Ronan's Wild Rumpus - Part I

Ronan is 1!!! Can you even believe it? I barely can even now and the big event happened a week ago.  Reflecting on his upcoming birthday was so bittersweet. We love him so much more now than we could have imagined possible a year ago. He is so fun and interactive and joyful, but we miss that tiny snugly, sleeping baby.  What a good year it has been! We're so thankful to have such a healthy and happy baby and that I've been able to be home and enjoy each moment with him.

Planning Ronan's first birthday party was a fun way for me to stay excited (rather than too reminiscent) for this big event and gave me a chance to use some of my creative skills. So fun. I love parties!

We decided to do a theme for his party (more fun for me!) and went with "Where the Wild Things Are."  Patrick and I both love the book, we even have a couple wild things magnets on our fridge. Ronan is definitely a "wild thing" in his own right, loves dancing and music (hence the wild rumpus), likes to growl at us...so we just thought this theme was perfect. 

For the first part, I'll focus on the theme and decor. I found tons of inspiration online.  I'm thrilled that everything was super inexpensive- The Dollar Tree, JoAnn's coupons and my basement storage areas were my best friends :)  Natural elements (grasses, dried allium, twigs), burlap and jute twine and the colors brown, green and yellow were the main components of the decor.  Luckily, this related so well to the book, because I already had most of it on hand :)

Welcome wreath: $1 wreath covered in burlap scraps. I printed, cut out and hot glued the flags to twine and just tied them on the wreath. I plan to redecorate it for Thanksgiving, if I ever get to it.

These banners are so popular right now, but I still love them! I originally planned to put this banner on his high chair, but that didn't work out. I like it here better :)  I think I spent a couple bucks on a yard of burlap which I was able to use for all of these projects.  I ended up having to hand lettering each flag which was SO much easier than my original plan. This was probably the easiest, fastest project I did and I love it!

Photo Collage - probably everybody's favorite feature, us included! I saw a similar idea on Pinterest, but had so many photos I wanted to expand each month's category to include 4 photos.  Lucky for me, Shutterfly was recently offering a 50 free photos deal. I already had the felt, twine and clothespins, so this project was pretty much free (except shipping cost for the photos)! It is so fun to compare each month side-by-side and see how much Ronan has grown and changed.

I saw this idea on Pinterest too and knew right away I wanted to do something similar above Ronan's high chair.  I bought a couple of packages of tissue paper at the Dollar Tree and used this tutorial. I found the honeycomb balls online and then Patrick had the awesome idea to use our twig ball lights (they are usually on the patio). I love the natural element they add. Way to go babe!

I sure like eating, but making the food for a party isn't really my favorite part :) So, I tried to keep the food simple.  As I was planning the food, I realized a lot of what I was planning was consistent with the color scheme. So I just went with it. Silly, but fun :)

I didn't want to pay a ton of money for a cake that Ronan was either going to smash and/or not be interested in (turned out to be the latter). Again, keeping it simple with boxed cake and canned frosting.  I made the little cake topper. Cute huh?

"Thank you for helping us crown Ronan king of all wild things." Yummy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for each person to take home.

Next up: Part II, focusing on the birthday boy and all of the fabulous people in our lives who truly made this a great party!