Hip Hippo ray!

The munchkin celebrated her first birthday 10 days ago.  We had a hippo themed party last weekend.  People asked me if she really likes hippos and that's why we did that theme.  Nope, I picked it.  I'm not into the princess thing and L is too young to really like a particular character.  But she definitely likes animals and I thought hippos would be cute and not something you see all the time.  I had a pretty tight budget. As a result, it took a little more effort to get ideas and find materials that worked but thanks to people much more talented than me and Pinterest, we had a hippo-riffic day!

A friend of mine was a graphic designer by trade and designed the hippo image and signs.  She also gave me the idea to display them as pennants.  I printed the hippo logo on iron transfer paper and put it on a onesie for munchkin to wear that day.

Another friend was gracious enough to help me with the cake.  It was made from 2 round pans and 1 square pan=two boxes of cake mix and 3 cans of frosting.  She used frosting bags to make the eyes, ears, and teeth.  My very talented sister in law made the cupcakes.  She took nutter butters and dipped them in dyed almond bark and used mini chocolate chips for the eyes.  It's hard to tell in the picture but I found these cool German hippo shaped cookies at World Market.  I only bought 2 boxes (10 total) because they're about $5 a box, but they looked so neat and people snatched them right away.  The store will email you coupons often and I saved 10% on them.  I also had a half sheet cake from Sam's because of the number of people that came.

A couple hours before the party I went to Party City and got the balloons.  It's only $1 each and while they said the helium only lasts 6 hours, it was a lot longer.  The pink balloon said Happy Birthday on it.

My graphic designer friend made the thank you notes as well and I filled little treat bags with coordinated color Sixlets from Party City.  We did this for our wedding reception favors too.  If you get on their email list, you get lots of coupons and I got the drink cups as a BOGO.  I had to make multiple trips over the last month as I got new coupons, but there's a store right by my house so it was worth the effort.

We requested that instead of getting the munchkin a gift that people instead bring baby items for a crisis pregnancy center.  L was still spoiled with lots of presents but people were very generous with their donations.

The party was a wonderful celebration of our little one's life and we were glad so many of our friends and family were able to join us.