Wild Things!

My nephew's 1st birthday is on December 22, and his party is this Sunday, December 19.  The theme my sister and brother-in-law chose is Where the Wild Things Are.  Great book, great theme.  Only there's not a whole lot out there for Wild Thing parties.  You'd think there would be, but there really isn't.

So my sister finally found some Wild Things balloons and vinyl wall decals, plus a room border.  I think the vinyl is meant more for actual kids' room decorations than party decorations but they'll definitely work.  There was a matching popup cake topper too, and she got it, but no plates, cups, or napkins, so she had to do those and streamers in coordinating colors.

It's all very exciting!

But there still remained the issue of a birthday hat... and I saw, fortuitously, this tutorial.  I changed it up to make it suitable,

and here's my version, with an 18" circumference, plus about an inch of elastic.  We tried it on him, and it fits perfectly.  My nephew is big, though, so if you do one, you might need it to be smaller.

And last night, my sister and I made the cake!

Of course, a birthday isn't a birthday without gifts!  I got him this book & finger puppet set.

I love it 'cause it teaches color theory!  There are so many baby books out there that teach letters, numbers, vehicles, animals... this is the first and only I've seen that teaches art.

Speaking of books, remember this one?

I used it to make my nephew an additional gift.  From two of my mother's pairs of pants (brown flat fabric and a pair of corduroys), one of my skirts (tan linen), an old green sweater, plus the thread and two of the buttons that Avery got me for my birthday, I made these parts.

And from these parts, I made this guy!

And a close up of his adorable, surprised-looking face.

This was much more complicated than the mooshy belly creatures I made him for Chanukah.  It took longer too.  But it was so much fun!  Now I just hope he loves it as much, even without the ultra cuddle fabric.  We'll see on Sunday!

Oh, and last night after we made the cake and my sister was looking at the decorations, she suddenly asked me, "Did you make the crown to look like the one from the book?"  Um.... yeah!  Would you believe she hadn't put it together that that's what I was doing until she saw it together?  She thought I was just doing it because I found the tutorial and wanted to make my nephew the star of the party.  Ha!  But according to her, it looks exactly right.

Awesome.

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