Boston's Wild Rumpus

Our little wild thing turns ONE tomorrow so this past weekend, we celebrated his big day. When I first started thinking up birthday themes for our little guy, I had planned to do a vintage baseball themed party. I pictured a baseball cake, a concession stand table set up complete with game day foods, team jerseys for the family, and a roster line up for a guest list. All the ideas had came together and I was ready to start putting my plans into motion; that was until we got to see our little man's personality. 
Around seven months old or so, Boston became a man on the move. He was into everything so the nickname "Wild One" began to stick with him. It wasn't long after we started calling him that that I happened to run across the book Where the Wild Things Are in my classroom library. It was then that I had that "lightbulb" moment and my brain switched gears. I loved the book Where the Wild Things Are growing up as a kid and I'm constantly kissing on my babies and quoting the line, "I could eat you up, I love you so". I realized then that I had been planning the wrong party for our little guy. So I switched gears and started looking for ideas for our little man's Wild Rumpus. 
As luck would have it, there weren't many Where the Wild Things Are party items out there. I searched high and low with no luck. But as a party planner, I wasn't ready to throw in the towel just yet so I set out to create my own vision by making Boston's party printables myself to coordinate with how I wanted his party to look. I wanted Boston's party to be simple so I settled on doing a traditional black and white color scheme with pops of yellowish gold. Since the book takes place in the forest, I knew I wanted to incorporate natural elements without going too over the top so I stuck with some burlap and wooden pieces. In the end it all came together more perfectly than I had ever imagined. 

In the past we've always hosted parties in the late afternoon and while it allows time for preparation, it also takes up people's entire day. So we opted to host Boston's party in the morning to allow people to come eat, enjoy the festivities, and then leave without having taken up most of their Saturday. Having hosted his party in the morning, we chose to serve breakfast foods and drinks. The menu consisted of country ham and sausage biscuits, breakfast casserole, fresh fruit, and hoop cheese. For beverages we served coffee, sweet tea, orange juice, milk, and had a variety of soft drinks for those who needed that extra boost of caffeine. 

 

I debated back and forth with whether or not to serve cake at Boston's party. Part of me wanted to keep with the breakfast theme and serve a doughnut tower but it was a birthday party after all, so in the end I settled on cake. As the co-owner of Cupcakes and Confetti, it only made sense for me to make Boston's cake. In keeping with the theme, I made two semi-naked cakes (a cake where the cake pokes through the icing) and chose to keep the icing uneven. I thought it added just a hint of rustic to the party spread. 

We kept the guest list pretty small for this party as well; which was completely different from the parties we've hosted in the past for Harper doodle. Both Kevin and I come from large families and we both have a large group of friends which means we are usually hosting parties with groups of 50 people or more. It's usually not a problem as Harper's birthday falls in May so guests can mingle in and outside of the house. Yet, with Boston's birthday  taking place in February, we were unsure of how the weather might turn out. While our house is fairly large, we in no way have room to host 50 people inside so we opted to invite our immediate families only (parents, siblings, a few aunts and uncles, and a couple friends who are like family!). I felt bad  about leaving some people out who typically get an invitation to the events at our house, but once the party started, I was so thankful we had decided to keep it small. We were able to mix and mingle without leaving anyone out and Boston wasn't overwhelmed by a bunch of people. 

After everyone had time to eat and talk, we did Boston's cake smash. This boy loves to eat so it came as no surprise that he dug into his cake...literally. 

After cleaning up our little man who was covered in cake, we attempted to open presents. I say attempted because at a year old, he doesn't really get the concept. All he cared about was taking out the tissue paper and eating it. Silly boy. 

Since the presents inside were a no-go, we took the party outside to give Boston his cozy coupe. That however was a huge hit both among Boston and the other kiddos at the party (; 

Before guests left, we had everyone sign and leave messages for Boston in a copy of the book Where the Wild Things Are; as well as grab a crown to take home. 

All in all it was the perfect party for our little wild one and we couldn't be more thrilled with how it turned out!

Sources (affiliate links):  Wood Serving Platters: Gift (similar here) Wood Crates: Michaels Plates, Cups, Silverware, Tablecloth: Walmart Balloons: Ebay (purchased here) Cake toppers: Glambanners (custom order) Birthday Shirt: The Shindiggity Shoppe (custom order) Party Crowns: Amazon (here) Book: Amazon (here)