An Eric Carle (Brown Bear, Brown Bear) Birthday Party!

I still can't believe that Lucky is 3 years old.  I went all out for Lucky's first birthday party (under the sea) and his second birthday party (Halloween themed) but this time I wanted to do something easier.  We got permits for a local playground and ordered a bunch of Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear party supplies.  

The birthday banner was two sided and it was assembled incorrectly. Thankfully there was an easy fix.  I carefully ripped open the P/H and flipped it around.  Phew!  

I did end up making a few things for Lucky's birthday.  For the first time ever, I made Lucky's birthday shirt and a coordinating red bird shirt for Rowdy.  Since I expected us to be outside, I created matching dinosaur hooded sweatshirts.  This wasn't on the Eric Carle theme but I am planning a dinosaur birthday party for Rowdy so these could have been dual purpose.  

I am most proud of the DIY Brown Bear, Brown Bear party hats I made out of card stock, Eric Carle fabric and some rainbow wire garland.

We even finally got our first family picture of all 5 Browns!  Poor Indy gets left out of most professional photographs since he doesn't like strangers very much. (Indy was not invited to the party.  He hung out in his room on the 3rd floor while the guests were here.)

Finally, I was able to bring out a knit from the past for this party.  While I was pregnant with Lucky I knit a Hungry Caterpillar hat and cocoon.  The hat is getting a little small for Rowdy but it was fun for him to wear it for a little bit again.  

Unfortunately for us, it was POURING on the day of Lucky's party so we had to move everything inside.  I set up our party table and hung our decorations.  

All of the decor was purchased ahead of time, but we had a few "themed" snacks: Goldfish and Brown Bears (teddy grams).  

Lucky was very excited for his playground party, but he wasn't too disappointed when it was raining.  He was just excited to have a birthday party and for all of his friends to come over.  

I, on the other hand, was SUPER disappointed.  Now I'd have to clean my house and come up with activities to keep over a dozen children ages 0-13 occupied!  We had invited Lucky's entire preschool class (siblings included), some cousins and neighbors since we thought that space wouldn't be an issue.  We have a great playroom but it can't really hold dozens of kids, so we wanted to try to find some activities that would draw kids into other areas of the house.  

Adults really liked trying to make the basket from far away.  

As soon as we realized that we might get rained out, we did some shopping exploration trips to find options.  When we changed location, we ran to the local KidsRUs and picked up with Basketball "ball pit" (it only came with a dozen or so balls) and set it up in our kitchen with an Ikea pop up tent.  

Both of these activity centers were a hit! There were regularly 3-4 kids around the ball pit.  This particular inflatable set wasn't the sturdiest, our dog punctured it a week after we purchased it, but Lucky and Rowdy enjoyed it so much at the party that we left it up until we needed to repair it.

Next, we stopped by Lakeshore Learning for some bulletin board paper. I taped the paper to the floor and set out some washable crayons to have a coloring station.  

We also set out an amazon box so that kids could color the insides and the outsides of the box.  

The coloring center was a hit with all ages, but especially the older kids.  The 7+ year olds were great at playing with the toddlers and drawing pictures for them.  

We only left this up for 2 days after the party, but Lucky really enjoyed all of the pictures and messages people made for him.  

We also stopped by the dollar store to pick up some cheap dress up items (thankfully the store was full of them with Halloween around the corner).  We already had the Ikea castle tent which was perfect for our imagination area.  The cowboy hat and fairy wings were the biggest hits.

With the play tunnel in the entry way, we were ready for whatever chaos came our way!

There are so many Eric Carle party favors out there.  We filled the gift bags (which were cheaper to buy that DIY) with themed sticker scenes, bubbles, slap bracelets and mini puzzles.  All of these items are some of Lucky's favorite toys to play with so it was fun to give them to his friends.  We ended up with a lot left over, but these can come in handy if we throw another Eric Carle party or for Teal Pumpkin Halloween Favors.  

Lucky filled the favor bags "all by myself" with mommy's help.  He was so proud to create these presents for his friends.  

I expected to have a fun, outdoor playground party.  I planned to show up an hour in advance to set up and was ready with my camera to photograph the kids running and playing.  The weather had other ideas and I think we still ended up with a really fantastic party!  Some families came with one parent and child instead of two, but we had a full house with the best kind of chaos imaginable, happy children!  

I'm saving all of the Eric Carle goodies.  Who knows, maybe Rowdy's 3rd birthday party will be Brown Bear themed, too!  

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.  None of my product selections were sponsored.  

