Hello, Irene from designstiles, an interior design firm specializing in kids rooms and kids parties, here to share tips on adding a personal touch to your little one’s birthday celebration.
My son just turned one a couple of weeks ago. My husband and I decided it was best to rent a birthday party space rather than host it at our home. Planning a child’s birthday party can be stressful enough, which is why renting out a Birthday party location in your city is such a great idea!
However, while most people may see it as a perk to have the space set up and decorate as part of their birthday package, I worried that it wouldn’t feel personal enough. And rather than purchase completely all new decor and add those extra expenses, I tried to incorporate what was provided with the venue with pieces that represented more personality. If you’re a mom looking for kids party places and still want to make the birthday party experience here are some of the ideas I used to make my son’s birthday feel more unique.
Kids Party Place
We chose Kidville, an establishment with several locations throughout the US, as our party venue. They offered to send digital invitations to our guests or a discount to printed invitations through Paper Culture. I wanted a keepsake so I felt a printed invite was the route to go. I went with these orange and yellow Cat Face invitations. My son’s name is Felix and most people associate the name with the cartoon character so I felt it was a cute nod and the colors coordinated with the Kidville brand color. I wanted to tie colors in as much as possible while creating something to call my own.
I based my decisions off birthday party set-ups on the Kidville site. I kept the multi-colored balloons but decided to offset the colors with some solid pastel blue plates. For contrast and pattern mixing, I added a darker blue striped tablecloth. These adorable napkins brought in a special, playful touch and felt the little cat on them tied in with the invitation. These party hats were used to add to the festivities. I also purchased a simple Happy Birthday banner with polka dots to tie in with the dots used on the Kidville Logo.
The icing on the proverbial cake was the illustration I had Little-Biscuits make of Felix that I used for tags on party favors.
As the kids enjoyed pizza and juice, also provided by Kidville, the adults delighted in gourmet hot dogs catered by Let’s Be Frank.
I’m a little bummed I didn’t have professional pictures taken. I actually thought I would have enough time to take pictures myself. Never the case when you’re hosting. But I’ll share a few shots I did manage to capture.
I wanted a different approach to the monthly photo display I often see at first birthdays, so I used these air quotes I found at my local Michaels and wrote funny sayings on them, another way to show personality. And there’s the birthday boy in all his pizza eating glory. From Michaels I also bought these letters and had my sister cut out eyes and whiskers to match the party invite. She made his crown as well.
I was worried that I would have to lose all control in decorating and setting up for the party, seeing as event planning is part of my profession, but the amount of stress that was alleviated was well worth the small amount I had to hand over to Kidville to execute my vision. I can’t speak for all venues, but they were very open to my ideas and detailed instructions. Plus a kid place is catered to kids a lot more than my home could’ve been and when kids have fun, parents are more likely to enjoy themselves too.
It was a win-win for Felix’s first birthday!
Moms, how do you like to celebrate your child’s Birthday?
