“Pink Safari & Fire Trucks” Baby’s Birthday Bash: The Invite & Party Perks

A baby’s 1^st birthday is an amazing day to celebrate. Kristi and I each have babies that have recently turned 1 this year and since the parties are so special to us, we wanted to share our party planning ideas with you.

Bella’s party is at her house and since Bella has always loved animals, Kristi and Jeremiah decided to go with a Pink Safari theme featuring giraffes, monkeys, elephants, and lions. Our family lives in NYC so to maximize party space, we decided to host our son Andrew’s Fire Truck themed 1^st birthday party in Central Park.

One of the first steps in planning our Pink Safari and Fire Trucks themed parties is picking out the perfect invite. As far as we’re concerned, there are two great options – digital or mailed invitations. 3-4 weeks before your party is a great time to send out your invite, via email or mail.

Digital Invites: Make Updates Easy

For baby Bella’s Pink Safari Birthday Bash, Kristi and Jeremiah decided to send out this adorable digital invitation.

They also lovingly wrote a beautiful poem about their daughter turning 1 year old and included it in the invitation’s message. Keeping your invite digital makes it easy to send updates as things come up closer to the party. There are a lot of stylish themes to choose from sites such as evite.com and paperlesspost.com.

Mailed Invites & Matching Thank You Notes: Stands Out From the Rest

To kick off the excitement for Andrew’s 1st birthday party, I mailed these festive fire truck-themed invitation to family and friends.

To make the invitations, I went to Paper Source and got the paper, along with everything I needed to emboss the red fire truck stamp. We printed out the party details with a polka dot font and glued them on and added a red tie for extra flair. Get our “how-tos” on how to create your own DIY Embossed Party Invitations!

Each guest who attended received a homemade thank you note (with the matching red fire truck embossed stamp) tying the theme together.

Party Perks of the Month*: Exclusive to Cuisinistas!

3-4 weeks before the party is also a great time to order your party supplies (favors, activities, personalized plates, etc). We are thrilled to be partnering this month with our sponsors. We love how Etsy shop owners Sweetheart Party Shop and Mo and Co Parties work together to offer custom matching party supplies. Also Fire Pixie provides over-the-top awesome party entertainment for any party. Check out these great Cuisinistas-exclusive party perks this month for you, in honor of baby Andrew and baby Bella’s 1^st birthdays.

• Sweetheart Party Shop: Free set of Favor Tags with any purchase. Just mention The Cuisinistas Club when you order.
• Mo and Co Parties: Free set of Favor Tags with any purchase of Water Bottle Labels. Just mention The Cuisinistas Club when you order.
• Fire Pixie: 15% discount to NYC residents with any order. Enter the coupon code CUISINISTAS at checkout.

*Offers expire on 9/15/13

More About Our Sponsors:

• Sweetheart Party Shop: Jennifer is a stay-at-home mom of 2 sweethearts and owner of Sweetheart Party Shop. She loves creating party decorations that are truely unique and always memorable. She would love to help with your next celebration!! Become a fan on Facebook for shop updates, specials and to see more party ideas! Get matching invitations and thank you cards at Mo and Co Parties.

• Mo and Co Parties: Mo & Co. Parties offers you personalized party invitations and thank you notes that are the perfect way to set off and close your special day! They offer matching water bottle labels, buffet cards, address labels and now, party favor tags and toppers! Be sure to “Like” their shop’s Facebook page to stay up to date with new party themes as they are listed! Anne of Mo and Co Parties LOVES TO CREATE CUSTOM ORDERS, so please contact Anne if you have a request for something you don’t see here. Almost all of the themes in this shop coordinate with the adorable party decor and accessories offered in the Sweetheart Party Shop here on Etsy- be sure to check them out!

• Fire Pixie (NYC): Fire Pixie provides quality entertainment for all types of events. Our award-winning shows have inspired smiles and delight for thousands of people all over the world since 2002. Their award-winning princess party and kids birthday party entertainment includes face painters, balloon twisters, magicians, princesses, superheroes, and clowns.  Find them at FirePixie.com and on Facebook.