Celebrate your little one's birthday with a present-themed party. Credit: Getty Images
We all know that a toddler's favorite part of the party is the presents -- so why not make that the theme for his party? Here's how one clever mom did just that.
For my son's first birthday, my husband and I toyed with party theme ideas for weeks before settling on a gift box theme. As a 1-year-old, my son was only beginning to show affection for certain toys or shows, and there was no clear winner. Instead, we decided to model everything after a giant present -- something we were sure any child would love.
My first task was the cake. I wanted it to be a statement defining the theme of the party. I decided to design the cake, but I hired someone to bake and decorate it because I had no personal expertise in that arena.
The cake was built as two large boxes piled on top of each other, with the top one slightly smaller and rotated at a 45-degree angle relative to the bottom one, so that it looked like a small stack of presents. The bottom cake was red velvet and the top cake was white (to appease picky eaters). The entire thing was covered with orange and yellow butter cream frosting.
The baker used fondant to create a ribbon that wrapped around both cakes and ended in a giant bow at the top. Topped with "Happy 1st Birthday Frankie," the cake looked (and tasted) divine. Because the cake was so large, we used a single sparkler-type candle (very tall and thin) on top. Perfect! We had enough left over for guests to bring home, and we froze a large piece to eat on his second birthday.
The main party occurred in our dining room, although people mingled throughout the entire downstairs. Because the cake was displayed on our dining room table, this was the room that we decorated the most.
My gift box theme was extended to make the room look like a giant gift box itself. I purchased large bolts of 6-inch red tulle and satin ribbon and ran it along the floor, four walls and the ceiling. We found that double-sided tape was not strong enough on its own, but reinforcing each vertex with durable, transparent tape did the trick. We built a huge tulle bow and hung it from the chandelier in the center of the room (any non-recessed light or ceiling fan should work for this).
Walking into the room felt like walking into a giant gift box and viewing it from the inside.
In the same room, I displayed my son's completed baby book. In addition, we chose our favorite pictures from his first year to create a slide show set to the song "Make a Wish" by Chris Rosser. We used a small digital photo frame that allowed MP3 upload for this, and we kept the music low so guests would not grow bored of the same song on repeat.
I also filled the house with helium balloons. I decided to rent a helium tank and inflate the balloons at home. This worked extremely well as I inflated more than 100 balloons, and there was no way I would have been able to fit all of them in the car. We taped balloon bunches into every corner of the house and added them to the outdoor porch railings and the mailbox.
The gift box theme is versatile, simple and can be dressed up or down for an elegant or funky birthday party that guests of all ages can enjoy.
Jennifer Griffin contributed this piece to Holidash via Seed. For more information on becoming a contributor, visit Seed.com.
