Curious George party

I know this is a little late, but it's been crazy around here AND can you believe that I didn't take one picture during the party???? So I've had to gather some up.

M love Curious George so that was our theme. Before I started planning, there were a few things I knew I wanted to be different. I LOVE having parties, but I hated buying all this stuff just to see it in the trash at the end of the day. So my plan this time was to try and make or buy as many things that could be reused as possible. Another small motivation was that I'll be in newborn-lala-land for A's 4th birthday, so I wanted to streamline this whole process. Here are a few pics and ideas from our Green Curious George birthday.

Invitations - Tiffany (miragreetings) did an awesome job again!! I thought of just sending them via email, but our family really enjoys getting the photo, so out they went.

Plates, cups and utensils - I have some reusable plastic plates from Sam's that we used. I'm kicking myself for being so obsessed with having matching themed plateware and not using these more often. I also found some wonderful cups and utensils from Preserve. Their products are made in the USA, from recycled plastics and are BPA-free! Napkins - We have friends over quite a bit and I'm always unprepared because we don't use paper products. We had a small set of 18 x18 in. dinner napkins that we share, but it's never enough for our little friends. So I made a huge set of little napkins. I used fat quarters from our local fabric shop and mix-matched the colors. I cut each piece about 9x9in, double sided them and then stitched a seam on the right side. Here's a tutorial from Sew Mama Sew. Very easy, but lots of ironing and sewing.
Banner - I wanted something bright and fun for birthdays, but I was tired of buying or making one, just to have to start again in a few months. So I made a generic one for all of our parties. Again I used a variety of Fat Quarters. I cut a template out of card stock and used this amazing gadget that looks like a pizza cutter to cut all my fabric!! Amazingly easier than pinking shears. I double sided my triangles and just sewed them on the right-side out. Then I bought two 4 yard packets of binding and strung them together. Very easy. Here's another page of tutorials from Sew Mama Sew. Party favors - I bought some Curious George scrap paper and made some blank coloring books. Very easy. I took 10 sheets of recycled, white paper, one sheet of scrap book paper and folded them together. Trim as needed. Then, I sewed right down the middle to bind it. I put a blank label on the front for their names. Then I paired it with the twig pencils(found here) and some homemade binoculars from toilet paper rolls.

Games - We bought a pool for the summer and decided to fill it with balls for now since it's not quite warm enough for water. The kids LOVED it. We also have a pinata, of course. Cake - I love making my kids' caked for their birthdays.