A Rocketing First Birthday Party

For my son's fist birthday party, I wanted to do a theme that I felt represented his personality, but I wasn't sure what that was.  So, I went right to my favorite website for party invitations (and announcements) for inspiration: Tiny Prints and when I saw this one with a vintage rocket, I knew I had found my theme.

Rocket cut-out cookies and cupcakes from my local bakery, Klinger's Bread Company
You can make your own rocket cookies with this Rocket Cookie Cutter : )

Acrylic tumblers from Crate & Barrel

  Rocket Bubble Party Favors
(I forgot where I got these!)       

A Very Yellow Party

When my son was around 18 months old he was obsessed with the color yellow.  So, when it came time to plan his 2nd birthday party, it was a no-brainer what the theme should be: YELLOW 

Coming from a graphic design background, I was excited to create an event purely around a color instead of an object, character or holiday.  Yellow decor, yellow food, yellow attire, it was gonna be festive!

Invitation & Thank You Notes: I ordered smiley face cards from Zazzle and customized the back of the invitation with a photograph of my son in one of his many yellow shirts.  The invitation text was in yellow and I explained the party's theme, requested that the guests wear yellow and said that a prize would be awarded to the adult guest wearing the most yellow (I didn't want the kids to be in competition with one another and have any tears of loss at the party).

The prize was a Kleen Kanteen "solar yellow" water bottle (and I got one for my son as well!)
A great shirt for a kid who loves yellow (my son wore his to the party) Chasing Fireflies

Note about invitations: One of my favorite things to do is coordinate the postage stamp with the party's theme.  While you can get smiley face postage stamps on Zazzle, I didn't want to spend the extra money for them, so instead, the USPS had abstract expressionist stamps at the time, and I used ones that were of a predominantly yellow painting.

Music: I burned a CD of songs that all had the word yellow in their title and then gave another solar yellow Kleen Kanteen to the person who could figure out the specific theme of the party music.

Invitation with Yellow text inside

Cheese & crackers, mini quiches and macaroni & cheese bites (Mmm!)
Mac & Cheese Bites Recipe

Deviled eggs, yellow peppers & dip, and banana, mango & pineapple salad (Yum!)

Acrylic glasses are a great way to go green for any color party

Lemonade, of course!

Who doesn't like a candy lemon wedge?

Banana shaped Runts were a hit with the kids

Chocolate smileys!

I had these delicious, mini chocolate, foil taxis in a bowl and they were scooped up so fast, I didn't get a pic!

Sparkling limonata (in a yellow ice bucket) for some class

Crayon cookies & smiley cupcakes (chocolate & vanilla) by Klingers Bread Company

Lemon Bars
Recipe from All Recipes.com

Paper lanterns make any event more festive

Useful canvas loot bag

Loot: water bottle, bubbles, play-doh, squishy ball, reusable sack & stickers

Some yellow balls (and hula hoops) for outdoor fun

Giant smiley beach ball to toss around

Wearing Claire's shimmery, "Daisy" was a fun accent for my daughter's
hands and my feet (in my yellow, strappy, wedge sandals)
Note: These are not my fingers.  I thought I'd spare you the shot I took
of my toes.

Here are some other food and beverage ideas for a yellow party:

Corn and Scallion Salad

Recipe from Martha Stewart

Yellow Rice Pilaf
Recipe from Martha Stewart

Sunny Lemon Cake-in-a-Jar

Recipe from The Naptime Chef via Babble

Smiley Face Cake Pops
Recipe from Bakerella

Banana Lollipops from Vintage Confections via Etsy

Lemon Drop Jell-O Shots from Bakers Royale

Lemon Sorbet in Lemon Cups
Recipe from Cuisine Magazine/What's Cooking America

Frozen Lemonade
Recipe from My Recipes

The Leland Palmer
Recipe from Bon Appetite

Addendum:
A few people have asked what my party play list was, so here it is:


Yellow Sun (The Raconteurs) 
Yellow Submarine (Ringo Starr)
Yellow Cat (Slash) Red Cat (Say Anything)
Yellow Angels (Senses Fall) 
Yellow (Sheila E.) 
Yellow Submarine (The Studio Sound Ensemble) 
Yellow (The Teeth) 
Yellow Light (feat. R. Kelly) (Twista) 
Blue and Yellow (The Used) 
Yellow (Vitamin String Quartet) 
Follow the Yellow Brick Road / You're Off to See the Wizard (Judy Garland & The Munchkins)
Yellow (Yann Tiersen) 
Yellow Submarine (#1 Beatles Cover Band) 
Yellow (Ken Nordine) 
Yellow River (Christie)
Yellow (Coldplay) 
The Yellow Rose of Texas (Countdown Kids) 
Big Yellow Taxi (Counting Crows & Vanessa Carlton) 
Mellow Yellow (Donovan)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
Yellow (India.Arie & Terrell Carter) 
Yellow Taxi (Matt Costa) 
Yellow Moon (The Neville Brothers)
Yellow Ledbetter (Pearl Jam) 
The Yellow Ones (Pinback) 
Truckdrivin Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat) (Beck) 
Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini (Brian Hyland)