Tuesday, March 27, 2012

brown bear, brown bear, what do you see??????

I see Noah turning THREE!

Around the time that Noah really started "understanding" books we  read, he was hooked on one book in particular.  "Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See?"  It has been his all time favorite for some time now.  So.... what better idea than to base his third birthday on his favorite book?!


And, thus, the "Brown Bear" party was created!

So much fun to "create" a party that really isn't "out there" on the party circuit.  I love a challenge!

An idea I had months ago really started the whole process.  I knew I wanted a book or accordion style invite with wording mimicking the book itself.  I contacted someone I knew might also feel up to a challenge, Donna Baxman of MonkeyMooMoo. She has helped me many times with previous invites.  Lucky for me, she agreed to help!

Voila, the invite!








The day I received these in the mailed I literally jumped with excitement!  It's the little things as a mom, you know?!

Then the planning began!   Guest list, cake, cupcakes, snacks, favors, balloons, colored straws, a craft activity, and so on.   One of my other favorite details of the party were the cupcakes.   I found an Etsy vendor, the 'Lil Details  that I felt could do a wonderful job creating three dimensional fondant cupcake toppers to represent each animal in the book.   Jennifer was super easy to work with and although she wasn't even familiar with the book, she did an amazing job with each animal!  The detail on each of these little fondant cuties was perfect.  My favorite one ended up being the black sheep.  It had actual "twirly" shaped "wool" on it!   Super cute!








Then came the cake planning... my personal fav!   I found a cake on Pinterest and I knew I wanted to use it for this party.  Since the cupcakes would have each animal on them, I did not want the cake to have animals too.  This cake was the perfect design to balance out the busy cupcakes and represent the colors in the book, ie... brown bear, red bird, purple horse, etc.  I contacted Jackie Treschl, a local cake designer I have used numerous times in the past, and she worked her magic!   And, the "3" was made out of chocolate just for the birthday boy!  Genius!



A few more snacks arranged in coordinating colored single serve cups - green frogs, gold fish, and brown bears!  







The craft activity!  Noah's older brother read "Brown Bear" to all of the kids outside.  Just to refresh their memory!   Then, I had printed out each animal on cardstock.  I collected different "things" they could use to decorate the animal, like red feathers for the red bird and black pom pom balls for the black sheep.  The idea was to have each child decorate each animal and create their very own handmade version of the book.  I have to say, there are nine animals in the book, and when dealing with little ones, they are easily tempted by the sand box and playset nearby.  So, some of them only did a couple of animals.  But, as long as they had fun, it did not matter!   I tied the pages with ribbon when finished so they could take them home after the party.






And, finally, party time!  Time for singing to the birthday boy, blowing out candles, and enjoying the goodies and friends!  We gave Noah his choice of a cupcake to actually blow candles out with.  (He had been a little sick a few days before his party and we did not want to take any chances with our friends!)









The party favors!   Wanted something a bit different to "hold" the favors.   So, I found these little berry baskets on Etsy and decided to try them.  They worked out perfect for an alternative to the traditional goodie bag.  Hot glued a little brown ribbon along the top and  filled it with a green frog (squeaky bath toy), a yellow duck (another squeaky bath toy) and Teddy graham (brown bears) snacks in a cello bag tied with my other favorite detail of the day.  The little thank you tags that Donna did.  LOVED what she put on them!  






Happy 3rd Birthday my little Noah!  We love you very much!!!!!!!!


21 comments:

Andrew and Carter's Mom said...

Sooooo cute! What a fabulous idea!
I sent you a FB message but not sure if you'll get it. I was looking into getting a Cavachon and was wondering if you have any tips on finding a breeder, etc?? my email is alcharapata@gmail.com

Andrew and Carter's Mom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Love and Lollipops said...

absolutely lovely - love the book and the party!!

Georgia :)

Steph said...

Soooooo cute!!! Another great and beautiful party :)

Emily said...

I can't believe that he is 3 already! He has gotten so big since i last saw him! I miss him! let me know if you need me to babysit! anytime!

Monkey Moo Moo said...

Yayyyyy!!!! Everything looks AMAZING!!! I knew it would:) You out did yourself Jenn--and I am so happy for you and your birthday boy:)

Craft That Party said...

Totally darling theme and so well done!!!!!! Love, love all the sweet details!

Unknown said...

Wow! So, I was just searching on Google for party ideas based on the Brown Bear, Brown Bear book and came across your blog! I absolutely love your ideas...do I have permission to steal a few ;)

Sheryl B said...

You put everyone else to shame!

Moore Minutes said...

Hands down, one of the most adorable parties I've ever seen!! LOVE it so much. I smiled the whole post. :)

Anonymous said...

Where did you find the cute printables for the kids to color?

jenn koehler said...

To anonymous,

I think I just goggled brown bear printables. Try that first. If you don't have any luck, try Pinterest. I may have discovered them there!
Thank you!

**** April **** said...

OOOH this is so adorable! I'm hosting a children's book club for the Grapevine Colleyville Southlake Mom's League and would LOVE to know what you included in your printable pack for them to make their own book -- or where you can find it! :)

Cyndi said...

Did you serve food other than snacks and cupcakes (i.e., lunch)? If so, what type of food goes best with this theme? Or is food/lunch even necessary for a kid's party? I'm a new mom and I'm still learning!!

Angela said...

Such an adorable party! Can you tell me if the cake is covered with fondant or buttercream? I've never seen a design quite like it.

Margaret Be Respectful said...

Beautiful ideas I will do this for my granddaughter birthday with my book Sing-A-Long with Me A-Z and Letter Sounds picture book Thanks for an wonderful idea 😊

Anonymous said...

Where did you get the thank you tags for the favors? I love them and would like to use them for my son's Eric Carle themed bday party!

Anonymous said...

??

jennkoehler said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jenn Koehler said...

The tags used with the party favors were custom done for me by a fabulous Etsy seller. She has two Etsy shops, LemonadePaperie (on Etsy) and MonkeyMooMoo (on Etsy). I have worked with her often and she is a dream!

Meesh said...

I am so beyond impressed by this party. I am throwing my one year old son a Brown Bear Brown Bear themed party and love what you did with the snack cups (teddy grahams, goldfish, etc.) and love that the snack cups all coordinated (brown cups, green cups, orange cups) - I cant find these snack cups/cupcake liners anywhere especially the brown ones - do you remember where they were purchased? Thank you!