I absolutely love party planning. Decorating is one of my favorite pastimes. There’s something about having a vision and making it come to life in a space that is so rewarding. I love to make memories come together just by decorating.
We recently had a party to celebrate our last baby turning one and it was so much fun to plan! I really wanted to include a few key elements but still keep it simple and classy. The main things I wanted were, 1. A balloon arch 2. Sign in book/party favor spot and 3. The food/cake. We really didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on the party since we would rather spend that on toys, clothes, shoes etc. because the kid is growing like a weed. So, I set my budget at $200 and stuck to it!
Balloon Arch –
We decided to go with a Where the Wild Things Are theme so I took to Amazon and found a Balloon Arch Kit that went with our color scheme. The arch I was picturing was much larger than the kit allowed. I picked up an extra 30 12 inch white balloons from the Dollar Tree and used those as well to make it bigger and more neutral. Now, making the balloon arch was a lot harder than I anticipated. I found that if I tied two balloons together before putting them on the balloon arch tape, it made it easier and they didn’t pop out as I added new balloons.
Products- Balloon Arch Kit $17, Extra white balloons $2
Party Favors –
For party favors, I really wanted to do something simple that would actually get used. I’ve been to so many parties where we end up throwing it all away when we get home because they’re either cheap small toys, sticker that end up all over the kids clothes in the wash, and gum or candy that the kids are too little to eat. So, we decided to go with a basic chocolate bar. I mean, everyone loves chocolate, right? I found this cute customized Chocolate Bar Wrapper on Etsy and it was only $6! We printed them out, at home, and it was a quick, classy and cheap way to thank our guests for coming.
Products- Chocolate bars $18, Party Favor Wrapper $6
Food –
Since we had a morning party we decided to keep it simple with the food and just do light snacks. I made these Brown Sugar Bacon Crackers and my own rendition of mini pizzas with English Muffins along with your typical fruits, veggies and chips. It was super easy and the kids loved them!
Products – Food $55, Paper Products $10
Decor –
As far as the overall decor goes, I made a plan and found what I could for cheap. I was able to find some fake moss in the floral section of a few Dollar Tree stores local to us and used those to help my vision come to life. I used some brown curtain panels I had laying around and draped them over some boxes to give the table some height and visual interest. I used some fake tropical leaves from a friend, that she found in the target dollar spot a month ago, and they were the perfect touch! I, also, created some graphics, printed them and put them in dollar store frames which, really tied the whole theme together. You can find links for the these free downloads I made HERE. I also found a cute High Chair Banner on Amazon and it came with a little crown and cake topper!
Products – Fake Moss $4, Topical Leaves $9, Frames $5, High Chair decor and Cake Topper $11
Guest book –
I really wanted to have a book for all our guests to write little notes for Maverick to look back on as he gets older. So I picked up a copy of Where The Wild Things Are and had our guests pick a page and write him a sweet note. Every time we read this book he will get to see all those who loved on him and helped us celebrate!
Book $11
Cake –
The cake was the most fun part of the whole party! I’m not a very good baker so I bought two cakes from Food Lion, removed the icing, re iced them and added “bark.” It was extremely easy to do. I melted chocolate down and let it harden on a cookie sheet, broke it up and added it to the outside of the cake with icing to make it look like a tree trunk. Then I took some melted chocolate and filled in the holes and it turned out really pretty. When I added some of the moss around the bottom it really looked like a tree trunk!
Products – 2 Cakes from Foodlion $25, Icing $4, Chocolate $8
I had been wanting to do this theme for a while and I’m so happy with how it turned out. It was very inexpensive and a classic way to have a Where the Wild Things Are Party! There is so much pressure to have these extravagant parties and spend hundreds of dollars on a two hour party and while, I would have loved to do that, it just wasn’t realistic for us. I was extremely happy with how it all turned out and I hope this will inspire you to get creative and make your vision a reality! We were able to spend $185 and stayed under our $200 budget and still create a beautiful experience for Maverick and all his guests!
I’ve linked the items we used and similar items HERE for you create your own Where The Wild Things Are Party! happy Planning!
Xoxo,
Leslie
Leslie Haymer 
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