Lucky's Halloween Birthday Party

Seven months ago, Lucky turned 2 years old!  Keith and I decided it would be fun to throw this October baby a Halloween themed birthday party that doubled as a housewarming party.  October 31 became a deadline for a lot of do it yourself (DIY) crafts and to get the house unpacked and put together.  I used this party as an excuse to practice my sewing skills and to try out a lot of fun Halloween crafts.  It took so long to finally share this party post because first I had so may projects to share with all of you!

Lucky's Lion Costume 

I made Lucky's Halloween Lion Costume myself by embellishing a sweatsuit with a looped yarn fringe I sewed on my new sewing machine.  I wanted a costume that would still be cute even if my toddler refused to keep the hood up.  I'm glad that I did since Halloween 2016 in Massachusetts was a warm and lovely night and Lucky wasn't cold enough to keep the hood on.  Lucky wore a "TWO" tshirt from Lil Threadz Clothing under his sweatshirt so he would still be party ready if he took his costume off.

When you entered my home you could immediately tell we were ready to party.  The entry ceiling was adorned with a fun balloon garland.  We blew up black and orange balloons to the size of a cantaloupe and then used a needle and black thread to knot them at intervals.  We hung these garlands on the ceiling with painter's tape.  On the back wall you can see the Trick or Treat Smell my Feet hanging.  I use this spot of my entry to rotate holiday or season specific homemade art work, and this particular footprint art inspired me to create more for other holidays.  On the left shelves I had the painted soda bottles, the trick-or-treat candy bowl (plus a non-food bowl for kids with food allergies or who don't want candy) and the sewn storage cube holding extra paper goods.  

The main party tables were set up in the dining room.  Construction paper bats are flying to hang the Chevron Pumpkin Birthday Banner over the table of Halloween themed sweets.  I wrapped the table top in Black Pacon Fadeless Paper so I could write on it with a chalk marker to label each of the sweet snacks.  

We set up a Spooky Cookie Bar with treat bags Lucky made himself in place of traditional goodie bags.  This allowed me to bake WAY too many Halloween themed cookies without having too many leftovers.  I think our guests really enjoyed getting to take some treats home with them.  

Even the M&M's were on theme.  The 3 opening bowl was filled with pumpkin spice late M&M's, Halloween colored normal flavor M&M's and pumpkin shaped candy corn.  

The table was sprinkled with mini pumpkins my mom grew on Mackinac Island, MI.  These pumpkins traveled from Michigan to Colorado (where my mom handed them off to me while we were at a wedding) and then back to Massachusetts.  Talk about well traveled gourds!  

In the back corner you can see the cake stand that I made for Lucky's first birthday.  This stand is so sturdy that I know we'll be be able to use it for many birthdays to come.  

For more information on the tasty Halloween treats I created for this birthday party (including links to recipes) check out the blog post I published yesterday.  

Of course, the star of the sweets treats was Lucky's Pumpkin Birthday Cake that I created using a bunt cake pan to create the layers.  

Although this was a Halloween party, not everything needed to be sweet.  We offered a number of different savory Halloween treats on our dining room table we pushed back against a wall.  All of the windows on the first floor were decorated with ruffled streamers that I sewed out of crepe paper.  

We had a few different Halloween themed plates, but most of the plates and cups were from the Boo Bunch themed set.  Lime green silverware (leftover from Lucky's first birthday party) was held in the sewn pencil holder I created from my learn to sew book.  

The table was dazzled with the chevron table runner I created and some painted beer bottles.  I found the pumpkin bouquet at a local craft store and thought it made a snazzy centerpiece.  

For Lucky's first year, I took a picture of him every day.  In his second year I still took a lot of pictures, but the only project ones were pictures I took every month to show how he was growing.  He wore a white onesie in each picture with a sticker on his chest.  I hung these up with some of the photoshoot I did on Lucky's second birthday.  Unlike the pictures I took during the first year I was more relaxed with months 13-23 and just tried to get a happy picture of my first born.  The pictures are held up with Halloween themed mini clothes pins (found at Michael's) and some more construction paper bats.  

The main party area was the dining room, but I still wanted to decorate the rest of my house.  The fireplace was decorated with more of the chevron jack-o-lantern banner, the cheese cloth ghost, and some pumpkins that my mom, Keith and I helped blow at the Corning glass museum.   We saved most of the decorations to use for future Halloweens but I threw the Cheesecloth ghost away after the party.  He was so delicate that I knew one wrong tip of the storage box and he would become a pancake.  

