{"id":11181,"date":"2010-07-06T12:22:04","date_gmt":"2010-07-06T16:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.loraleelewis.com\/blog\/?p=11181"},"modified":"2012-05-11T18:18:50","modified_gmt":"2012-05-11T22:18:50","slug":"my-bostons-safari-adventure-1st-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.loraleelewis.com\/blog\/my-bostons-safari-adventure-1st-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"My Boston\u2019s Safari Adventure 1st Birthday!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nBirthdays, especially first birthdays, are\u00a0big deal in my home.\u00a0 My children are adopted.\u00a0 Often we have little control over the timing of when they will land in our overjoyed arms!\u00a0 The regular planning and showers that accompany a pregnancy – do not apply.\u00a0 With little Boston, we were matched mere days before his delivery!\u00a0 To counterbalance the lack of planning, I enjoy making my children’s first birthdays extra special.\u00a0 This year, we flew to Utah from Texas in order to celebrate with the whole family!\u00a0 Annie was kind enough to host the event in her beautiful backyard! Thanks, Annie!<\/p>\n

We are thrilled and feel beyond blessed that God sent this little spirit miraculously to our home.<\/p>\n

Here are a few of the details of\u00a0Boston’s Safari Adventure Birthday!<\/div>\n
First things first, here is the Birthday Boy.<\/div>\n

<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/a> A perfection confection.\u00a0\u00a0 I can’t help but kiss him day and night!<\/p>\n

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Okay, one more photo of him and then back to the party…<\/p>\n

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Okay, Okay…one more with all my kiddos not looking at the camera.\u00a0 Nothing unusual here.<\/p>\n

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Now for the part you may or may not care about.\u00a0 \u00a0Here is the party.<\/p>\n

The invitations.\u00a0\u00a0With so many jungle and safari kid parties out there, I wanted the invitation to set a\u00a0fresh\u00a0Safari\u00a0tone.\u00a0 I designed it as a vintage postcard complete with Safari Park Management Warnings and a place for the stamp!\u00a0 I thought it made it a fun first impression.\u00a0 You can find it at my shoppe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Here is the tablescape!<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>This little banner made out of burlap was\u00a0was a cinch and costs pennies. We’ll definitely do a tutorial on it soon.\u00a0 Get your stapler ready!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> We used plexiglass on top of apples to create an edible stand.\u00a0 We also placed wheatgrass behind each plate of food to create a grassland effect!<\/p>\n

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<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>What’s a party without cupcakes?\u00a0\u00a0Here are the cupcake toppers I created to coordinate with the invitations.\u00a0\u00a0 They will also be available at my shoppe <\/a>soon.<\/p>\n

For the adult guests, I ordered large sandwhiches from a local deli.<\/p>\n

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Annie and I wrapped them in wax paper, cheetah-print tissue, and twine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> One of the most tedious moments at a big affair for a parent with small children (in my humble opinion) \u00a0is dishing up all the little kiddo\u00a0plates.\u00a0\u00a0 I wanted my\u00a0adult guests to enjoy the party and not have to worry about whether their child wanted potato\u00a0chips or cheetoes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lunch sacks were\u00a0the perfect solution.\u00a0 I\u00a0filled each lunch sack with peanut butter sandwhiches, carrot sticks,\u00a0grapes,\u00a01\/2 banana, and mini\u00a0whole milk and water bottles.\u00a0 This kept the kids happy and the parents free to enjoy the party!\u00a0 I placed a humorous Park Management Warning\u00a0label on each sack – more for my enjoyment than the children’s.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Here my husband is apparently offering his mom a kid’s lunch sack.<\/p>\n

<\/a> \"\"<\/p>\n

Waterbottle labels that coordinated with the invitations were simple and chic.\u00a0 Print and stick! I always use Great Value (Walmart brand) water bottles for parties\u00a0as their labels tend to come off easily.<\/p>\n

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Here are the favor bags. Tucked inside each animal print bag was a cellophane bag filled with animal crackers. It was inexpensive and something I knew families with little ones would definitely use! You go through a lot of animal crackers with toddlers!<\/p>\n

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To save time and effort, I made a bag for each family invited\u00a0\u00a0in lieu of each guest. This kept it easy for parents …and me!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Before I had kids and often traveled for work to Europe, I would live on\u00a0Kinder’s Happy Hippos\u00a0during late night work sessions.\u00a0 I {heart} them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Naturally, I orderd fifty of each flavor for Boston’s Safari Party.\u00a0\u00a0 It was the perfect excuse. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Happy Hippos are so cute, they deserve two photos!\u00a0 We lined them up on a blue plate.\u00a0 You can find Kinder’s Happy Hippos here<\/a> or here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Annie and her husband John cut out large sillhouettes of safari animals for the event.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To keep it simple and easy, we painted them solid bright colors and placed them around the yard.\u00a0 They were a huge hit!\u00a0\u00a0 The kids loved “going on a safari” to find them!\u00a0 Here are a few of the animals:<\/p>\n

<\/a> \"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a> \"\"<\/p>\n

We also did a fun sign with arrows pointing\u00a0towards the “Grasslands,”\u00a0 “Safari Lodge”, etc.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/a> \"\"<\/p>\n

To keep the men folk out of the food while we were preparing (the cupcakes were a problematic\u00a0temptation),\u00a0Annie and I\u00a0had them set up a\u00a0“safari”\u00a0tent for the kids to enjoy and escape the\u00a0heat!<\/p>\n

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The munchkins\u00a0absolutely loved it.\u00a0 Here is another banner I did with Boston’s name!\u00a0 I told you they were easy!\u00a0 That’s why I did two!<\/p>\n

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More decor.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>A few family shots!<\/p>\n

Lee and I with our Boston.<\/p>\n

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Annie’s John with their princess looking for game!<\/p>\n

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Oma and Baby Boston!<\/p>\n

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Annie and her princess.<\/p>\n

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I hope you enjoy Boston’s Safari Birthday as much as I did planning it!<\/p>\n

Back soon with more fun,<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is a photo-filled peek at my little Boston’s Safari Adventure party…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1018,1027,1034,1051],"tags":[1154,1143,1141,1138,1142,1140,1139,1153,1137,1839,1840,1843,1837,1841,1842,1515,1358,1359,1360],"class_list":["post-11181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adoption-catharsis","category-birthdays","category-lewis-family-2","category-holidays-parties","tag-birthday-invitations","tag-childrens-birthday","tag-childrens-party","tag-childrens-party-invitations","tag-kids-birthday","tag-kids-party","tag-kids-party-invitations","tag-loralee-lewis-design","tag-party-invitations","tag-safari-adventure-invitations","tag-safari-adventure-postcard-invitations","tag-safari-adventure-water-bottle-labels","tag-safari-banner","tag-safari-cupcake-toppers","tag-safari-party-food-labels","tag-safari-party-invitations","tag-themed-party-invitations","tag-vintage-birthday-invitations","tag-vintage-party-invitations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loraleelewis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loraleelewis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loraleelewis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loraleelewis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loraleelewis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.loraleelewis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loraleelewis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loraleelewis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loraleelewis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loraleelewis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}