Last year I struggled with the theme for my youngest son’s first birthday, and it was deja vu again this year trying to decide his second. I had narrowed it down to 4 themes (with two top contenders) and just didn’t feel settled, like I was missing something I couldn’t explain. I was heavily pulled towards the star theme but still felt like there was something more. While holding Wesley one day for his nap, I asked God again to show me what He wanted for this birthday theme. So He told me to look up verses. “Uhhhh….That’s kinda vague, God.” I told Him. “What verses am I supposed to look up?” So I googled “good verses for a child’s birthday”, brilliant, I know…thank you, thank you! It was not really helpful at first (nah duh!!) but I saw the verse that talks about God counting the stars and knowing their names. At that, I felt His nudge to search stars in Scripture. I then “stumbled” upon Job where he references stars and specifically three constellations, including “The Bear”. Well, that shot something electric inside so I looked it up further. Side bar here, keep in mind our son’s name altogether means “Bear from the west meadow seeking after righteousness”, not at all our usual name meaning or intent and it was really only put together into a picture after he was born. More on that story in the post Fighting for a Promise Part 4. And, continue…I didn’t realize the Great Bear constellation is also Ursa Major/Big Dipper somehow. It is the 3rd largest constellation (interesting that Wesley is the 3rd child) AND it is always pointed towards the north that moves or is a variable (Can you say “seeking after righteousness”?). Additionally, I read that in some parts of the world it is considered other things as well, including a boat which was my other big theme contender I was trying to decide on! So in the end, I knew it was going to be a star theme predominantly but was trying to find a song or story etc that tied it together. It came close in the song “Hushabye Mountain” from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang that I sang often to Wesley as he would sleep along with “Be Thou My Vision” and “In Christ Alone”. But the Lord told me, “Why don’t you write a poem?” So I did.
I created an inspiration board and knew I had to have yellow because that is Wesley’s favorite color it seems. Everywhere we go he says “yellow!!!” when we see it. But he also likes several colors and it was fall, so I decided on a dark teal, blue, mustard yellow, gold and rust and I couldn’t have loved it more!
Pardon some of the poor pictures! It got busy so I forgot to get all the pictures or to get all of them before everyone arrived. The food menu got quite a bit creative for everyone and it was a hit!! We did a pasta bar, and used individual pans with lids. The oven was set to 350 degrees. Firstly, we wrote our names on the lids and then everyone made their own pasta to their liking! Once ready, they went into the oven for ten-ish minutes (or cold for those that prefer cold pasta). During the ten minutes, we did a couple crafts with the kids (read below for those). The pasta pans were the perfect size and allowed for us to get seconds or thirds with new combinations and it was so fun, so much so it’s in the plans for New Year’s already including a cobbler bar with the same pans! The beautiful thing about the pasta bar is that you can cut and precook all the veggies and even precook the meat a day or two before and set all food out cold! It’s also one of those meals you can have everyone pitch in and bring items easily! These are the foods we had on our pasta bar menu:
- Penne
- Elbow noodles
- Spaghetti noodles
- Alfredo
- Tomato basil
- Diced tomatoes
- Basil pesto
- Olives
- Sundried tomatoes
- Mushrooms
- Spinach leaves
- Basil
- Peas
- Lemon slices
- Onions
- Capers
- Grilled chicken
- Ground beef
- Bacon
- Parmesan
- Mozzarella
- Cheddar cheese
I also made a no fuss apple cider autumn punch that the kids really liked since it wasn’t strong. This is the ratio I used and tripled it to the amount I needed:
- 4 cups apple cider
- 1 cup pear nectar or white grape juice
- 3 cups ginger ale
- apples cut into stars
I also must give a huge shout out to Aly with Sweet Anomaly’s cause her cookies were perfection in color, theme, and taste!
Now, for the crafts! We had two simple ones. The first one required a jar, hairspray, glitter and fairy twinkle lights. Simply spray inside the jar then let the kids dust the inside of the jar with glitter of their choosing and pattern. Roll it around as necessary to coat all sides. Set aside to dry. Once dry, ball up the fairy lights into the jar, turn on, and seal the lid. My boys wanted to sleep with them at night and the three little jars just made the room so magical! Also, a side note is that I love Oui yogurt so I collect the jars for various crafts and just buy the lids if I need. They look so cute for gifts and favors!
The second craft required colored cardstock (I chose colors to fit the theme), battery operated tea lights, single hole punchers (we had a star and circle but you can use other shapes too), crayons, double sided tape and decorative cutting scissors for edging (optional). They cut the paper to the size they wanted with the decorative edge. Then they punched patterns and designs and colored however they wanted. Once finished, we put a little double sided tape on the side of the tea light then carefully rolled the tea light and the paper to create a cylinder. Lastly, we placed another piece of double sided tape on the inside of the vertical edge to seal the seam together. Voila, another magical star craft!
Between those crafts and their little favor bags of glow in the dark stars, they were all quite pleased with their treasures and it was a very very cheap craft and favor since I had everything but the colorful cardstock!
As a final note, here are links to what I used or things comparable since some things I already had for the party!
disposable wood and gold utensils
dark teal cheesecloth gauze napkins
dusty deep blue cheesecloth gauze table runners
gold constellation sheer fabric
hoop centerpieces (I tied little stars with fishing line to them)