Kingston's ABC 1st Birthday Party (Part 3)

I am back with the last behind the scenes birthday party post: crafts and activities!

To keep the little ones happy and busy, I put together quite a few alphabet themed crafts and activities to hold their attention. I wanted to have different stations that the kids could visit and explore. We had quite a few kids at the party ranging from a few months to a few years! I set up all of the crafts and activities in the sunroom, and it worked out pretty well.

Two of the first activities you saw when you walked was "A is for Animals" and "S is for Sensory". I gathered a bunch of Kingston's favorite animal friends and lined them up for the littles to play and cuddle with. No event would be complete for us without a sensory bin, so I created one using alphabet pasta and foam letters. The kids had a blast in it!

(Alphabet details!)

It appealed to all ages, even the adults! At one point, little Miss Olivia was even sitting inside of it. Her Mama said that when she got home and changed her diaper, she left an alphabet trail on the changing table!

We pushed the two couches up against the walls to maximize space and provide seating. On each couch (as well as the one in the living room) we had inflatable letters scattered on the cushions. On one couch, we had B is for Books, a basket that held a bunch of ABC books.

The books we had in the basket were Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, LMNO Peas (I love this book!!) , Alphasaurus,B is for Bear, Dr. Seuss's ABC (Beginner Books, I Can Read It All By Myself), Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book! (yup we had both copies of this book!),Eric Carle's ABC, New Alphabet Of Animals, Penguins ABC (this is probably Kingston's favorite ABC book!), So Many Bunnies, Touch and Feel: ABC, and Where Is Baby's Birthday Cake?: A Lift-the-Flap Book (because I couldn't NOT include it!) Kingston spent quite a bit of time over here snuggling with his Auntie and reading! At the beginning of the party when the crowd was a bit overwhelming, this is where he escaped to. I'm so glad that we included this area. It provided some relaxing downtime for the little ones. 

In the craft area, C is for Crafts, we had three different projects: alphabet bracelets, Kingston coloring pages, and this adorable "K is for King" craft from Oriental Trading.

I made my own coloring pages for the kids (and grown ups!) using IPiccy! If you have never done this before, you HAVE to go try it out! It is so very simple and really adds a fun personal touch to a party or event. You could virtually turn any picture into a coloring page. Here are the instructions:

1. Upload your picture to IPiccy.

2. Crop picture to your liking (skip this step if n/a)

3. Click on the little magic wand up at the top of the page and scroll down on the left until you see the Pencil Sketch tab (this is located under "Artistic")

4. Click the tab and adjust your picture until the lines are to your liking.

5. Save and Print! 

This is so easy peasy. I will be doing this for Kingston all the time! It would be great to turn pictures of your kids into coloring pages for car trips, airplane rides, etc. I can imagine getting amped up for a Disney trip by coloring pictures of yourself with the characters! So much fun! 

The other areas we had were the "B is for Balls" ballpit and the "S is for Sand" sandbox! No party for Kingston would have been complete without his beloved ball pit. 

I didn't get a picture of the sandbox signage because it was a huge hit. The weather was amazing, and all of the kids played together in the sandbox. It was quite adorable! 

I think we will try to do an activity and craft setup like this with all of our parties because it worked great! Separating everything into areas made it so that nothing was too crowded (except the sandbox, but that was the best part!), and everyone was able to move freely and do everything as they pleased. We had such a blast! 

Stay tuned for our final post on the party itself! I promise that will be the last one! :)