First Birthday Party – Remote Control Theme

I guess I should start off by giving a little insight into what my baby likes. She’s a HUGE fan of remote controls. Like – ANY REMOTE CONTROL. She can be in a room filled with toys but will spot the remote on the other side of the room under the sofa. It’s like an inexplainable spidey sense that we can’t seem to understand. It has to be a real remote though, because she will sit there and push the buttons and if there is no change in her environment, she’ll throw the remote to the ground and go in search of the next functioning remote.

So earlier this year, in planning her birthday party, I was set on a honeybee theme. I thought it would be super cute to have a fun “First Bee Day” party and have her dressed up like a cute bee – Lance and I would be her bee keepers, we’d have honeycombs throughout the house, and gift honey as favors. I had it all mapped out and even went as far as ordering her digital invitations. Within 24 hours of me sharing a daily dose of P in my Instagram stories, a subscriber of mine mentioned how fun it would be to have a remote control birthday party. My mind went into this immediate shift of ideas and that’s sort of how this theme came about!

ALL OF MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY KNOW THAT SHE LOVES REMOTES – WHY NOT THROW HER A REMOTE BIRTHDAY PARTY?! She’s never even seen a bee before in her life, she could care less. But remotes! Oh!!! She’ll one day look back and think… remotes, that was my jam! Or at least I hope she would. Anyway, from then on, I went into hard core DIY party planning mode for this unique first birthday party theme – CHANNEL ONE! Because seriously, it was impossible to find anything related to remote controls for birthday parties. So if you’re in the same boat of wanting a unique birthday party, a theme that just doesn’t exist, I’m here to tell you that you can make anything into a theme! You just have to get creative with it and have an open mind!

Since I was starting from scratch, the first thing I did was come up with a color scheme. I really loved the pastels (pinks and mints and lilacs) and found tons of themes with those colors. Think mermaids, unicorns, ice cream, etc! That was sort of my base when it came to finding decorations! Then I hopped on Fiverr to find an illustrator to help me come up with a cartoon drawing of Penelope holding a remote! Once I had that, I was ready to move on to the invitation! (Seriously, y’all this was like 4 months before her party!) I asked in my Instagram stories if someone could help me with custom party sets and came across someone who SAW MY VISION AND MADE IT HAPPEN! You don’t understand, I made a whole powerpoint with the color scheme, decoration ideas, and overall theme. I get pretty serious when it comes to party planning!

From there on it was just a lot of ordered parts! Her outfit matched perfectly! The bow and bloomers came from a shop on Etsy, while the onesie was a special order from my cousin’s shop Jessi’s Crafty Creations! The front of the onesie had a remote control on it, while the back of her onesie read “I’m In Control”. Lance and I had shirts made too that read “Parental Control”.

I ordered her cake and desserts next! I knew I wanted her sweets to also tie in with the remote control theme so I gave the bakers the color scheme, a photo of the remote and sort of gave them free range! I loved how the cake pops came out with symbols from a remote (rewind, fast forward, play and stop buttons) as well as little TVs with the rated PG symbol (PG also happen to be our baby’s initials!). The rice krispie pops were in the shape of remotes! We also had cookies in the shape of remotes included in our party favor bags! Her cake was ordered through Les Amis Bake Shoppe in Baton Rouge. Her cookies were ordered through Sugar Kettle Cookie Co. in Baton Rouge. Her cake pops and rice krispie pops were ordered through Vie’s Sweets in New Orleans!

Her cake topper, cupcake toppers, and party favor bags were also created by Jessi’s Crafty Creations! I loved how those favor bags had a fun window that allowed you to see inside the bag! The little remote peeking through was a cute touch and just a taste of what was inside – more candy and toys for the kiddos! Theme matching stickers were added to the front of the bag to keep them consistent with the rest of the party and favor tags pulled it all together with an adorable “Thanks for tuning in to Channel One” message!

I wanted a fun element to include in the party. I came across a soft play rental company in New Orleans that provided a mobile play area for babies and toddlers. Little Gym & Jam is the number one reason why I changed the birthday party from a Saturday to a Sunday! They were unavailable on our original date and because I knew it would fit perfectly for the kiddos coming to Penelope’s party, I HAD to move the date! The play area included a ball pit, soft blocks, a soft rocking horse, a toddler roller coaster, and a bounce house. I felt 1000% comfortable renting through them because they were very meticulous when it came to sanitizing before and after parties so I knew our kids would be okay. It even came with an attendant to ensure that there was no rough play and that all of the babies running around could do so safely! I would HIGHLY recommend booking them for any kids parties!

I also ordered a custom remote control piñata on Etsy! While it did look more like a cell phone than an actual remote (haha), I was still happy with the way it was made!

Honestly, after all of those details, I just filled the space with balloons! Balloon garlands and streamers! I ordered pastel balloons on Etsy and bought a portable electric air balloon pump that made blowing them up so much easier! I watched maybe a ton of youtube videos on how to make balloon garlands and blew up about 7 garlands in a matter of a few hours! For a first timer, I’d say they weren’t that bad! The streamers for the cake table backdrop was really easy to make. I just used pastel streamers that I found on Etsy and threw them over fishing wire!

And that’s about it! I hope that this post covers the party in general! It was a lot of fun to plan and lit up my heart to see the smile on our baby’s face that day! I’m sure she won’t remember this at all when she gets older but I hope she understands how excited mommy was to throw a party centered around her favorite toy at the time!

If your baby is a fan of remotes, feel free to borrow this theme! You could seriously make it your own with a different color scheme! Whatever you’re feeling, you can make it happen, like I said – JUST GET CREATIVE!

Un Besito,
Rocío Isabel

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