A seussical celebration on a budget, with FREE Dr. Seuss printables!

On January 1st, while everyone was busy ringing in the new year with resolutions, black eyed peas, and fireworks, I was watching my sweet bee start her first day as a one year old. It's unbelievable how fast that can happen! Of course this monumental milestone came with so many things to celebrate, and deserved a fabulous party. We decided that a Dr. Seuss theme would be perfect and reinforce Bee's love for all things whimsical. Or mine, at least! So, where do we start?

Everything you see here was prepared the day of the party, and was all do it yourself. Lets take a closer look at the details:

Paper banners are such a fun way to decorate, and you can't beat the price! I went to the craft store and selected some scrapbooking paper for $0.15 cents a sheet! If you're using a standard paper size, here's a template of how to cut it so that your banners are the same size, with the gray sections becoming scraps for other projects:

When you're done, poke some holes in the top and string along different lengths of ribbon to hang all over! 

We used this great book as a guest book for people to sign, and Bee is so lucky to have so many thoughtful signatures. I plan to mail the book to family who was unable to attend so that when she's older she will be able to cherish everyone's first birthday wishes. The pen is simply wrapped in ribbon, and topped with a section of a string of feathered boa. I bought about one and a half yards of this boa string in different colors from the fabric department of my craft store for only a few dollars! You can also see how it went to use with those adorable truffula trees in the vase. Just roll them into a ball shape, hot glue in place, and secure to a paper straw. 

Before the party I was able to find a few Dr. Seuss books in terrible condition at a garage sale for a quarter each. They were written on, had pages ripped out, torn up, and absolutely perfect for tearing out the few intact pages to use in frames as inexpensive decorations.

Here you can see more truffula trees behind the delicious cake and cupcakes that are sitting on top of some fabulous DIY cake stands. I used dollar store glasses in different sizes for varying height, turned them upside down, and hot glued plates on top of them. They turned out fantastic and only cost me $2.00 each! 

I designed these adorable cupcake toppers which I am delighted to share with you all at the end of this post. I also used some of the paper scraps from the banner to make a mini banner for the cake, which I think was a really special touch. 

I bought some coordinating containers from the dollar store to serve snacks in. In keeping with the color scheme we served fruit skewers, chocolate covered marshmallows, and chocolate covered strawberries all held up by lollipop sticks from the craft store that I stuck into floral foam at the bottom of the containers.

Another way I added height to the table display was by using shoe boxes as platforms. I was able to find 3 different sized shoe boxes and wrap them in this great chevron wrapping paper which I found at Target for $1.00! I added some extra ribbon and labels and they looked wonderful! The tissue paper in the other containers was also an inexpensive target find and really helped tie everything together, as well as hide the floral foam in the bottom of the containers. I also used the left over tissue paper to cover the paintings above the kitchen table. When everything was set up they just really seemed to clash, so it was an easy fix to just tape the paper over them.

 These super cute 'One Fish, Two Fish' jello cups were the only thing I had to prep the night before. Mix your jello and allow it to set in the refridgerator until it's almost solidified, then drop a couple of swedish fish on top.

Aren't these mason jar cups the cutest thing?! I found the idea on pinterest. It's just a cupcake wrapper in place of the original metal lid. So easy to do, and what an awesome impact it makes! I was able to easily poke these paper straws through and tie the labels onto each jar with ribbon. I purchased mine from this etsy seller, but I've also seen some at my local craft store. 

One of the splurges for the party were photo props from another etsy seller (who is phenomenal, by the way). I printed these props onto card stock and taped them to wooden dowels. I also bought 2 yards of fabric to use as a backdrop for some impromptu photobooth pictures. I really loved how these turned out, and the kids had so much fun with it!

Happy birthday, sweet bee! As promised, I am thrilled to share these printables. Click for full size. You can print these on your own printer, for home use, and cut them out with scissors or use a large hole punch to do the work for you. I left some spaces in the cupcake toppers blank so that you can customize them with your child's name and age. The font I used is called Doctor Soos, and you can download it for free here. Enjoy!