Crafty Savviness

With Micro's first birthday party well behind us, I can look back on it and say, "ok, that was fun, but a lot of work." In true Filipino fashion, we celebrated with a big party and had lechon for our guests. My sister even managed to reuse her cupcake tower in a fun and pretty way without using any cupcakes.

In the weeks leading up to his birthday (which planning only commenced at the beginning of October-because I was too lazy to start any sooner-so you can throw a decent party in a month), I was working myself over about the little details and what I could do to not spend too much on favors and decorations. Not that a bunch of toddlers need a bunch of balloons, party hats, and such to have fun (give them some open space and a nearby playground and they're good to go), but I wanted to mark Micro's huge milestone in a fun and crafty way.

I'm by far the least craftiest of many of my girlfriends, but I can pull some surprises. Since Micro's birthday is close to Halloween, my husband and I didn't want to have a heavily-Halloween themed party. Invitations were done in blue and brown and peppered with Halloween accents. I made a birthday banner by using up old ribbon (boy, do I have a few!), cardstock, and printing 10 pictures of Micro. It was a more personal touch than buying the plastic-y kind at party stores (and it was fun to make and a great keepsake).

The favors my husband and I worked so tirelessly on, are what I'm proudest of the most. It was a collaborative effort.

I had saved A LOT of Micro's baby food jars and knew I wanted to do something creative with them at some point (yes, at 6 months of age, I had already begun thinking of ideas for his birthday) and didn't know what until it came time to plan Micro's grand affair. I originally intended to use the glass jars as favors and thought of making them into piggy banks, candles, or homemade preserves.  Then I'd label them like baby jars, but instead of nutritional info, it would be Micro's statistics (like his current weight, likes and dislikes, you get the picture). I discussed these ideas over a quick lunch with my bf, and she thought they were good, but too complicated and time consuming. She was clever enough to think of an Oprah episode where she saw some women make individual servings of hot chocolate as inexpensive, but creative Christmas gifts. So we talked and talked, and out came

With the idea born, I headed off to Michael's to see what I could do to make it look nice. So many ideas were swarming in my head, but I needed to make sure our execution would be easy and not too labor intensive. After two trips to Michael's, Micro's Hot Chocolate Mix turned out pretty good. I must say, Mr. Fliz and I did pretty good. I'm sure some of the favors had stickers coming off, but they were useful favors and eco-friendly--you could recycle the individual components.