I think that since I get to help other people with their parties, I tend to be more conservative when planning my own. Lately, I’ve been keeping them very small, keeping the decorations to a minimum and just raid my craft bins rather than the shelves at the store – not even to save money, just to waste less!

This was definitely the case for my son, Sam’s, 1st birthday. We invited a few friends to join us for a family day of fun at the Dupage Children’s Museum in Naperville, Illinois, and I even made my own Daniel Tiger cake from scratch (which was a new -and very stressful- experience for me)!

My baby boy adores Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood which makes me exuberantly happy considering my own childhood love for Mr. Roger’s… I made a couple of small “Daniel” circles for the red paper fans I already had in my supplies and some scraps of fabric became a decorative swag for the highchair.

So here are a few pictures from Sam’s cute little party at the Museum. Not pictured, the disco ball in the party room, the magical bubble machine, and the parents’ Prince and Michael Jackson dance party.