Sam’s First Birthday–The Decor

 

Happy Friday, friends! My first (almost) full week of work is in the bag and I am REALLY ready for some undivided time with Sam this weekend.

A week ago today the house was covered in birthday paraphernalia as we got ready to celebrate Sam’s first year of life.

I love to plan and organize and that includes a party. I had known a LONG time ago that the theme of Sam’s birthday was going to be “Green Eggs and Ham”. It’s a pretty hard theme to decorate with because there is very little in the traditional party section at stores. So, I had to get creative but (as you could guess), I didn’t want to spend a whole lot of money! Here is what I did.

This awesome chalk board sign that adorned the kitchen? Free! It was bought and made by a good friend that I met through social media! I loved it and have it in storage for now!

As you have seen before, the balloon wreath. I hope that this wreath will be hung in our home for every birthday! It was very inexpensive to make because the only material that I had to buy was the balloons from the dollar store!

I had a couple of green table clothes that worked for our kitchen and dining room table. I had made 14 tissue paper pom poms and hung them randomly around the house. The tulips were a gift from my Mom for Easter.

A few years ago Ryan and I put our home on the Christmas House Tour. It was SO fun to show off all the work that we had done to our house. In order to demonstrate to people the amount of work we had done, I had printed and framed “Before” pictures to place in each room. I kept those frames for the last 3 years and haven’t done anything with them. I took my “Green Eggs and Ham” book to our office and photo copied a few pages and framed them in the old frames. I placed these frames around the house in every room. A fun and FREE decoration!

A couple dollar store table clothes decorated the food table. My table is wood so I could easily staple the tablecloth to the table and not worry about it moving. I REALLY scored at Target during their store closing clearance. Straws, napkins, plates and cutlery all came from target at 50% off!

One of my favourite things to do during the last year was taking Sam’s monthly pictures! I loved to see how he has changed during the last 12 months of his life. I took 1 picture from each month and printed it on regular computer paper, cut it out and used the frames on our closet doors in the kitchen.

It’s been a tradition in my family that every year you get a tin foil number hung in the kitchen representing your age! My brother and I have continued to carry on the tradition in our own homes. Here is the story behind tin foil numbers.

Balloons were ones I snagged when making the wreath.

More tissue Pom’s and a “Happy Birthday” sign that I made and painted from cardstock that I already had and old paint from when our bathroom was orange.

This chair was a huge score! My brother has had it in his attic forever and he didn’t know where it came from. He was actually planning on tossing it because it was in such rough shape! I quickly grabbed it before it hit the trash thinking that if I could fix it up a little, it would be cute for Sam’s birthday! Some hard scrubbing and old bathroom paint that was left over and this beauty was the perfect throne for the birthday boy!

My dad was taken aback when he saw it and asked where I got it. I said Jared was going to toss it so I took it. He said that he was pretty sure it was my grandfathers (and his sisters) highchair that was handmade. A quick call and sure enough, this highchair has been in the family for almost 100 years! I am so glad that I gave it a chance because its in great shape now and will continue to be in the family for many more years.

The banner was just something I quickly made the day before Sam’s birthday!

I loved how the Green Eggs and Ham themed turned out! Lots of touches or orange and green! The best part, EVERYTHING cost me less than $50. Now that’s a cheap way to throw a party! It just shows a little bit of time, searching around and elbow grease can make a big difference in spending a little or a lot of money! Sam won’t remember his first birthday party but I hope that one day he will look back on the pictures and know how much I did to make the day special for him.

Have a great weekend!

xo