1st Birthday Party Invitation Designs
July 16th, 2009 by ariana
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had Jasper’s theme planned out: Leopalooza (Lion/safari theme) and I even went so far as to design the invitations to go with the theme:
But then I went looking for party supplies that go with the safari theme and just wasn’t happy with the ones I found. I mean they aren’t the WORST thing I’ve ever seen, but when I saw the monkey party pack I couldn’t go back!
So I had to change the theme and redesign the invitations. Actually, I gave Jeff the choice between the two and well, give a man a choice that involves x and a monkey and the monkey will always win. In fact he informed me that he would like to RENT a monkey for the party. But I digress..
Here’s where I need help!
Which version do you like best?
1
2
3
Yes I am aware that I am very very late getting these done. And with summer and summer vacations we will be lucky if 2 people show up!
Now where do I get a monkey cake??
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i printed some party invitations on my high resolution inkjet printer just to invite some friends ~–
I was wondering what “photoshop” you used… I would love to use this invitation but I need to obviously change the picture and info.
I couldn’t find ANYTHING I liked until I found this! I love it!
Ariana, I LOVE your site!
I am a mom and I keep finding every single article in here very useful.
I have a kids birthday invitations blog and I would love to quote your article there. I keep getting emails from moms who are trying to find new ideas for kids invitations. Is that ok with you?
I did a monkey theme for my son’s 3rd birthday and he still talks about his monkey cake. I made this monkey cake from Martha Stewart: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/monkey-cake
It was pretty easy to make and believe me I’m not much of a baker. The monkey theme was so much fun. I’ll email you some pictures of the cake and cupcakes I made.
Love #1! My son will be turning 1 in November and you’ve inspired me to start planning early! I was planning to do a monkey theme too! Have a blast!
I like the top invite best. I am actually coming back because I gasped out loud when I saw Party Perfect’s Monkey Cupcakes! But, I see someone beat me to it.
Stephanie, thanks for all the great links!
Heather, that cake is adorable! What other monkey stuff did you do? I’m sure I could pick up some tips from you..
Kari, of course you are invited too!! What’s five hours on a plane for a birthday party?? :)
i am SO late with this – but my vote is #1.
ALL are adorable.
I WANNA COME!!
We are doing Liam’s 8/22. You are invited!!
xoxo
k.
#1! How about just changing it to Monkeypalooza?
I had a monkey theme for Jake’s party, and made a really cute monkey cake I got off the web. Here’s a link…(instructions are on the photo, and it was easy to make): http://doodlebuds.blogspot.com/2009/03/soon-to-be-one.html
Monkey cake inspiration:
http://www.bfeedme.com/dessert-of-the-day-martha-stewarts-monkey-cake-recipe/
http://mscakes.blogspot.com/2008/07/monkey-cake.html
http://www.elumdesigns.com/blog/2008/10/07/funky-monkey-cake/
http://www.toppartyblog.com/adorable-mod-monkey-cake/
Awww – the monkey from Jasper’s room! I love that monkey! So cute!
I have to agree about loving the font that curls like the curl in the monkey’s tail – adorable!
One quick comment though – please tell me you are joking about being late getting this done! Ginger’s 2nd birthday is August 3 and your post reminded me that I have done NOTHING to plan for it so far. Guess I better get cracking! :)
Cute theme! I like #3 because the letters pop more with the dots around some of them. Whatever you choose make sure you do an extra one for yourself so you can keep it in a memory box!! Have fun! I’m sure your local store could make a monkey cake of sorts. Never know unless you ask. Or you could get “The Cake Boss” to do it :0 Have you seen his show on TLC?? Its amazing!!! Have fun!
Ok, you all are no help, the votes were all over the board!! ;)
I think I am going to go with #1, because once Lindsay pointed out that the font has the curls like the monkey’s tail (how did I miss that???) I couldn’t get it out of my head.
Thank you Lou for both pointing out my typo and for the link to Wiltons..except now I’m going to be tortured with the idea that I should bake my own cake! (or maybe do the cute cupcakes Melanie linked to).
Kimberly, I just heard a woman on NPR saying she bought chickens and bees through the US mail.. surely a cake is easier to mail than that?? (just kidding!!)
Marisa, I am actually going to get them printed through WHCC, which is a printing service for photographers (They don’t have to know I’m not a “real” photographer!) because the quality is so great. They are about .56 a print for a 5×7 I believe.
