It's party time! I love planning parties and designing party printables has become my part-time job. {No really, it is! Go check out my ETSY Shop SewInLoveBlogShop, where you can find the printables from all my parties!} My newest party is Luke's 1st Birthday "Handyman" Party and you're all invited! Coming up with a theme for a 1st birthday party can be really difficult. 4 Years Olds ask for birthdays at DisneyLand. 3 Year Olds ask for their favorite character, Thomas the Train! 2 Year Olds love anything, especially when it's a Sock Monkey Party with their best buddies! But, how do you come up with a theme for a little guy? We chose Owen's 1st birthday theme because we were taking him to the Dallas Zoo. For Luke, I decided to see what he was drawn to. One day, after helping Daddy work in the garage, I realized that Luke's favorite toys were all TOOLS! He would crawl around with a hammer in his hand, chew on a little toy screwdriver, and he was constantly playing with his Playskool tool bench toy. Then, one weekend, Brendon built a tool bench for the garage and a light bulb went off! A handyman party! Originally, we considered having the party in our garage, using all of Brendon's tools and his new workbench as the backdrop. But... then we remembered that we live in Las Vegas--- and Luke was born in July--- and it's 107 degrees outside, in the shade. So, the party took a little detour to our dining room. Brendon volunteered (no really, he did!) to move the gigantic tool bench into the house for me. I did my part to help by holding up the door ... after it was removed from the hinges! Yes, we took down the door and the tool bench just made it into the house! *We moved the tool bench into the house a few days before the party and Owen loved it. He thought it was brilliant that we replaced the buffet table in the dining room with a useful piece of furniture, like a tool bench. I think he really thought it was staying there forever and that we'd be hammering, drilling, and working on projects inside from now on. I may be the only girl in a house full of boys, but I draw the line at storing power tools in the dining room. Now that the party is over, we've moved the bench back outside. The party theme was a perfect fit for our little man and so much fun to plan! I spent a few weeks creating all the party printables-- Banner, High Chair sign, favor tags, and a few extra decorations. Plus, hours and hours baking and decorating his cakes. The kitchen was such a mess, but the finished product was worth all the work. I had two cakes --- a "paint can" smash cake with green chocolate paint dripping down the sides, like a real paint can would. The second cake was a wooden chocolate buttercream cake with chocolate tools! The food table fit the theme, too! There were large paint trays with fruit salad, Chex Mix, a veggie tray with a small paint tray holding ranch dip, and Rice Krispies Treats Paint Brushes. These paint brushes were delicious and so simple. *Premade Rice Krispies Treats with a popsicle stick poked in the bottom and colored chocolate drizzled down the top. Brendon moved the toolbox inside for me and it became our serving station for all the plates, napkins, and utensils. I added a little sign to Luke's chair and, keeping with the theme, used zip-ties to connect them! I used my new embroidery machine to create aprons for all the kids. There were three families at the party, so I made coordinating aprons for all the siblings. Bryce and Kyle were given red aprons with a hammer and saw appliqué. Kylee, Kaleb, Landon, and Olyvia got white aprons with paint buckets that had their favorite colors as the paint. This was probably the most time consuming part of the party, but were totally worth the work! The kids looked adorable as they built toolboxes... this simple project was actually a little more complicated than expected. The dads ended up completing most of the work -- the sides wouldn't stay together and the nails bent constantly. The kids didn't mind and enjoyed watching their toolbox being built. They also enjoyed writing their names on the chalkboard paint! Luke ate the hammer while the guests waited for their toolboxes to be built! The new toolboxes were a great favor holder. Each of the kids left with a new apron and two types of favors. There were tool shaped bathtub water squirters and chocolate tools. Each were put in baggies and had a favor tag. Owen is still in love with the water squirters! We were so happy to have a house full of friends and it was the perfect number for a 1st birthday party. I loved that I had plenty of time to talk to friends, play with the kids, and enjoy watching Luke eat his cake! Luke loved seeing all of his friends. His little buddy, Kyle, took a nap during the first few minutes, slept through all the hammering, and woke up ready to party! We had a bounce house set up in the backyard. The kids (& adults) loved it! Luke smiled the entire time he got to jump! After walking around the garage, looking for ideas, I found a game ... ring toss! We set the game up using our 4 cones and diving rings. David and Brendon played a serious game of ring toss ---the kids used the cones as hats. Either way, it was a fun game! Luke loved his cards and new toys! His toy bench, from Grammy and Poppa, came with a toy phone. Luke immediately used it to call his friend, Kylee. Must have been a great talk because Luke gave her a HUGE kiss after! All those sweet kisses later, we moved onto the real sweets... CAKE! Luke had no idea what was in store! Just like his brother, Luke reached for the candle and Brendon quickly blew the candle out. While Luke ate his cake, Landon shared a little chocolate saw with him. The sugar high hit hard and fast after all the cake and chocolate! He was super giggly as he squished the cake between his fingers! He even offered to share with Jess! This party is my favorite theme yet! I loved that we used so much from our garage, the kids loved it, and the new things we purchased are all reusable! The garage now has a fresh stock of buckets, paint trays, paint tarps, and 1 cinder block. The Handyman Birthday Party printables are available for purchase in my ETSY shop! Follow this link to the listing: Handyman Birthday Party Printables Handyman Banner
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