Like with anything you love too much, there is often the down side: realising that you don't have the time, money, patience, etc. to get it look just like how "they" did it. For a long time I would see something, want to try it but then talk myself out of it.
"I don't have the right tools."
"I don't have enough money to do that the right way."
"My camera doesn't take good enough pictures: how will the WORLD know that I've created something creative?!"
"What's the point if it doesn't look like I hired a professional to do it!!"
The pressure was starting to mount as my little boy's first birthday approached. Now admittedly this pressure was coming from myself and literally no one else. I like coordination! I like themes! Always have, always will. However, I just couldn't justify purchasing all the items I'd saved in my shopping cart at this amazing speciality party shop (if you are wondering where I started my birthday journey then check them out).
Not to be deterred and determined to have a lovely little theme with decorations that wouldn't break the bank, I discovered that actually, I had loads of things already in my house that I could use. I also realised that you can make a lot of good looking decorations on the cheap. Well, I think they're good looking! And if it inspires you to take up your scissors and a bit of card, I think I've done my job!
Invitations: I am sure now that I could have made my own invitations but this was the first thing I did and so I went with Vistaprint and found a template of a design that I liked. I am obsessed, slightly, with "Woodland."
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| So cute! Red heart was not included but is doing a great job of hiding my address! |
Foxy Bunting and Birthday Badge: Free! Coloured card stock, white paper, glue stick, hole punch, twine, scissors.
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| I had all these materials already in my house and so while yes, at one point they were purchased, they were technically free! |
I chose a free clip art site and once I found my favourite fox, uploaded and copied it so I could print out a few sheets with him on it. I had made my bunting by rough sketching a triangle and cutting them out with a paper guillotine. They are about the same size but I really liked that some are smaller than others and it adds to the "shabby chic" feel. This is code for: things don't have to be perfect to be lovely!
I chose the fox and the colours because I like them! And, more importantly, they are matchy to the invitations.
The heart punch added a bit of "aw" to the rustic chic of the twine used to string it all up. Below is the finished product, embellished with months 1 to 11 pictures of the birthday boy!
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| I really love how they turned out, helped to jazz up my very bare and boring magnolia painted walls! |
Diamond honeycomb shapes: £3.50 from Sainsbury's. I just stumbled upon these during a frantic search for clear balloons (I had wanted to make my own cheaper versions of confetti ballons - you will most likely have to order clear balloons, impossible to find in a last minute dash through the high street!) and I LOVE them! Again, not too matchy match but I think they still went with the overall theme.
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| The straws were leftover from my baby shower in the US - how nice to include them in his first birthday party! And yes, free! |
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I love that it the party decorations came together in a sort of haphazard but serendipitous way. It started with an idea, based on the invitations and wanting to do a bit of DIY.
The pictures are not perfect! The lighting and props are not professional level. The colours do not match 100%. But hey - this is the real world! Not everything is Pinterest Perfect. Sometimes it's Pinterest Pretending - and that's OK too!
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| Don't worry - there was a lot more food to go out! |
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