drayden's party (part II) - party favors

and now....on to the party favors! i daresay this was the bulk of the party preparations. a lot of thought, planning and scouring went into these goodie bags! and it was especially more difficult because most of the party shops here only carry elmo themed party supplies or generic sesame street ones. we wanted a sole cookie monster theme, so with very limited options available locally and online, we had no choice but to get creative!

we had a whole bunch of brown paper bags left from an event noel did some time back, so they really came in handy for the party! we just bought white labels, printed out a face of cookie monster and the words "Drayden's 1st Birthday" and stuck a label on each side. though we expected about 45 kids in total, we made 50 just in case...much to the glee of some of our friends, who turned little kids once again with the sight of the goodie bags! lol... *you know who you are!*



Party Favors for Babies

i made separate goodie bags for the babies, because most of the items in the goodie bags for the kids will not be practical for the little darlings...

here are what's in the goodie bag for the tiny tots...

1. Cookie Monster Party Hats

no one's ever too young for a party hat! =)

we found party hat templates online and printed them on blue craft paper. after rolling them into cones, we cut out the eyes and mouth using white and black craft paper and stuck them on. we also got blue pom poms to stick at the top of the hats, and blue fur to stick around the bottom. this helps to hide the staples that are used to secure the elastic strings. we got black millinery elastic, rather than the usual white ones, too, cos we thought this will look better. =) and and and....

we made 50 of these!
it was no joke, i tell you! we had blue fur flying everywhere! heh....

they were a hit even with the adults! =)

2. Cookie Monster bibs

i thought bibs would make cute favors for the little bubbas. so i found cookie monster iron-on embroidery patches online, and bought some plain white bibs from Mothercare. noel did a great job ironing the patches on. i'm terrible at aligining things! and his idea of ironing the patches at the corner rather than the center like i wanted is awesome!

i had wanted to add the words "cookie" in the center, but changed my mind in the end. i thought i'd leave the space for the parents to get creatives themselves, and maybe add on their babies names at their own time. =)


i then got blue organza pouches and packed them neatly inside, so they'll remain clean! white is a very delicate color. i love how they look in the end!



3. Cookie Monster barrettes - for the girls!

i almost got these ready-made online, but i'm glad i ventured to make my own after i discovered i had the perfect ribbons for them. you can find instructions to make these barrettes online, too!

i only ordered the cookie monster polymer beads online, and got the hair clips from spotlight. using two types of ribbons, i tied them into two bows, and sewed them together for added security. i then sewed the ribbons onto the clips too, so as to ensure they last longer, instead of gluing them with the hot glue gun as i had initially planned.






these make perfect hair accessories for the little girls! i wish i had a little girl i could pin these on!
but i tried them on dray anyhow! hahah...

here's how the final product looks!



4. Cupcake socks - for the boys!

i was lost for ideas what to make for the baby boys, initially. i mean, girls are spoilt for choice when it comes to accesories, but boys are so restricted! in the end, i figured socks are the best accessory choice, so i bought some foldover socks from Mothercare in different shades of blue, rolled them into cupcakes and wrapped them in tulle like so:



perfect to keep the tiny feet warm!


5. Cookie Monster spoons

i found these at kiddy palace, and just couldnt resist including them in! a very cute addition to baby's snack time!



6. Sesame Street sippy cups

i found these at kiddy palace as well, and literally squealed in joy! i think they're just too cute!



7. Cookies (teething biscuits)

what better favors for a cookie monster themed party than cookies themselves?! but the poor little darlings can't enjoy a cookie just yet, so i got the alternative instead!

teething biscuits! =)



Party Favors for Older Kids

a lot of other different favors are included in the goodie bags for the older kids... most of the items are made with love by both noel and i, and i just hope the kids will love them!


1. Cookie Monster Party Hats & Party blowouts


the same party hats are given to the older kids as well, but in addition to these, we also bought normal blue party blowouts from the party needs section at cold storage and replaced the printed paper with our own! a customised cookie monster print!







2. Cookie Monster Soap Bubbles

and no party will be complete without BUBBLES!!

we bought bottles of soap bubbles for the kids to have a blast with in the outdoor are, tore out the sticker labels, and printed our own!



3. Cookie Monster bookmarks

this one sure took a long time to do... but i wanted the kids to have something to keep. like a nice souvenir. so using blue, white and black foam, i cut out the respective parts that make up cookie monster's face..and then glued the parts together... and voila!

once these were done i stuck the faces onto wooden tongue depressors that you can get at any pharmacy:

lastly, i got some transparent labels from popular bookstore, printed the words: "C is for Cookie!", and pasted them onto the wooden sticks!

so now, when the kids are enjoying their favorite books, they have a cookie pal to mark the page for them! i hear some mommies are even fighting with their kids over these bookmarks! hahaaa....

4. Cookie Monster coloring sheet and crayons

we wanted the kids to have something fun to do as well during the party, should they be overwhelmed with the number of people around and not want to play with the toys available. some kids prefer to keep to themselves in their own comfortable corner, you know what i mean? and we wanted them to have something to be occupied with, so we printed out cookie monster coloring sheets. you can easily find these online.



we then got crayons from art friend in cookie monster colors (blue, white and black! the cookie has already been pre-colored on the coloring sheet, heh), and packed them in tiny packets:



who can resist a little bit of colouring, right?? especially cookie monster coloring! =)


5. Cookie Monster notebooks

i scoured endlessly on the internet for cookie monster notebooks, but wasn't able to find any. all i found were some cheap looking ones from china, that had a minimum wholesale quantity of a hundred. so, i decided to make them on my own!

using normal craft paper, i cut them into small pieces and arranged 20 pages into one "book". i made the notebook cover using blue craft paper, and cut out the mouth using black paper. then noel had this fabulous idea of using googly eyes for cookie monster's crazy eyes, instead of cutting them out from paper..and i think it gives the notebooks a wackier touch!

but alas, the googly eyes didn't quite look like cookie monster's crazy eyes, so in the end we got round sticker labels in both white and black...and they sure were easier than cutting out circles from paper! only thing is...we have tons of googly eyes that we don't know what to do with now! lol...

as a final personal touch to the notebooks, we had a note of thanks at the back of the notebook:



we then sent them for binding at the paper store, and voila!


Cookie Monster Notebooks!


6. Sesame Street Mini Handkerchiefs

we found these at watson's and just thought they'd be cute to include!



7. Cookie Monster stickers

i found these on ebay, and luckily the seller had enough stickers to accommodate! 40 pieces, to be exact!



i'm sure the kids will have fun finding cute places to stick the stickers on! maybe even on the notebooks they got!

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so there! these were the goodie bags we prepared for the kids! it was a lot of work, but noel and i love crafting things, cos it helps us convey how meaningful and special the celebration is, and how happy we are to be able to share the day with everyone invited. plus, we only wanted the best for the party, and wanted the kids to receive practical and useful favors...and things they can remember for a long time...

and oh, the adults aren't forgotten too! but because we have lots of different "personalities" invited, and because one favor may be loved by a person, but not practical for another...we decided the best favor to give each and everyone would be FOOD!

so we presented each and everyone that attended our precious prince's party with a cookie monster cupcake that were made with love by elli! thanks babes for baking the cupcakes for us! it was real sweet of you! they were a hit among our guests!

elli has been nice enough to bake chocolate chip cupcakes for drayden's special day, which noel and i later decorated with blue icing, marshmallows and oreo cookies...to make cookie's face!


and also blue rubber wristbands we found at a party shop!
noel absolutely love these!



we can only hope everyone went home happy with their goodies!


will post more about the party decor, birthday cake, and food soon!