Creating a Wind in the Willows Birthday Party

 

It's been a while since we had a fun DIY'd birthday party to share and heaven knows we all could use more celebratory fun this year, so without further ado, here's our  

Wind in the Willows Birthday Party!

 

Our party theme was inspired by the stop motion animation Wind in the Willows film & tv series by Cosgrove Hall from the 1980s.  Both are based on the classic children's book of the same name by Kenneth Grahame.  We discovered this enchanting series at our local library when my bigger kids were small and fell in the love with it.  We bought all of them on dvd and the book & have been enjoying them ever since. 

 

This is one of the first shows we've let our little guy watch and he LOVES the characters Ratty, Mole, Badger and, most especially, the silly & outgoing Toad.  Since we haven't been able to do many things he enjoys out & about in the past year, thanks to the craziness of the outside world, bringing the imaginary world of Wind in the Willows to life seemed ideal for his 3rd birthday.

 

We are huge fans of the talents of Cosgrove Hall, so I want to be clear that everything I put together was for our personal use only.

 

I started by making a little digital invitation using the cover of one of the dvds & iPiccy:

 

Since there were no manufactured party supplies even remotely close in theme, I had to really put my thinking cap on to pull a design together.  

 

 

I found some forest path design plastic tablecloths on Amazon, which gave the perfect "Wild Wood" vibe.  As did some log print paper plates.  A wicker picnic basket we had in a closet came in handy as a party prop since picnic hampers are featured heavily in many of the adventures the animals go on:

 

I used some plastic grass sheets and a moss covered basket (from Hobby Lobby and Michaels) to add some dimension & texture to our party table.

 

I also found a few high quality still images from the show online.  I printed those on card stock and laminated them to make some character themed party decor.  Laminating them meant my little guy could keep them after for playtime, which he has really enjoyed.  

 

I lucked out big time when I remembered we had a plastic motorcar from a Victorian-themed Playmobil set and that it was green, so it looked just like Toad's.  Boop-boop!

 

 

Years ago I'd found a used Wind in the Willows board game on eBay and it came with these charming wooden game pieces.  They were great decorating additions too:

Our favorite local bakery, Sorella's, came through in creating this incredible cake, with an edible image of the beloved characters:

 My little guy's face lit up when he saw his favorite friends on it.  Of course he wanted Toad to be on his piece.  And then he insisted on trying Mole.  Everyone else loved eating up the buttercream leaves:

 This shirt was another one of my 11th hour craft brainwaves.  The idea only occurred to me the evening before his party.  I drew the Toad design and scanned it to make into a cut file to use with some heat transfer vinyl.  I whipped it together in next to no time and was feeling pretty pleased the morning of the party....

Semper Bufo is Latin for "Always Toad" which is Toad's motto.  I thought that would be fun on a shirt so he could wear his favorite character.  Except in my rush to make it I didn't think to do a spell check and the transfer I originally made said "Buffo", which my husband noticed was wrong as I was setting up the table.  Doh!!  I knew no one else in our family - especially my 3yr old - would even know that, but I couldn't leave it.  I had just enough black HTV left (and a single blank shirt in my stash), so a couple hours before the party I did a correct version.  Phew!

The one thing party thing I was most unsure about, but ultimately most pleased with, was my handmade Toad pillow.  There was no plush toy anywhere that resembled his beloved Cosgrove Hall Toad, so I spent some time looking at still images like these:

 

 Then drawing & drafting a pattern to create this version of Toad using materials I had on hand - some snake-skin print & solid chartreuse fleece fabric, a bit of faux leather and black felt:

  

I'm not the greatest illustrator, but I feel like he came out pretty well given I scrounged my stash to make him.  It was either a miracle from above or a sign my stash is out of control.  I may even share how I made him in a future tutorial.  To go full on Wind in the Willows, I snagged a few used picture books, circa the '80s, on eBay, so all his presents from us would be in theme too.  

 

The tough part, as both a mom & crafter, was that my little guy was overwhelmed with all the big, bright and action-packed gifts he got from everyone else.  So during present opening time he didn't pay much attention to Mr. Toad, or the shirt.  After, when things were quiet (and he wasn't hepped-up on birthday cake), he was cuddling with him and asked to have Toad in his bed with his other favorite softies.  Since then Toad holds a special place next to his blankie and he frequently asks us to "make him talk" by saying Toad's key phrases with it.  He's worn his shirt a bunch of times too, so I know he really enjoys them, which makes all the work worth it.   

We had so much fun with the party that we left all the decorations out for him to play with for a couple of weeks.  I may even do an "open road" or "on the riverbank" WITW celebration with them outside when some big renovations to our backyard are completed for summer.  In the meantime we've got some wonderful photos to remind us of his special day and hopefully helps us recapture it again in the future:)

DIY Beach Fun Birthday Party

Every year we try to do a fun outdoor party for our middle daughter's birthday since it's the only one out of five kids that is in the summer.  With all the 'rona related hassles, and being short on party planning & prepping time, it needed to be simple.  It was just for us and a few other extended family members.  She said she just wanted it to be water themed and left it to Mom here to put together. 

