Teddy Bear Picnic Birthday Party

Happy First Birthday to my sweet baby boy!  For Ryan’s First Birthday I decided to go with a Teddy Bear Picnic Birthday Party theme.  We decided to have his party in St. Louis at my parents house on his actual first birthday.  It worked out really nicely because my whole family still lives in St. Louis.  Here’s a recap of his party.

Here is the birthday boy himself decked out in his First Birthday Onesie I made for him.    He is just as adorable on day 365 as he was on day 1!

Everyone was asked to bring along their favorite teddy bear for our picnic.  The kiddie guests were able to decorate a party hat for their bear.  I originally was thinking of party hats for the kids themselves but since neither of my children would keep it on for longer than 1 minute I opted for hats for the bears!  Jazz them up a bit and make them birthday bears versus every day teddy bears!  I made the hats ahead of time and let the kids decorate with stickers!

Let’s talk decorations!  We used gingham/checkered picnic table cloths that my mom found at the dollar store for all the table cloths.  I made a “Ryan is One” banner that we hung from the fireplace above all his presents.  I chose the tree pattern craft paper because it was woodsy and just plain cute!

I added a Month by Month decoration of pictures of Ryan at each of his month milestones.  I made giant tissue paper pom poms that we hung above the island counter where we had all the food.

Speaking of food:  We had picnic themed food.   Sub sandwiches, my apple cole slaw, pasta salad, watermelon and of course…ants on a log!  For the kids attending the party I made each of them their own picnic pail.

They had a teddy bear shaped PBJ sandwich, all natural applesauce, a capri sun and a butterfly treat filled with chocolate Teddy Grahams and gold fish!   For Ryan and Goober I filled their butterfly with Peach Yogurt Melts and Puffs!  The little ones also had a grilled cheese in place of the PBJ sandwich.  I also stuffed each pail with a pinwheel I had made.

I also found a cute teddy bear silicone mold which my mom and sister painstakingly filled, froze and cracked to make teddy bear ice cubes for the lemonade and iced tea!  There were only 11 bears on the mold so they made 11 ice cubes at a time!  Talk about love for Ryan!  I planned on doing this myself but since we moved the party from our house to my parents I certainly could not travel 5 hours with ice cubes!

For cake treats, I made ice cream cone cupcakes!  Ryan of course had his smash cake!  To spice up Ryan’s high chair, I sewed together 2 checkered napkins I found at a thrift store to form a slip cover of sorts to fit over his high chair so it looked like he was on a picnic blanket!

For favors I made cookie pops and filled small bags with gummy bears.  I placed these in a basket on a small table by the front door.   I used a picture frame filled with some of the checkered craft paper I had as a dry erase board and wrote “Thanks ‘Beary’ Much for ‘Popping’ By My Picnic!  Love, Ryan”  Guests could take the gummy bears and cookie pops on their way out.    As an added treat for the kiddos, I made a CD of Birthday/Picnic/Teddy Bear songs and made a copy for each child to take!

I think his party was fantastic!  It was “beary” nice if you ask me :)  Here’s to celebrating a wonderful year with a wonderful, beautiful boy!  Happy Birthday Baby!

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