Hunter's 1st birthday party: vintage newspaper theme

In case you didn’t notice, it’s Hunter/birthday week on the blog!

Tuesday didn’t seem like a very eventful day.  We didn’t have a party or do anything out of the norm for a Tuesday.  I wrote Hunter a letter and we went on a little family walk in the evening. Everything else seemed pretty normal.

But it was in fact a special day since Hunter turned one!  I am excited to share the pictures from his party on Sunday and more about the theme.  And lots and lots of cake eating pictures.  Here we go!

The theme I decided on was vintage newspaper.  I was very much inspired this vintage newspaper birthday party.  It’s where the whole idea sprung from.  I wanted something simple, inexpensive and not too over the top.

The invites I made in photoshop to look like a newspaper!

Of course, I was super inspired by everything I saw on Pinterest and pinned a whole bunch of newspaper craft to my DIY board.  That really got me excited for this!

Vintage newspaper theme colors: white, grey, black and dark blue as the accent

First newspaper creation: the banner

I followed the instructions for this 4th of july rosette banner, but only used newspaper instead of tissue paper like it called for.  After that I printed out the letters onto regular paper, then used them as a trace to cut them out of blue linen paper.  My mom cut the circles of white linen paper for me.  Everything got glued together.  Next my mom and I attached it to string using a hot glue gun and it was hung with tacks.  Attaching them to the string was the most challenging part.

With the extra newspaper rosettes I had made I attached pictures of Hunter to them and hung them around the house with string and tacks.

Second newspaper creation: baby’s first year wall art –> see how to make this

Third newspaper creation: newspaper straw vase

I rolled 1/4 sheets of newspaper into straws, then used double sided tape to attach to a round narrow vase.  Kind of time consuming, but I loved how it turned out!

Forth newspaper creation: newspaper roll and wine cork decor

I ended up with little newspaper rolls after I cut them down to size for the vase, so I mixed them with some of our wine corks for a simple table decoration.

Fifth newspaper creation: food labels

I wrote the food on white linen paper, cut it out then cut a bigger piece of newspaper out for the back, then I taped the white linen paper to the newspaper and placed them on the table.

I used blueberries as an accent color on both types of cupcakes (chocolate and banana).

I also put a a bunch of blueberries in the berry lemonade + mint from our garden.

And instead of putting dye in the frosting to make a big one on Hunter’s mini cake, I used blueberries for it.  The one kind of ended up looking like a flag… but I still liked it!

The whole table now.  I had snacks of cheese + crackers, carrots, cucumers + tzatziki sauce, hummus + chips, blueberries, cupcakes and lemonade.  That kept it pretty simple for an afternoon party.

Now for the party action!  Everyone chatted and snacked in the beginning, then it was time for Hunter to chow down on his cake.  I got him in just a diaper and into his chair.  Before the mess…

And it begins!

He ended up eating about a 1/4 of his cake.  Once he was cleaned up we opened presents.

That was the most people we have had in our house at one time!  Everything went smoothly and Hunter did amazingly well.  He partied hard, then crashed for almost a 3 hour nap.

Did you do a theme for your kid’s first birthday?  What was it?  What’s been your favorite birthday theme of all time OR one you really want to do? 

If you have any questions about the crafts, let me know.  Next up I’m sharing the delicious, sugar free recipe for Hunter’s birthday cake and frosting!  Hope your day is going well!

Heather