Teddy's First Birthday- A Teddy Bear Party

I figured the first birthday...maybe the second... is really the only chance I'll have to do a teddy bear-themed birthday party for Teddy. I doubt as he gets much older he'll want to have a lot to do with teddy bear parties. So I went for it.

The party hats might have been my favorite part because I designed them myself. I used a regular party hat pattern, modified it a little and poked holes for ears, used foam instead of paper, made ears with notches, and stuck them in the holes.

Bear party hats

Stapled elastic to the sides

Inside the hat

Teddy the Party Bear

Cousin Clara Bear

Best Friend Bears

Cal and Clark wanted to help with the party,
so they colored a bunch of these teddy bears for a few weeks
before the party. I hid them at the party and the kids ran around
finding them. They were a big hit.

Bear paw cookies! brownie mix, upside-down Hershey dark chocolate
kisses, peanut halves

Yum, but more importantly, cute

I made a banner. I love banners.

I borrowed the chalkboard from a friend.

Bear face cake and Teddy Graham trail mix: The mix is
honey, chocolate, and cinnamon Teddy Grahams with mini marshmallows and raisins.
I separated the mix out into cupcake liners on a cupcake stand and used
the rest in the glass container for decoration.

Teddy's little cake. My mother-in-law
just happened to have a beehive cake
mold, so I used it and made a banana cake
with yellow "honey" cream cheese frosting.
I was hoping to make little bees for it,
but ran out of time.

The weather was nice so all the kids got to play
outside a lot and I even got to play with the
birthday bear a little.

Bear-friends

Teddy Bear eating berries

Teddy was not sure about sitting on a table
without a shirt in front of a room of people.

He did enjoy the frosting, though.

Brother bears surround little birthday bear, who has had
enough of this party.

It was a fun party, and not too much work. I stayed simple with food. We had round sandwich thins with chicken salad for the grown-ups, peanut butter and jelly for the kids, as well as cheese and ham sandwiches and crackers with cheese and salami. We also had a berries plate, apples, watermelon, (bears would eat those things, right?) and veggies. I made strawberry lemonade.

I can't believe our little Peapod who became Theodore John, who became Teddy, is one whole year old. We adore him and can't even imagine what it would be like without him now. We are blessed.