The French Family: Peter Rabbit Birthday Party

Ever since a friend introduced us to the Peter Rabbit show on Nick Jr., we have been hooked. It is a continuation of the original Peter Rabbit stories from Beatrix Potter with the addition of a few new characters. It still has the same story line of Peter sneaking into Mr. McGregor's garden and getting into mischief with his friends. With that said, I just had to do an original Peter Rabbit party for Finn.

I purchased a digital scrapbook kit off of Etsy for $5 and was able to make his invitations with ease. Now I did download a sample version of Photoshop {for free} since Picasa cannot accept .png files, so it did take me a little bit to just figure out the program, but it wasn't too bad.

I included an insert about water activities for the party and I wanted to make sure it was wrapped up with the invite and did not get lost in the envelope. Below are two versions I came up with. I ran out of doilies, but I think the bottom one was just as cute.

It would be a lie if I said that I do not enjoy planning for a party, because I do. So much so, that my kids are really into it, especially Jase. I love bouncing ideas off of him during the day and hearing his input. While there are a ton of items on the table, I shopped around quite a bit and bought items at the dollar store {mason jars, banner, doilies, candy, cookies, metal watering cans}, Hobby Lobby {80% off spring merchandise: dirt cake cups for $.20 each, veggies and herbs signs}, eBay for books, and Zulily for all Peter Rabbit items outside of books.

The smash cake fit right in with Peter Rabbit on top! I bought the supplies and my sister made the dirt cake cups...so yummy and what a great fit with the theme. A couple of months ago when Finn was still eating baby food regularly, I came across some Peter Rabbit organic baby food pouches on Zulily. They were way cheaper than buying them at the store, and when I decided on his theme, I tucked some away for his party.

Since I had planned on having candy out on the tables {I wanted some older-looking packaging, so I went with chick-o-sticks, smarties, chicklet gum, werthers original chews}, I gave each family with kids The Tale of Peter Rabbit to take home as a party favor. Using the same theme of doilies and twine, I wrapped the books up with a thank you insert from Finn. I think they turned out really cute and I was able to find someone on eBay who had a bundle of these books and sold them to me for $2.75 each and no shipping. That is not bad at all, considering that is per family and not per child. And they get a book to read together at home! Win-Win!

Look at these cute little cupcake wheelbarrow holders! I just love them! They came in a set I bought off of Zulily, along with the toothpick character inserts. The other cupcakes with the flat, circle image is fondant with an edible image. My best friend made them, along with the smash cake! :)

No picture shown, but we had chicken and beef fajitas, along with homemade rice and beans. It was super yummy and a special thanks to everyone who helped set-up and my hubby for grilling all the meat!

As we were setting up for the party, we had a nice little thunder storm come through. I was actually surprised how many people showed up with the weather so nasty that evening. With that said, the weather did throw a kink into my plans. Me, the hubs and kids worked on all of the outdoor activities and we made stakes for each one, but we only put out a few due to the weather. Oh well. I'm still going to share my activity names, in case you're interested! Even if you're not, I will share! ;-)

*Benjamin Bunny's Blackboard - homemade blackboard with 4x4 plywood and chalkboard paint

*Samuel Whiskers' Water Table - water table we bought Finn for his birthday

*Jemima Puddle-Duck's Pool - small blue baby pool

*Squirrel Nutkin's Slip-n-Slide - tunnel slip-n-slide

*Mr. McGregor's Garden - our garden

*Peter Rabbit's Burrow - our home

*Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle's Tank - large, inflated pool

*Jeremy Fisher's Flowerpot Toss - 6 plastic flower pots {set of 6 for $1 at the dollar store}, screwed them to an old 2x6 board and kids threw ping pong balls in them - remember The Grand Prize Game from the Bozo the Clown show??? Very similar idea!! Oh I used to love that show!!

I knew it was going to be a hot one, I mean we are in Texas and it is July, but not much I can do! I knew I needed to keep people hydrated. Instead of messing with cups and pitchers/2-liters of drinks for this party, I wanted to keep it simple with bottled water and Capri Suns. I felt like I needed to add a little flavor in there, so I thought of buying some soft drinks and bottled ice tea. But then my sister told me that her husband suggested having some of the Crystal Light drink add-ins. What a splendid idea that was! I found some little tin flower pots with an oval chalkboard on the front {Target dollar section} and wrote a saying like "add some flavor to your water" on them and put the individual drink mixes in them. And instead of a plain ole ice chest, I put the drinks in 2 wheelbarrows. My hubby placed them in the flowerbeds out back and it was perfect!

Some of our guests visiting inside, enjoying the AC! {Oh and since we're not moving to Africa, I've put decor in the living room! I'll have to do another post and show you what all I've done, but for now here is a teaser!}

Even though the weather started out yucky, it did not stop us from having a good time!

The kids really had fun with the water activities. I'm glad it all worked out.

After the trial run on his actual birthday and him crying when we sang happy birthday to him, I wasn't sure what to expect, but he did great!! LOL! And he also had no problem finishing off his cake!!

Of course he got a little help! :-)

Finn got so many cute outfits and toys. He was spoiled for sure on his first birthday. Since he is the 3rd child, we really have not bought him many toys at all. And while I've bought him some clothes, I saved all of Jase's old clothes, so it was nice to get some new things.