How it all began... Winter ONEderland.

Nine months pregnant, surrounded by sophomore English students whose state test was over, and desperately wanting to be at home (most likely eating Mexican food), I needed some motivation to make it the last three days of my pregnancy. I was needing something to pour my time into since my over-preparedness had me ready for H-bug for the past couple weeks. Then two former students introduced me to a growing trend... Pinterest. From this point on, it was over. Party planning for the cheap was discovered and it was over.

Although H-bug had not made her debut into the world, I began to plan her first birthday party which was Winter ONEderland. It started with the simple idea of having snowflakes hanging above the food table and slowly grew into handmade snowmen popcorn favors and homemade playsnow (playdough) for the kids. Like any first time mother of a sweet daughter, tulle, glitter, and sparkles began to fly. Praise the Lord for a patient husband because for a year I planned a birthday party.

Here was the food spread:

From left to right (as best as possible): Snowman kabobs (see below), Sausage balls, Cheeese board, Mini Quiches, Veggies in the Snow, Fruit in the Snow, and Snowman cupcakes.

Snowman Cupcakes: Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. I used regular chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, and cut up candy orange slices to make the faces. 

 Snowman Kabobs: White powered donuts with black icing and candy corn.

The Needed Supplies:

We had hot chocolate for everyone to drink, so out snowman cups were a MUST. Thanks to GFS for cheap cups and lids, all I had to do was punch holes in black construction paper, break out some of H-bug's finger paint, and dig out some scrap orange construction paper, and we were in business. Water bottle wrappers were one of the cutest, cheapest, and easiest decor ideas that ever came my way.

Water and Hot Chocolate Cups

  The decorations:

Would you believe that in all the excitement that I forgot to take a picture of the "Winter ONEderland" sign? Ridiculous, right? Here are the crowd favorites though:

H-bug: A Year in Review.  Simple scrapbook paper and ribbon showed our pride a joy. Thanks, Hobby Lobby!

Tutu High Chair with Dollar Spot Snowflakes.

 Everyone's FAVORite: The favors. I was able to find 24 packs of popcorn for $5 on Wal-Mart.com.  So, for $10 I had the basics for 48 party favors. This turned into lots of popcorn for the hubs and me, but we like it so it works. I found a snowman popcorn template wrapper on Pinterest. Where else? Printed the wrappers out, wrapped some yarn around them, and attached a fabric hat that I hot glued on. The back of the favors read : "Thanks for POPPING by my party. I had SNOW much fun! Love, H-bug."

The Favors

Extras for fun: 

To keep the kiddos busy since there were a house full of adults- too many to be honest- I had playSNOW and random snowman clings (Thanks, Target dollarspot). There is no telling how many friends and family snuck playSNOW home because they went quickly. The playSNOW sparkled and smelled of peppermint, so it was addicting.

 

Tags for PlaySNOW

At the end of the day, H-bug was wiped in tutu and all, surrounded by presents, and most importantly known that she is loved and such a blessing to her mama!