Little Man's Bowtie and Necktie Themed Birthday Party

Before Lucas was born, I bought two sets of one monthly onesie stickers from Baby and Belly Designs on Etsy (formerly little babycakes and co.) We decided not to find out our baby's sex until he was born, so we bought one set for a boy and one set for a girl. Since he's a boy (obviously) we ended up using these adorable necktie onesie stickers to take pictures of him every month.

When I was planning his first birthday party, I wanted him to have a special shirt to wear. I found an adorable first birthday bowtie onesie from Stitch to my Lu on etsy, and a birthday party theme was born!

It's not easy to photograph a one-year-old at his own birthday party.

I wanted a birthday banner that matched the theme, and rather than search for one, I just made my own.

I printed large outlined letters on card stock paper and then cut them out. (Ok, technically, my mom and mother-in-law cut them out for me.) I cut bowties out of scrapbook paper to make the middle of the "A's" and made a necktie for the letter "I." Then I attached them together using brads to make the banner.

I bought cheap frames and framed the monthly pictures of Lucas and put them out as decorations. For party favors, I made bowties for the little boys and hair bows for the little girls using the directions I found here.

The sign reads "Help make Lucas's birthday party a black tie affair by selecting a bowtie or hair bow for your little one."

Most of the kids at the party were older than Lucas, so I decided to have a game for all of them. We did our own version of "pin the tail on the donkey" and had the kids stick a bowtie on a picture of Lucas while they were blindfolded. (I traced a bowtie on to the picture so that the littler kids would know where it was supposed to go.) I made sure to have prizes for the winners and for everyone who participated so that no one would feel left out.

The game before and after.

My fabulous friend Sarah baked cupcakes (half strawberry, half chocolate and peanut butter! Yum!) in polka dot cupcake liners so they would match the rest of the decorations.

We had a great time, and the decorations and game were cheap and easy! Plus, all of the little guests looked absolutely adorable in their matching bowties and hair bows.

What other themes can you think of for a first birthday party?