Shane, what a great idea! I may have to give this a try… though I’m totally burnt out on taking Jasper pictures, this age is IMPOSSIBLE to photograph.
I like #1, but think to go all out… you do a quick photo shoot w/ Jasper holding a banana. Take a few w/ a whole banana, then a few w/ a peeled banana and see if you get any adorable shots that you’ll smile at over and over when you look back on them years from now.
Love the monkey theme! I like #1 best.
Number 2!!!
So darn creative as usual!I can’t wait to see all the “stuff” you come up with for the party. I like 1 & 2. I also heart Leopalooza — as a fellow Leo myself (my 30th bday is 8/16!). Do you print these invites through a printer or do them yourself? My DS will be lucky to get a cake so he is super jealous of Jasper :)
Monkey cupcakes! http://partyperfectblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/monkey-cupcakes.html
I think it’s so appropriate that Jasper have a monkey party given his nursery, etc. I think I like #1 the best. Very, very cute, and I LOVE that the monkey is the one from his mural… so adorable. So Jeff wants, like, a REAL monkey at the party??? Um. Ok. Lol…
I love the mod monkey theme stuff too and considered using it as the theme for James’ party, but I just really wanted to NOT have a theme this year. :) But I do plan on having the pinata from that collection and maybe a few other little monkey touches, since Tommy really wanted to do monkeys!
Are you sure you couldn’t just try baking the cake? There’s lots of cute ides on the web… or does anyone in your family bake at all? Or just find a bakery to do something simple and cute using the mod monkey theme… even the grocery store bakeries out here are usually great at that kind of thing…. sheet cakes, of course. If I lived closer I’d totally bake his cake. :)
I think I like the fonts in #2 best myself.
I noticed though that you have two periods after “around” — did you want just one or three?
Oh! And were you thinking of baking the cake yourself? Wilton has lots of monkey baking stuff, but not sure how much time you have: http://search.wilton.com/?q=monkey&x=0&y=0
I like #1. Fabulous job as per usual! When will you let us know which one you’ve decided on????
#1!! The font with the curly ends go great with the monkey’s curly tail.
I love the 1st one with the lion, but I also love the last one with the monkey. Actually, I was trying to figure out a theme and invitations today, too! I kinda hate all of the party kits with theme plates and stuff. They seem so cheesy and yuck. I’m working on piecing stuff together for my own theme, though. We’ll see!
I really like the second one best. So cute!!! :)
#3 is first choice, with #1 a close second.
I stumbled on to your blog a little while ago and absolutely LOVE it! I love your writing, stories, camera and photos. I have an 8 month old daughter and some of the thing Jasper is doing/has been doing are so similar!
Wait – didn’t you JUST have him!? It goes too fast…I like the first one!
I like the 3rd one the best. The brown behind the one gets a little lost for me though — it feels a little muted in comparison to the monkey. Can they be the same color?
Oh, I used CafePress.com to make G a little shirt & bib with the same theme monster as his invite. Our theme is Monsters, cuz he’s my little monster. I’m also going to make stickers of the same monster for the favor bags. In terms of the rest, I was just going to try and match the color of the invites w/ the napkins/plates/balloons and table cloths — I know I’m not going to find a monster themed anything around here.
Molly, yes, the same monkey!
Diana, I used photoshop, but probably SHOULD have used illustrator – I just don’t know it as well so it takes me longer to do the same thing :)
Alex, Jeff told me he found a place that has chimps. But I think the babies would be scared of them!
we are doing a monkey themed party for phoenix as well! and i agree with jeff about renting a monkey. i have searched high and low for one but can’t find one :-(
I love # 3 :O) so cute!
what program did you use to make the cards>???
I like #3! Very cute.
Awww, they look great! Is the monkey the same one you painted on the nursery wall? Love it.
I love the wording on your monkey invites. Very cute!! I like #2.
They’re all adorable but I love #2. The monkey graphic is just too cute.
I like the #1. I’m so jealous that you get to do a monkey theme! We call our Ava a monkey all the time and it would have been perfect, but she was born on the 4th of July so we kind of had to go with that theme :) Oh well, maybe next year. Would definitely have to make it more girly though!
I love the third one. They are all very cute. I am sure he will have a blast.