Since this is our first house we don't have enough artwork for all of the walls.  This means that I had plenty of wall space to decorate for the party!  I taped pictures from Halloween Photoshoots of years past to the wall with painter's tape along with some handprint spiders and footprint ghosts.  I wasn't excited to make the pillow covers in my sewing book so I created the circles floor pillow, skyline pillow, and concentric squares pillow out of Halloween fabrics.  I intended to replace these pillow covers with something else after the party but these Halloween pillows are still out in my living room and have become integral to many pillow forts.  

The kitchen and back hallway also got some DIY decorating love.  Our floor was covered in foam pumpkins to step on.  We secured them to the floor with painter's tape so they wouldn't slide around or damage our floors.  

Lucky loved stepping on the pumpkins!  

Eleven toilet paper bats flew on the wall.  Next year this might be a fun craft project that Lucky can help me with.  Since I struggled to save up the toilet paper tubes for this project I have since saved DOZENS of tubes that I can use in future crafts.  

We decorated the kitchen cupboards and oven door with hanging napkins and ghost footprint towels.  I've come a long way since these first sewing projects!  Lucky is still requesting to make "more footprints!"

When a party store offers a high flying solution to add do your helium balloons... take it.  We purchased these white balloons the day before the party and by party time they were no longer flying high.  I did like the "hoverloon" quality to them since I had already drawn ghost faces on them with a sharpie. 

Meanwhile the bat balloon and orange balloons lasted for WEEKS after the party.  It is sure worth the extra charge to have the balloons last!  

The bat balloon and pumpkin family (that my Mom also grew on Mackinac Island) added some more oomph to my decorations.  You almost can't see it but there is also a large Jack-o-lantern mylar balloon that had been flying for almost a month in the dining room.  We had intended to refill it before the party but it was still flying strong!  

In addition to some more footprint ghost hand towels, the bathroom cupboard held the glitter web and Toilet Paper Pumpkins.  No one needed to open a pumpkin during the party but this was a clever way to hide extra toilet paper in plain sight.  

Since it was Halloween we had to decorate the outside of our house, too!  We had our Brown Family pumpkin sign, a number of pumpkins and some milk carton ghosts with flickering lights in them (and some sand to weigh them down).  

We also displayed our teal pumpkin to participate in the Teal Pumpkin Project so kids with food allergies would know that we were offering some non-food treats.  Lucky even decorated one of the pumpkins himself!  (Toddler tip - give your toddler some sharpies to decorate a pumpkin and save carving for when you can trust a little one with a knife.)  

Lucky really liked to play with the ghosts.

Finally, I wanted to set up a photo backdrop so guests could take pictures of their kids.  Our old falling down fence with some fall leaves made a perfect backdrop for Halloween pictures!  

The Jack-o-Lantern banner is created from the same font used in the Chevron Pumpkin Birthday Banner that Keith and I created.  This banner was used all over our house and yard for the birthday party since I loved it so much.  

The ChemKnits Family (minus Indy who went to Doggie camp during the party.) 

I wore my little pumpkin maternity Tshirt with a homemade mini pumpkin fascinator to be a "Pumpkin Patch".  Keith dressed up like Owen from Jurassic World.  Guests showed up in all kinds of costumes... even my parents!  It was wonderful to have our house full of friends and family whimsically dressed.  

Lucky's "TWO" Tshirt from Lil Thredz Clothing 

After the party ended we took Lucky trick-or-treating for the first time.  (Well, door to door trick-or-treating.  Turns out that there are many trick-or-treating opportunities all through October so we had already gone at a mall and a zoo in previous weekends.)  My brother took over the camera so I could be in some pictures, too.  

We marched around the neighborhood with all of Lucky's grandparents.  Talk about a lucky boy!  

"Just take one" became Lucky's mantra of the evening.  He loved putting things in his bucket but I still don't think he knows that there is candy inside these brightly colored wrappers.  Something tells me that he won't think these are just tiny fun items to collect next year and we might not get to eat it ourselves.  (Don't worry, Lucky filled up on awesome treats at his party so he was not deprived sweets on Halloween!)  

I hope that you enjoyed reading about all of the projects I made for this party as much as I enjoyed creating them.  I don't plan to have a huge party for Lucky's third birthday but this one was special since we moved back to Massachusetts and would be able to invite a lot of family who live nearby.  However, Rowdy will turn 1 at the beginning of 2017 and I'm already starting to think about what I can do to give him an epic party.  Do you have any suggestions for me?  

Free printable Halloween Birthday Banner by ChemKnits

For a different view of Lucky's Halloween Birthday Party, check out my Halloween Birthday Party Pinterest board.