Hail To the Chief (Aka Happy Birthday, Son)

This is my son's Presidential First Birthday Party:

Some of the members in my family have called me a bridezilla in regards to putting this party together.

I may have freaked out a few times when things started to fall apart (literally).

The invitation (albeit smudged):

I bought this parchment paper at Hobby Lobby and it came with an ink bottle and feather for writing. Similar items can be found here: Nostalgic Impressions . 

I ended up writing some with a calligraphy pen because it was very difficult to not put too much ink on the feather.

The next thing I did was make mixed media paintings of Son as different presidents.

I got photos of him enlarged on paper at Staples at then cut his head out and glued it onto a canvas. Then I added items like fur, paper, paint, hair, glasses, chains, and felt to make him look as close to different presidents as I could.

My favorite was Teddy Roosevelt.

His hair was looking a little sloppy here because I took it after the party and people had been messing with it. 

I should of combed it before I took the picture. The glasses were from a doll and the chain was a real necklace that was broken. The hair was craft fur and the suit was painted paper:

Abe Lincoln:

Ronald Reagan:

I also made George Washington, but don't have a photo.

Next, I made an Obama-esque "Hope" poster. This was a digital image created from an app on my phone. The original can be found here Hope. Then I just added pictures of Son from each month that he has been alive so far. I glued it all onto a heavey blue foam poster board:

Dessert Table

I wish I had better pictures of this table, but this is the best I could do.

The patriotic tootsie rolls and vintage flags were from Oriental Trading.

The boxes were old boxes that I borrowed from the antique store by my house. How kind was it for the owner to let me borrow them? A few were wooden Melissa and Doug boxes that I stained.

I found a cool antique frame at a yardsale for $4.00, so I used the same paper from the invites to write a quote from Abe Lincoln and placed it in the frame.

I made cupcake toppers from pictures of Son and put an Abraham Lincoln hat on them. The topper from the cake stand was actually a pin that I bought for $1.00 at a thrift store:

I made this banner from a blank kraft paper banner at Hobby Lobby. I bought 2 for $10.00. I then took vintage looking patriotic papers and glued them onto the triangles. Last, I painted some chipboard letters in off-white. The banner cost about $20.00 in all:

Here is the cake right when it began melting. I really wasn't happy with the cake, but it was my fault for poor communication. I thought the logo turned out nice though.

No Presidential party is complete without a podium. The Boss made this and I can't imagine there is any way it would have looked better. The logo was from the dust cover of a book I bought at the local library's rummage sale. He just attached it to the high chair and wow!!! it looked so great:

Here's how it all looked.

This was in my living room. Notice the furniture is no where to be found. This may or may not have been part of the reason I was being referred to as partyzilla. The couches were safely stored in the garage. Surely no State Dinner would have a couch in the middle of it.

The flag was the absolute most stressful part of the decorating. I made it out of streamer paper...INDIVIDUAL strips of streamer paper. It fell and fell and fell and fell. Somehow it managed to stay in one place for the 3 hours or so of the party. It felt GOOD to rip that thing down:

The tables, chairs and table cloths were rented from a party rental store. I made place cards for each table and used my good china that I SCORED from a yardsale for $25.00. It costs that much to replace just 1 piece!!! Notice there are no glasses. I had little kids at this party and it was not worth putting the glasses out. So, we used SOLO cups. Very un-White House-y of us, I know.

I also had made menus for each place setting and used my white cloth napkins:

Entrance:

The President entered the party to the tune of "Hail to the Chief", of course. He was accompanied by the Secret Service (his Daddy happens to be in the Secret Service...or not):

The head of the Secret Service was also in attendance:

At his podium:

He took a few photos on the White House lawn:

Get your own White House here: White House

Then he changed his outfit before eating his dinner. He wore a future president T-shirt found here: Just Delievered.

Here he is enjoying his dessert:

Here is a great gift he got from Sister:

The guests signed a matte frame of a photo I picked up on Ebay. The picture is of Air Force One flying over Mt. Rushmore during President Bush's term. Very presidential:

A few of the party guests. I made this tutu and headband for Princess for under $10.00:

:

This was the president before the party. What does a president wear before a big event? Apparently real tree camo pajamas!!!



Here is the president's big sister rockin a Ronald Reagan shirt that I got here: Vicarious Clothing

We had Sonny's Barbeque catering for dinner. I thought it was a great price for the amount of food we got. I got the bunting above the dessert table for $7.00 each from Oriental Trading.

Final thoughts:

I did not want to have the party at my house, but it worked out better than expected.

There are a bunch of details I should have added, but with 2 babies, my time was limited.

I should have started making things A LONG LONG time ago. I had to rush. Things took longer than expected. I wore my family out. But...in the end, the party was WONDERFUL and everyone had a great time.

Thanks to Sister and Boss for all their hard work!!!

Happy First Birthday, Son (Mr. President).

We love you so very much.