REAL PARTIES: “Wild Rumpus” Birthday

Today’s Real Party feature looks like so much fun! It’s a “Wild Rumpus” Birthday that Kristen Gau created to celebrate the milestone first birthday of her (super adorable!) son Henry.

Inspired by the colors of autumn and the Where the Wild Things Are book & movie, this party is packed with creative ideas! Read on for lots more pics & all the details, as told by Kristen…

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“My husband and I love reading Where the Wild Things Are to our son Henry and are have been a bit overly excited about the movie. Months ago when we learned the movie would be released one week before Henry’s first birthday, we decided a Wild Rumpus would be the perfect party theme!

My first inclination was to do a jungle atmosphere incorporating Max and the Wild Things, but the beautiful autumn colors here in the Midwest and close proximity to Halloween inspired me to give the “jungle” an autumn twist.

I designed the invitations in an orange, yellow and black, then made a pennant banner and door sign to match.

I coordinated the orange color in the printed elements to Paper Source’s papaya envelopes and used a roll of papaya wrapping paper as a table runner for the food table.

I also used my large collection of Paper Source die cut leaves to decorate the “trees“, which were fallen limbs that I spray painted black.

To bring in more elements of the book I found Where The Wild Things Are plush dolls from Crocodile Creek and boxed puzzles for the kiddies at Mudpuppy.

Food:
We had fruit cups and cheese sticks for the little ones and “grown up” kid food for the adults such as mac and cheese, gourmet grilled cheeses and pb&j sandwiches, tomato soup, apple slices and popcorn balls.

For the table I found some cute, colorful first birthday plates at Target and ordered the BEAUTIFUL mini cake and cupcakes from a local shop, The Cakery.

Henry loved his cupcake and got icing all over himself as every one year old should.

Party Favors: Oh Henry Bars, orange fangs, and crowns!

Henry’s Wild Thing onesie and Max costume were handmade by sellers on Etsy and I sewed the crown and bib.

My husband designed and built “Max’s private boat” that fits over the top of Henry’s new red wagon. We plan to pull our little Wild Thing around in the boat for trick or treating.

We had a perfect day for the party and enjoyed celebrating our little man’s first birthday with our family and friends. Even though Henry will likely not remember his first birthday, I wanted to make it special and it will be a memory I will always treasure.”

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Everything turned out SO CUTE, Kristen! Thanks for the party inspiration!