In-Expensive Event Planning: A Peter Rabbit 1st Birthday

So far, this has been my favorite party that I've planned. It was so much fun for me, and simple. I chose to keep the theme a more traditional, classic garden party. I used mostly natural items from around my home, (which were mostly free) and easy to gather. The first picture below is of a potted mum. I used to potted mums for the base of my trellis. To make the trellis, I used to two large sticks and wired them together to form a peak. I then took different shades of green paper, and cutout leaves, using my Cricut. I wired the leaves onto the sticks to make it look as though something were growing up it. The second picture below, is of an old washtub (a splurge I bought for my home) that I used to hold my favors. The favors for the party were handmade carrot soap. To make the soap, I bought pre made soap from Michaels. You can melt it in the microwave. (I chose to use this because I have small children, and didn't like the idea of using lye around them.) I melted it down, and added my own ingredients to it. I added carrot baby food and some natural honey. After it started to set, I added oats to the top. I didnt let the soap set completely because I wanted to personalize it. I cut the soap into squares, and then to each square I used a rubber stamp to imprint a rabbit, the letter A, and the words "Thank you"(alternately on the soap). The other favor was canned goods that I canned from my own garden. These were surprisingly a big hit. For the food, we served soup and salad. I thought the salad was nice idea for serving a variety of vegetables successfully. I served the food in pint, quart and bushel baskets. For centerpieces, I had my husband cut logs to set potted mums, and mason jars on. I also decorated the logs with small garden tools and watering cans. I used garden burlap as table runners. *Tip- If you chose to use burlap for any event, please hesitate before buying at a craft store. I bought one roll at a craft store which was only 3 ft or so in length and cost $3.99. I found a 15ftx3ft roll of garden burlap at Home Depot for $12.99. A much better investment. *
This time around for the cake, I decided to change things up a little bit. Instead of a traditional cake, I chose to go with the cake pop(push pop). I used carrot flavored cake. I used cream cheese flavored icing which I dyed orange(lighter shade than the cake). I iced the cake wafer and put it into the push pop and just alternated until I got to the top. I then took green fruit roll ups and used a cookie cutter to cut out a leaf shape for the greens. The end result was a pushpop that looked like a carrot. I hope you find these ideas helpful. And you can always use your own creativity to personlize it.

A washtub to hold the favors of the party. Handmade carrot soap and canned goods from our garden.

Table centerpieces. We cut the logs ourselves. You cant beat FREE! I purchased mums early in the fall season and kept them indoors until party time. Saved me a bunch of money. The jars are my own canning jars, with tealights for a little elegance. The tools and watering can are from factorydirectcraft.com I also printed small pictures from Peter Rabbit and just glued them double sided to a dowel rod.