Sock Monkey First Birthday Party

To celebrate the girls' first birthday, we invited a few close friends and family over to my mom's house to celebrate (our house does not have the space). All the planning for this event came together nicely and we were all happy with the turn out.

We frequently call the girls "monkey," so we thought a monkey theme would be appropriate. I took it a step further and went with the apparently popular Vintage Sock Monkey theme. I love the red and brown color scheme, but I added aqua for some added color.

Here is the invite that we made. Sorry, I had to block out personal information.

Many of the decorations were made by me, including the tissue paper poms (one is missing in this picture) and the fabric pennant banner.

I also made the girls' sock monkey outfits. I came up with a pattern for making little skirts for the girls after searching the internet and Pinterest for ideas. I used some sock monkey fabric I found and sewed up these patchwork style skirts. For the shirts I purchased some plain white shirts from Old Navy and appliqued/stitched on a heart to each one.

The "Going Bananas Cupcakes" I made were a hit with the girls! I even made them somewhat "healthy" and they girls have enjoyed them a few times since their party. The recipe is posted in the previous post found here. For those not interested in bananas, I made a small handful of chocolate cupcakes as well...not so healthy and from a Trader Joes boxed mix.

In lieu of a traditional guestbook, I found a children's book about twin sock monkeys, called "Rocko and Spanky Go to a Party," who are invited to a birthday party and when they arrive at the party, they find out it is in fact a surprise party for them. Guests at our party signed inside the front cover of the book with a little message to the girls.

For favor bags, I purchased some blank white canvas drawstring bags. To make them more exciting, I appliqued and hand stitched fabric hearts to each bag. The bags contained different items depending on the age of the birthday guest, but I'll say that each bag included monkey items!

The party began at 3:30 pm, so food was "somewhat minimal." At least that was the intention. There was a mini candy bar at the dessert counter with an array of red, brown and aqua candies. For food, we served potato corn chowder and bread, turkey rolls, veggies and fruit. For drinks, there was Coca-Cola in glass bottles, bottled water and apple juice for the kids. Red polka dot paper straws were available to anyone who wanted to enjoy their beverage with a little fun!

The girls received so many wonderful gifts...toys, clothes, books, etc. They love them all!

Thank you to everyone who helped make Esme and Ellerie's first birthday special! We love you all and are thankful you are a part of our lives!

Here are a few more pictures...

UPDATE (4/6/12): As many of you know, my friend Whitney has a little girl, Lily, who is just 7 weeks younger than my girls. She recently wrote about my girls' birthday party on her blog and there are a few more pics there. She captured a few of the small details that I missed. If you'd like to take a peek, go HERE.