I started by throwing together a quick digital invitation with a few free clip art files 

and iPiccy:

I spent about 15 minutes planning a week ahead by shopping online & another 15 minutes to lay it all out just before things started (with my 2yr old playing outside so as not to yank it all apart before anyone saw it).  And despite the no frills approach, we had decent a beach party display:

I've gone all out in previous years with DIY-ing every little decorating detail, but if you don't have a lot of time or open budget, that just gets super stressful.  Keep It Simple was the mantra this time.  I found a set of paper plates, cups and napkins on Amazon that were perfectly themed:

My toddler is obsessed with beach balls so I used a few we had in his toy bin as decorations.  A little galvanized metal planter blended right in an was ideally size to hold the treat bags:

I had a yard of the sand print cotton fabric in my stash so it was perfect as a table runner:

We did some sandwich trays, coleslaw, potato salad & chips from a small local deli for the eats to keep food prep easy.  I barely have time to tidy up and get dressed so elaborate themed, hand prepped food is too time consuming!  I went for some easy, water themed, ready made snacks instead. Goldfish crackers & Swedish fish candies in some colorful bowls we already had that were perfect matches to her party supplies:

Part of our gift to her was this jumbo 10'x6' pool and the red, white & blue inflatable speaker in it so she can splash and soak while listening to her favorite songs.

And since there were teenage brothers & a cousin who we knew wouldn't be as excited about splashing in a wading pool with the smalls, we got a jumbo package of 420 water balloons and got all the squirt toys out so they could all get wet & wild and have fun.  Even the adults joined in.

 Normally we splurge on an elaborately decorated cake from a local bakery, but we kinda spent the cake budget on the pool instead, so we went with a basic sheet cake from the grocery store that was about 1/4 the price. I sprinkled on a bit of brown sugar for sand and pipped on a bit of blue frosting for some waves and added a few Swedish fish.  Adding in a couple of paper drink umbrellas to act as our beach umbrellas and some Happy Birthday shaped candles and the cake was good to go.  

Our indoor table centerpiece, a shark shaped piñata I got from Hobby Lobby, was also part of the festivities.  

Even our little guy got in on the action since he'd napped through her previous two birthdays and not had the piñata experience before:

And for the sunblock police (because there's always someone on the internet who feels compelled make a judgement & comment on things like this), he wore a sunhat & rash guard all day and was only without them for the 30 seconds he hit the piñata so he could see and swing the bat freely.

All in all it was really fun and the birthday girl was super pleased.  For the first time in 11 years we didn't have a day of rain or sweltering 90+ degree weather either, so it was a real blessing.  Everyone had a blast and it felt so good to have one thing seem normal this summer.  It's hard to believe it's now September and summer is winding down, but we got to wrap it up with some good water filled fun!

DIY Flower Garden Birthday Party

Last week my daughter turned 10, so it was extended family party time.  As my only summer birthday kid, it's hands down the easiest one to host, which means doing themes is more fun (and almost always requested). 

My goal for this party was to make it pretty, but not break my neck.  I was determined to use as much as I already had in the house so I wouldn't have to spend a lot on single use things or have lots more stuff to store.  Amazingly, it actually worked - nearly everything was reused from parties past!

I had a couple of jumbo faux flowers that I'd bought years ago to use for photoshoots for my shops.  They'd just been sitting in the corner of my craft room, so they were perfect to put out as table decor.  I added a few giant tissue paper flowers to fill things in.

Smaller foam roses were from last year's Sewing Themed Birthday.  The beautiful branch and floral frame was from our Fairy Garden Birthday the year before that.  My husband had made it from fallen branches in our backyard to use as a photo booth frame and it had been too beautiful to toss out.  I'm so glad we saved it!! 

Pretty pastel paper straws in a mason jar served as extra functional decorations too:

Some galvanized tins I've used for past parties served as a perfect mini planters.  I added some faux flower stalks and felt dirt. 

I had some mini silicone baking pots that I filled with Raisinets to make edible dirt and threaded some silk flowers onto round suckers to make flowers to "sprout" from them:

At the eleventh hour I decided to make some modeling chocolate roses.  I only had orange candy melts in the house, but it worked out great since there were some orange flowers on the party plates.  

For our lunchtime spread I wanted to keep it easy prep-wise, so we did a sandwich making station.  I already had a flower shaped tray to lay out the meats & cheeses and some nesting flower shaped bowls for the other fixings (which we use all the time for salads & chips).

I made some pasta salad and a fruit salad to complete things.  The healthy foods, meant plenty of room for the treats after.

Our kids love having a birthday piñata, but I didn't have a bunch of piñata-useful materials on hand to DIY one.  I found this flower one on Amazon that was fairly inexpensive.

It held up great - the birthday girl, plus 4 teens got to give it some good whacks before all the candy fell out:

I worked with our local bakery to design this beautiful flower basket cake to go with everything else I'd put together.  They've always done a great job on cakes and everyone loved all the delicious frosting flowers and the faux basket sides.

 Apart from the cake, candy, paper plates and piñata, everything was a repurpose, which kept things inexpensive and easy, but still turned out beautiful.  My daughter loved her party and already said she thinks she wants another flower garden party next year.  If she does, it'll be even easier next year!  

Looking for more party ideas? 
Check out these past party tours: