Anyone else singing, “Hey I heard you were a wild one,” on repeat right now? I am pretty positive it has been stuck in my head since I started planning my daughter’s party back in June! Last weekend we celebrated my daughter’s first birthday with a Wild ONE themed party! Of course, this Mama took it over the top because how could I not with such a fun theme. Ryann loves going to the zoo and her nursery theme is Modern Jungle, so I had to go with the Wild ONE theme and bring in a little pink for my sweet baby girl!
If you are thinking about hosting a Wild ONE themed party or just need a little inspiration to get your child’s first birthday party rolling, here is a breakdown of outfits, decorations, music, activities, food, invitations, registry and vendors if you are located on The Main Line.
Invitations
You might be wondering how early should you send out invitations. If your party is near a holiday or in the summer I recommend sending it six to eight weeks out and give your immediate friends and family an email heads up so they save the date. Summer is a very busy time for families, and Ryann has a Labor Day Weekend birthday so we did it the weekend before hoping more people could attend.
Online is the best way to send out invitations. That way it does not get lost in the mail and we live in a modern time where everyone refers to their phone anyway! Ryann’s invitation was with sent via Paperless Post because I really loved how beautiful the invites were. It is really nice that you can send it via email or a text message!
Here is Ryann’s invitations. I was able to pick the background, envelope color, envelope liner, invitation, font and font colors. It was super easy to do, but keep in mind that Evite has some free templates, but Paperless Post requires payment.
Outfits
One outfit is never enough, especially for a messy toddler! If you are planning to have a cake smash, then you really need to be prepared. Ryann’s party was a pool party so we also had to take that into account.
When Ry baby woke up that morning I put her in a Kyte Baby leopard bodysuit so we started off our day animal print ready! I was so lucky that she took a three-hour nap right up to the start of her party.
After her nap, we put on her first outfit, which was a wild one cheetah t-shirt, black headband bow and black biker shorts. It was over 90 degrees, so I wanted her to be comfy, cute and this was the perfect outfit for cake smash. Of course, Mama had a matching outfit!
When she finished her messy cake smash, we changed her into a cheetah print bathing suit with the cutest matching bow. Mama had a cheetah print bathing suit and Dada had a cheetah print bathing suit with a WILD ONE black tank.
Once Ryann was done swimming, which was a few hours into the party, her and I put on matching leopard print rompers. I love seeing her little face light up when she realizes we are wearing the same outfit.
To end the night, she wore a long sleeve Kyte Baby leopard print bodysuit to sleep! Even though no one saw this outfit, it was still fun for mom and dad to stick with the theme all day.
My mom wore a Zara zebra print t-shirt and we surprised my dad the night before the party with a shirt that said, ZOO KEEPER, in all different animal print letters!
So, in conclusion, you need at least a cake smash outfit and a post cake smash outfit, we just went a little over the top since there are so many cute animal prints clothes for toddlers!
It was really fun to see most of her friends and guests rocking some fun different versions of animal print. Themed parties are always a fun excuse to dress up!
Decoration + Party Favors
There is no such thing as going overboard, but if there is, then I won’t lie I definitely did! I love decorating, especially with greenery and balloons. I worked with Petite Fete to come up with the best design concept for the theme. We decided to go with three different shades of greens for the tropical vibe with a pop of gold and pink. She designed two gorgeous backdrops for the party. The jungle juice shelf grass board was the perfect entrance to the party so that guest could grab a refreshing mint lemonade on their way in. Petite Fete also designed the stunning backdrop to Ryann’s high chair for the cake smash, which doubled as a photo back drop. She did a beautiful job designing the decorations for Ryann’s highchair as well!
The balloon arch to the bounce house and the cluster at the photo booth backdrop were designed by Fabu Balloons. She took our colors and did a beautiful job designing the perfect complement to the backdrop and bounce house.
Of course, I needed to have a few more balloons spread throughout the party, so we made a few clusters for the entrance way, jumbo pink balloons in the pool corners, cheetah balloons at the happy birthday sign and of course a gold and silver 1 balloon.
Outside of the bounce house was a happy birthday lawn sign, which I added the cheetah balloons behind it. At the end of the night Ryann and her bestie made a birthday wish on her pink balloons!
The table covers were a fun touch, which were animal print disposable covers. Above the food tent was a photo banner with images of Ryann from newborn to one years old!
The safari blow up animals were a fun touch since Mama was too scared to have a real petting zoo at the party! I also added some jungle animals around the pool. In the pool were flamingo beach balls, which was fun for the kids and adults to play with while swimming.
I used my cricut to make the WILD ONE party favors table sign and the gift table RYANN IS A WILD ONE sign. The wood boards were from Michaels, I just painted them to have the finish I wanted.
The ONE clear boxes and light up letters were both a fun little touch to the backdrops from amazon. We also used them the next day while Ryann opened up her gifts.
I have to say I love the party favors. I really wanted to give the kids a functional item to take home and not just junk that drives the parents crazy. I went on amazon and found all different animal print drawstring bags that were children’s size and used my cricut to put each child’s last name on the bag in their favorite color. Inside the bag I put a clear pouch that I also used my cricut to design “Hey I heard you were a wild one” with safari animals as a silhouette. I added animal crackers and bubbles to the bag as a little bonus because what kid doesn’t want a snack on their way home from a party and Ryann is obsessed with bubbles!
Music
My husband and I had a little fun making a playlist for the party. Our goals were to stick to the theme, make it multigenerational, different genres, and have it last a few hours.
