I've been toying with ideas since he was six months old.
But now that Tank is a mere six weeks away from the big 1.0, I need to kick into high gear.
I've been on furlough all week, and while I haven't gotten nearly as much accomplished as I had hoped, I have made progress on The Scott Rough First Birthday Extravaganza.
I have a color scheme, I have a theme, I have invitations and a cake design. Yes, I am one of THOSE moms. The kind that goes waayy over the top for her kid's first birthday.
What I don't have is a creative bone in my body. At least not THAT kind. You know the artsy-fartsy, hand-makes cute little signs and cupcake toppers and decorations and pulls everything together in a jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, "this is so adorable" kind of way.
Ok, so that Lego party is beyond ridiculously awesome. But you get my point. I didn't get that gene.
My sister has it, as evidenced by the first-birthday blowout she threw her daughter in January. (Nope, no sibling rivalry here...nothing to live up to at all, and yes, she made all that stuff herself.)
(As an aside: I am particularly fond of the way she tells off all the naysayers in her blog:)
"I admit it. I am one of "those" moms who went a teensy bit overboard for her daughter's first birthday. "She'll never remember it." "Is this party for her, or for you?" Blah blah blah. I say, this is the only first birthday party for my first child I will ever throw. So if I want to fly fresh monkey tail flowers in from Hawaii, I can. And all you naysayers can suck it."
Well put, Kristy.
So anyway, I have been in a bit of a quandry. How do you throw a fabulous birthday party for your kid when you aren't creative enough to do it on your own?
Fortunately, for all you non-creative-types like me, I am here to say it can be done.
I have Google, and as a reporter, I have gotten pretty darn good at research and become very immune to asking questions that give away the fact that I am clueless. It simply no longer bothers me if someone thinks I am an idiot. 'Explain it to me like I am a 2-year-old,' I often say.
My sister told me about this amazing site called Etsy.com. It's like ebay, but for Martha Stewart-y types. After much trolling, I found a fabulous woman who custom designed all of the "paper products" for Scott's first birthday party. I gave her the theme I wanted to work with, and she created invitations, thank you notes, a birthday banner, yard signs, food labels...all that cutesy fun stuff. And the best part? It was dirt cheap.
She sent everything over to me via email in PDF form.
Of course I had no idea what to do with what these crafts-y folks call "DIY printables" (Do it yourself printables), but after peppering her with questions, I discovered it was all quite easy really.
I simply took the PDFs she sent me, uploaded them on to Kinko's website, told them I wanted them printed in color and 110 lb cardstock, and voila! a few hours later, picked up instant invitations and other items.
Now granted, I am still going to have to do some serious work. The birthday banner, for example, is actually all the different letter components on different pages of cardstock that I need to cut out and string together (I am guessing using ribbon and a hole punch, but am not really sure).
And I need other decorations - balloons, maybe the pom pons my sister used, I don't know, really. Food, games, etc.
I do know I won't be able to do it on my own. But I also have no shame. I've got a mother with a party-planning business, (who has already sent me a slew of ideas for centerpieces and table decor) the aforementioned craft-genius sister, and a mother-in-law who is coming in early to help set up for this not-so-understated event.
Between the four of us, I am sure we will be able to pull it all together.
My husband, in the meantime, just rolls his eyes. But luckily for me, he's keeping his opinions (somewhat) to himself and indulging my lunacy.
Scott, meanwhile, appears totally oblivious. But I am sure he'll appreciate all my hard work on the big day.
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