A little (or long-ish) post on his FIRST b-day party. :)

So every soiree begins with an invitation, of course! We wanted it to be fun/vintage/modern/retro/whimsical, all rolled into one.

The invite:

We thought about printing it but in the end opted for the digital route. Originally there was RSVP info on the invitation but since we used an online service that would handle that, it made sense to remove it.

Hehe, we created a hipster-esque logo for Camp Elias:

Decorations were kept pretty minimal overall… Colorful bunting flags that spelled “Camp Elias” book-ended by his logo were hung at the entrance.

We made a handful of signs for the tables, following in similar style and design to the invitation. Guests were first greeted with a welcome board, list of activities and a game of “Elias Trivia”. Also, we asked them to write a prediction of what Elias will be in 25 years. A time capsule will be saved for the little dude — not to be unearthed for over two decades. :)






Notice the re-purposed mini easels from our wedding? :P

Red and white checkered food tent labels were placed by the camping-inspired grub: duck, hog in a blanket (roast pork with steamed buns), beware of bears (gummy bears), crater tarts (custard egg tarts), catch of the day (goldfish), campfire flames (spicy cheetos), fire logs (spring rolls), and bug juice (drinks). ;-)

Two special buffets were laid out: a s’mores station with all kinds of chocolate (extra dark, peanut butter, cookies n’ cream, mint, milk, sea salt, cabernet, hazelnut, caramel), several marshmallow sizes (including JUMBO!) and various types of graham crackers… and a make-your-own trail mix bar of m&m’s, chocolate chips, banana chips, nuts, pretzels and raisins. Cute chevron sacks made for take-home goodie bags.

Small side note here for the A/V geeks: you can kinda see a slideshow playing on the screen in the background in some of the photos. Y took all the pix from E’s 1 year gallery and somehow hacked it so they would play off his phone wirelessly using Chromecast (thus not needing a laptop and having to figure out what kind of media connector was needed since even the event coordinator herself did not even know!). Most of us wouldn’t care less but it was a big deal to Y.

Party favors (in addition to the s’mores and trail mix goodie bags) were miniature carabiner/compass clips and small flashlight (that lit up!) keychains. They appeared to be a big hit as a good portion of them were snatched up before we got a chance to snap a photo.

And we absolutely CANNOT forget to talk about the fabulous cake, amazingly constructed by our very talented friend Angeline who has made quite a few baked masterpieces for us. We sent her some ideas and photos for inspiration but she outdid herself as always.

Y had a bit of difficulty figuring out how to cut the darn thing. ;-) We positively loved ALL the details, even down to the little camper’s butt and the candle in the middle of the campfire. We did light it but didn’t get a pic. :( Oh, and just FYI, it was a green tea sponge cake with red bean filling.

And to show our sincerest appreciation, we sent (on behalf of E) printed thank you cards:

As we mentioned in the previous post, it turned out to be a blustery, icy, freezing, rainy cold day… We shall definitely have a story to tell him later. :) A lot of plans were blown out of the water (almost quite literally!) but in the end, we’re reminded that people are more important than things and agendas and set plans. The party details, circumstances, and set-up definitely didn’t turn out perfectly and as we imagined but when it all comes down to it, we have a precious baby and sweet folks that cared enough to come bless our family… and you know, THAT was perfectly okay with us. :)) From the bottom of our hearts, we are so grateful for all of you that made it.