Fiesta de Cumpleaños

I LOVE cumpleaños. I loved celebrating my daughter’s first cumpleaños more than I ever loved celebrating my own!
Before we celebrated Sofía’s first cumpleaños, I really had no experience attending baby parties. We decorated to our liking and served pasabocas or hors d'oeuvres and I made a huge red velvet cake. We hired a babysitter to hang out with the kids as they played downstairs and we set up some games.We gave out party favors to both children and adults. We tried to give something nice and homemade without going overboard or breaking the bank. My husband and I made pizzelles and included a small can of Sofía wine for the adult bag.

For the children we gave either play dough and a bag of goldfish or to the under 2 year olds, a pink rubber duckie and a bag of goldfish to eat. Since Sofía was born on groundhog’s day, we also gave all the children a groundhog cupcake. (Those were fun to research and make and will be a yearly event!).

Sofía has now attended two of her friends’ first cumpleaños parties. They were fantastic in terms of decorations and details put into the event. One really went ALL-OUT making sure everything coordinated with the cupcake theme. Things that I can think of that I noticed at the house were: a handmade painted wooden cumpleaños cupcake hanging on the front door, cumpleaños cupcake tablecloths, cumpleaños cupcake wall hangings, and a cupcake tree. They gave out favors to adults and children alike, keeping with the cupcake theme. They went ALL-OUT! In the adult bag, there was a cumpleaños cupcake magnet with Rylan’s picture in it, a hershey’s bar wrapped with cumpleaños cupcake them and Rylan’s picture, cupcake stationary, cupcake chocolates and a few other things I can’t remember. The children’s favors were equally as extravagant. All was wrapped in a sand bucket with each child’s name printed on it. Sofía received a pair of socks, a package of hair barrettes, 2 packages of cookies, a sippy cup and again a few other items that I can’t remember. I THOUGHT I took a picture of these things to post, but evidently I did not. Bummer. Yesterday, at another party, the favors were also intricate. Everything was housed in a basket-like container with about 6 different rubber duckies or penguins, a chocolate duck, a little stuffed hippo, and a beach ball. I did take a picture of this.

I wonder what other people give in their party favor bags? Now I am thinking about what I can do for next year. I have about eight months, so there is time. But I am thinking about what I can hand-make for the kids. I like to be practical AND economical (we only have one income, remember!) My friend Amy sews a bunch of fun stuff, so I’m thinking what I can sew while I have the time and can get deals on fabric. My husband would say that I’m trying to compete. I’m not, am I? I just want to be prepared and save a dime!  We have another cumpleaños in a month as another of  Sofía's friends turns one!