It was easy picking a theme for Tobe's first birthday. He really liked the colorful puffins and the beautiful rainbow of Puffin Rock. The theme song was so soothing to him. Fondly, I had already started calling him Baba, after one of the main characters of the show. This is not a mainstream show, it is one of those gem Netflix shows. As a result, there was no ready-made party merchandise. I had to custom make or order the items we used for the party. First, I designed the e-invitation with an image from google.
The prominent feature of Puffin Rock is the colorful rainbow that matches the beautiful beak of a puffin. I recreated this in our living room with streamers and balloons in Puffin Rock colors. I designed and printed a canvas poster online. Orange table covers tied in the look. I had a lot of fun doing Tobe's high chair. One darling feature in Puffin Rock is the underwater kelp forest that Oona always visited. Oona is the other main character in the show. I created this design with light and dark green plastic table cloth. I cut them into a pattern, attached them to his high chair and spruced it up with transparent balloons serving as water bubbles.
Tobe's cake was darling. It was made by Connie's Cakes in Grand Rapids. We were so impressed by this cake that a year later, they made our wedding cake. It featured our beloved puffins, Oona and Baba. The smash cake was a special birthday surprise. My sweet husband kept the design a secret. I was so delighted when he brought it home on Tobe's birthday. It featured Mossy, Oona and Baba's best friend, the darling pigmy shrew who is always hungry. That smash cake design idea by my husband was my favorite thing about this party.
We had the food setup on the kitchen island. We had Chick-fil-A sandwiches, chicken nuggets as the main dish. In addition to birthday cake, we had ice-cream for desert. We also had puffin rock themed snacks. Ruffled chips were shiny seashells, gummy worms were iggly wigglies. We had lemonade and something stronger for the adults. Rainbow lollypops attached to a Thank You card featuring Tobe's picture were the party favors.
For Tobe's birthday outfit, I made a custom T-shirt, also puffin rock themed.
After breakfast, before nap time is always the best time for a toddler's birthday party, which is why noon to 2 pm was decided as the time.
Because we live in a small loft space, we try not to buy too many toys. For his birthday, we got Tobe Puffin Rock story books and a toy dump truck. Tobe got a lot of presents from his cousins, grand parents and friends.
It was such a fun party. We had Puffin Rock on TV, playing in the background. Tobe had so much fun running around and playing with his friends.
When the time came to smash the cake, we stripped Tobe down to his underwear and set him on his kelp throne. We placed the Mossy cake in front of him and he went to town destroying it. It was ridiculous.
After the cake cutting, we opened presents and before long it was time to say goodbyes. It was such an enjoyable party. This was in 2016, long before my blogging days so I did not remember to take any pictures. I was just so engrossed in the moment.
Although it was refreshing to not worry about pictures, I wish I had some better ones to share. Saving memories are important. The key is finding balance to be able to get good pictures but not to get to the point of being obsessed with capturing every single moment.
We did such a bad job taking pictures that his dad and I forgot to take one with Tobe. The only picture I have of all three of us together is derived from the screenshot of a paused video clip.
I decided to document this event on the blog, to save a memory. I am currently planning Tobe's third birthday so I find myself reminiscing over his previous ones. It was interesting asking my husband and brother to look through their phones for pictures from the event. I will make a point to take better pictures at his next birthday.
I have included a slideshow with a few more pictures.
And luckily, my brother took a video with his cell phone.