In celebration of this milestone, we threw a Wild Rumpus for King Gray last Saturday. We were overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from our family and friends that made the party, both from near and far. I also might add, we were super fortunate to have gorgeous weather. Who would have thought for a January birthday?! Here are the deets + pics from this special day...
The "G" door ornament was a labor of love and ended up taking quite longer than I anticipated. I purchased the wooden letter from Hobby Lobby and a paperback copy of Where the Wild Things Are from Marshall's. I tore, hot glued, and modge-podged away to achieve the look I wanted. It was hung with a small piece of wide burlap and black & white striped ribbon.
The easel from my good ol' teaching days came in handy for the rumpus. In addition to a welcome sign as the party people entered Sylvan, kids could draw on it with chalk and dry erase markers. (FYI: If you're in the market for a kids' easel, you can't beat the price of this IKEA one!)
All of the sweets, including these adorable sailboat cookies, were made by Michele at
D'lightful Bitez. She can do anything!
Grayson's invitations were done by lulupaperprints on Etsy.
With the help of Aunt Dana (check out her Etsy shop), I was able to make almost all of the decor. I bought this chalkboard-looking banner from Target, and the talented Dana wrote "Happy Birthday" and slapped on some gold crowns which were traced from poster-board. The photos with a striped background were super easy to make and spiced things up from the traditional frames. We bought display poster-board and, using an x-acto knife, cut it out to the various sizes we wanted. Then we hot glued wrapping paper and the picture on top.
We set up a coloring station for the kiddos. The white/pine table and chairs were from IKEA (only $19.99 for all three pieces!) and the orange chair was a Christmas gift from Grayson's Great Aunt Nancy. I printed off Where the Wild Things Are coloring pages online and used that same striped wrapping paper as a table cover.
I had been eyeing this Land of Nod Teepee. (Those orange and white stripes, hello!) I finally got the green light to buy it from the hubs...the very night we won our bowl game, in fact. Tip for the ladies: you gotta get the men when they're on a sports high! It was a birthday gift for Wildman that was perfect for our WTWTA theme. Our plan is to move it up to his room when the glider is removed...one day. I think it'll be a great pop of color against the navy, white, and gray scheme. We made the banner from burlap, twine, and paint.
"One Wild Year" showcased Gray at each month, using paper mache numbers from Hobby Lobby.
We also had "King Gray's Firsts", which displayed unforgettable moments from the year. Above you see his trip home from the hospital (top left) and his first trip to the doctor (bottom left).
The kids' "grub" station... yogurt, fruit pouches, and Cheerios.
Grayson's smash cake (left) matched the big birthday cake (right) for guests. As previously mentioned, these were done by Michele at D'lightful Bitez. The smash cake was displayed in a glass cloche and the birthday cake on a tree stump, purchased from Michael's using a coupon.
The inside of the cake was orange and yellow striped to match King Gray's outfit.
Guests signed a hardback copy of Where the Wild Things Are. This will be so special to look back and remember all of our loved ones that attended Gray's Wild Rumpus.
King Gray donned his crown for the cake smash.
The face says it all... he wasn't a fan.
The kid made out like a true king.
Thank you to all of our friends and family for coming to celebrate our Wildman, King Grayson. Here's to another year, sweet boy! We can't wait to see what it brings! xoxo