The best way to start making a playlist for your party is to start with specific words related to the party. So, for Wild One, we looked for anything with Wild, One, Jungle, Safari etc. It is crazy how much you go on a tangent searching on Spotify. As we continued we got into Disney movies for the kids like Lion King, Jungle Book, then went into different generations of music to create the perfect playlist. Do not hesitate to search other people’s parties and pull when you love from theirs to!
Here is the link to Ryann’s Wild One Party Playlist.
Activities
Photo Booth: We had each guest take a family photo on the backdrop, then they wrote a message to Ryann in her Wild One book, and we printed each image with the sprocket. This book was perfect because it also gives you a spot to write all of her gifts down and her guest list. This is the perfect way to look back on your child’s special day.
Bounce House: This was one of the best parts of the day. Every kid and adult went in the bounce house. The toddlers had a lot of fun crawling around and holding onto the walls. Mama may have done a flip on the bounce house and woke up the next morning feeling like she was hit by a bus!!!!
Pool: It was a really hot day, so having a pool party for a late summer birthday was perfect.
Kona Ice: The truck parked in our driveway so it gave the kids a new location to walk to and everyone enjoyed their water ice in the driveway socializing.
Cake Smash: Not every child gets into the cake smash, but Ryann loved it! She had practice earlier in the week when we did her photoshoot. She kept feeding Mama her icing, but loved every second of getting messy.
Corn Hole: In the yard, we set up corn hole for the adults to have a fun adult game to play.
Food
When planning Ryann’s party, I decided to go with a food truck theme to make it super easy and not have to have food sitting out for a four-hour party, but last minute the food trucks I was working with wanted me to change my party time to accommodate them, but that was not an option. We did end up having Kona Ice truck for a refreshing dessert right after the cake smash!
Ryann’s smash cake was beautifully designed by Clays Bakery. I sent them my inspiration photos, dropped off the animal cake toppers and let them design from there.
Since the food truck theme did not work as planned we ended up bringing in food trays from all different places and made some fun options….
- ACME sushi tray was a huge hit
- ACME cupcakes
- Chic-Fil-A nuggets tray and mac n cheese was also a favorite
- McDonald’s fries because why not!
- Wegmans sliders, which we grilled ourselves
- Costco turkey wraps
- Animal Crackers to go with the theme
- Fruit Tray
- Vegetable Tray
- Spinach Vegetable Dip
- Tomato Mozzarella Salad
- Charcuterie Board
- Watermelon Feta Mint Salad
- Cotton Candy
I also made cute little safari names to go with each food item! Here are some ideas you can use!
- Chic-Fil-A nuggets: Tiger Bites
- Chic-Fil-A Mac N Cheese: Monkey Tails
- Sushi (Fish): Under The Sea
- Sushi (Vege): Herbivore
- Sliders: Omnivores
- Turkey Wraps: Safari Sandwich
- Animal Crackers: Safari Snacks
- Tomato Mozzarella Salad: Hungry Hippo
- Fruit Tray: Wild Berries
- Pineapple Slices: Tropical Finds
- Watermelon Feta Mint Salad: Watering Hole
- Spinach Dip: Wild Thing Dip
- Vegetable Platter: Veggie Vines
- Pretzels: Twigs
- McDonald’s Fries: Snack for Cubs
- Green Lemonade with Mint: Jungle Juice
Registry
I know it is never easy to decide if a registry is a good idea, but after talking with other mom’s, it really is. I talked to mom’s who did not use one and they ended up with a bunch of toys and junk they did not want or already had. Returns are always annoying, so make your life easy and make a registry with all different price points so guests can decide what they want to spend.
Here is a link to Ryann’s Registry to help get you started! These were items that were great for learning, development and items she needs in the near future. Myregistry.com was a great option for a birthday registry because it is easy to put multiple companies products in!
Another reason I wanted to make a registry was because I work with a lot of kid’s brands, and not every guest knows that’s. I wouldn’t want them to buy her something that I already have from a brand I work with.
As a parent, I learned a few lessons with our first birthday gifts! If you do want to go off registry, do not hesitate to ask the child’s parents. We had a few people go off registry because they have children and wanted to get their kid’s favorite item, but we didn’t put those items on the registry because we already owned them, so talk to the parents there is always a reason! If you do not have children, please remember to look at the registry. I know everyone gets excited to shop for babies and toddlers, but your style of clothing might not be the same as the parents and you may think a toy is great, but it might be the wrong age group for the child.
Vendors + Supplies
- The Petite Fete Co
- Party Rocker’s
- Fabu Balloons
- Clay’s Bakery
- Chic-Fil-A Malvern
- Kona Ice King of Prussia
- Cheetah Balloons
- ONE clear boxes
- Table Covers
- Party Favor Drawstring Bags
- Party Favor Clear Pouch
- Wild One Guest Book
- Photo Banner
- Jungle Juice Straws
- ONE Light Up Letters
- Blow Up Safari Animals
- Blow Up Jungle Animals
- Flamingo Beach Balls
- Animal Cake Toppers
- Wild One Plates, Napkins, Silverware
As much as your first child’s first birthday party is for them, remember it is for the parents to. You made it through one year of being a parent for the first time. Have fun with the planning and enjoy this time with your child because it only happens once. We had so much fun bouncing with Ryann, swimming, eating cake, water ice, cotton candy and more! However, remember your toddler really hasn’t had a lot of sugar yet, and you could end up like us with a bouncing baby on the bed from 11:30pm until 2:30am, but it was totally worth seeing her little face smiling all day and raising her arms when you ask how big is Ryann!
“Hey I heard you were a wild one.” –Flo Rida + Sia American Artists