Monster Birthday Bash - Girls like monsters too!

I can hardly believe that Katherine Ryan (aka my little monster, Katie) is already one! This year went by way too fast. She is no longer on baby food or formula. She is a walking machine and is now facing forward with her big sister in the car. I'm thankful we have another babe on the way because I feel like I blinked and Katie went from barely moving to a big girl on the go!

I had a blast planning her first birthday and am thankful to all those creative people on pinterest and etsy that I could steal borrow ideas from. I will try to make sure credit is given where credit is due so if you see something you like you will know how to find it!

We lovingly call Katie our little monster. She grunts and sometimes growls and is constantly on the go and getting into anything and everything. She is not scary (except when I come into the girl's room to find her standing on a rocking chair rocking her heart out.) She is just loud and boisterous. More like an "Elmo" monster that you want to squeeze and cuddle, but also wish would pipe down after a few minutes! So when it came to themes for her birthday, a "Monster Bash" was the perfect fit!

My husband designed the invitations for the party, so unfortunately I don't have a place to tell you to get something like it. I found several cute ideas that I pinned to my board on pinterest if you want to go there to check them out invite ideas. Tiny Prints and Kara's Party Ideas are two places I looked for ideas. I found the cute little monster clip art on etsy at PeachPop'sClipart Shop for $5! The best five bucks I have ever spent. Those monsters were everywhere at the party. 

I baked Katie's monster cake, but got the idea from Bakerella's website. I am just starting to dabble into cake decorating so please be kind to my decorating skills. I discovered that I hate making cake pops, but that I love Wilton's sugar sheets! 

It was the perfect little cake to accompany cupcakes and suckers for the all our little monster guests to enjoy a sweet treat!

Oriental Trading Company (OTC) was the best place to find the most random and adorable monster stuff! Monster head suckers came from OTC! 

Homemade cupcake toppers with the monster clipart on circle sticker labels stuck on toothpicks. Super easy, super cheap!

Hanging over the sweet treats was a chandelier made of chinese lanterns and tissue puffs. I ordered the lanterns from Amazon.com and made the tissue puffs myself. For a puff tutorial visit here. I got the idea from pinterest and recreated it on a much smaller scale!

We opted for a mashed potato bar to feed the masses. We had tied spoons to plastic cups and then let each person scoop how much they wanted and add the toppings of their choice. A hit with monsters young and old!

Fruit skewers and veggies were also available to munch on in efforts to offer a healthy snack option along side the cheese and sour cream filled potatoes! My husband was most excited that I decided to have him cut the watermelon with a heart shape cookie cutter to add the special ingredient of love!

Our hydration station was a hit! Who knew that "blue-goo" (Blue hawaiian punch mixed with Sprite) would be such a favorite. But even our birthday girl was excited to partake!

The pink and white paper straws were ordered from another etsy shop, Cakes and Kids too. She included with the purchase the little straw flag template. We decided to add the monster clip art, "K", and "Katie" to the flags to make it personal. You can also use them to let your guest write their name and keep track of their drink. 

To keep our tiny monsters busy we had a few different activities to enjoy that didn't require too much parent participation. 

Build-a-Monster sticker sheets came from OTC and the colored circle to stick them on are from Paper Source.

My fantastically talented friend, Lindsey at Piggy in the Puddle, created an 8ft long color wall for the kids to show off their artistic abilities!

 I stole the idea from the monster party at Kara's Party Ideas.

This was my only original idea. I had bought the sticky hands from OTC and wanted to find a fun way to use them. They were one of my favorite things as a child and they have withstood the test of time because I have not seen something so simple be such a hit with young and old alike!

I bought a cheap piece of plywood from Lowes and spray painted it blue. Then with left over paper circles I printed the monsters directly on them and hole punched a hole to fit over the nails for them to hang from. Added a simple paper sign and instructions and ta-da...a game!

Around the entire party were monster smiles on a stick that we had fun photo ops with all our monster guests!

The monster smiles were another etsy clip art find from Jessica Weible Illustrations. We taped them to cake pop sticks and had a blast! It was fun to print them in different sizes for people to play around with!

Each tiny guest was able to adopt their own monster to take home. Another idea I found at Kara's Party ideas. (Can you tell I love that blog?)

Again OTC came through in having cute little monsters for sale. We tied them with ribbon and gave each one a name that hung from it's neck. I know that Sally, Clive, Lucy, and Edward all are in good homes!

Katie enjoyed her monster bash, her monster cake, and all her monster friends! We are just hoping she doesn't take up a career in optometry because I am pretty sure you are not supposed to poke your finger into an eyeball.