! Bubbles away!” I also had Hershey bars of chocolate that I wrapped. I have done these every year for my daughter’s birthday and I am continuing the tradition with my son!

 

Bubbles

Chocolate bar wrapper

Party favors

 

Table

Water bottle wrappers

Finally, here’s a picture of the birthday boy enjoying his first ever cupcake!

Birthday boy

If you are interested in this collection, everything is available at my Etsy store. Also, if you wanted to use this for a baby shower, then I will be happy to change the wording for you! Send me an e-mail or convo me via Etsy!

Tutorial: Personalized Candy Bar Wrapper April 25, 2011

Things you’ll need:

Print out wrapper*. Be sure to use bright white heavy paper

Bars of chocolate (1.55 oz)

Paper cutter

Adhesive such as a glue stick or photo tabs

Stylus (useful but not essential)

The things you'll need

*I can make personalized chocolate bar wrappers to match any of the invites in my Etsy store or I can make a design for you from scratch. You think of the theme and colors and I’ll create it! For this tutorial, I used the Sailboat wrapper.

Step 1: cut the paper on the grey line. Use a paper cutter to ensure a straight neat edge.

Cut the wrapper on grey line

Step 2: fold on the black line at the top of the illustration. Use the flat end of the stylus to sharpen the crease of the fold.

Fold on top black line

Use stylus to crease sharp crease

Step 3: fold on the bottom black line. These are the only two folds you’ll need to make. Again, use the stylus to get a nice crease.

Fold on bottom black line

Use stylus

Folded wrapper

Step 4: slip the chocolate bar behind the wrapper.

Insert bar

Insert bar to wrap

Step 5: turn the wrapper and the chocolate bar over so that you can apply adhesive to the back of the wrapper. I like to use a glue stick for this.

Turn over

Apply adhesive

Fold wrapper on itself

If you are using a glue stick then you’ll need to press very firmly for a few seconds to make sure it sticks.

Press firmly

Et voila! Cute personalized chocolate bar wrappers– the perfect party favor! These are a huge hit every time I throw a party- adults love them, as do the kids. Plus, the personalization mean that these wrappers make fabulous keepsakes. When you do these every birthday, you can create a fun way to track milestones.

Personalized chocolate bar

Custom party favor

Check out the other personalized chocolate wrappers that I have made in years past for my daughter’s birthday parties!