A “Corduroy” Themed Birthday

This post is a bit of a departure from my usual posts but after laboring for months over the planning of my son’s first birthday party (and having the most impossible time researching this theme on the web), I felt like this was could be a really helpful guide to anyone who’s looking for ideas and inspiration!

Corduroy was one of my favorite books as a child – I would never tire of hearing the story again and again of how this lonely department store bear goes searching for his lost button. It was a true classic and one that we read often throughout my childhood, so it was no surprise that I immediately added it to our son’s library when he was born. My husband and I love the book so much that we actually read it to Gryffin when he was in the womb. (Don’t judge – all the baby books tell you do this – it gets them used to the sound of your voice!) From day one, Corduroy has been a big part of Gryffin’s life and it wasn’t too much of a leap to decide that I wanted Corduroy to be the theme of his first birthday.

I never imagined that it would be so tricky to find Corduroy-themed anything for sale on the web. As the daughter of a librarian, this shocked me – Corduroy is a classic! I figured at the very least Etsy would have tons of stuff, but to my dismay, Corduroy does not seem to be as popular as he used to be. The only resource I found was this article on Read Brightly – which was great to get the juices flowing, but in the end, I didn’t use a lot of the ideas. But I was determined and the lack of Corduroy material out there just forced me to get a little extra creative in the party planning. In the end, I think all of the effort was worth it, but I’ll let you be the judge. Enough about my struggles, here is THE guide to planning a Corduroy bash for your little one!

If you need any advice or have questions, please don’t hesitate to comment below and ask me!

1. The Invitation – this was the easiest step and the one I actually missed! I didn’t decide it was Corduroy themed until after I mailed the invites. But never fear, I have you guys covered. Zazzle makes these adorable cards. They even have you covered on the stamp and thank you card front, so it’s a one stop shop!

2. The Goody Bags – I decided to take a little license on this one and create “bear” themed goody bags

 Including:

• These adorable Bear-themed Bags from Patacake Shop on Etsy, personalized with every kids name on them
• Matching round Thank You Tags from Sweet Designs by Regan on Etsy
• Homemade Teddy Bear Crayons by KagesKrayons from Etsy
• Bear Bubbles (the same ones aren’t available but I bought mine from MadHatterPartyBox on Etsy)
• Bath Toys, I couldn’t find an all-bear set, but these were pretty cute!
• Corduroy Board Books – I actually bought 4 of these sets and broke them up so each guest received one in their goody bag. They were the perfect size to fit in the bags I bought from Etsy.
• Teddy Grahams – Can’t go wrong with a snack pack of Teddy Grahams! If Ive learned one thing in my first year of parenthood – kids are always hungry!

3. The Decor – This is where I had to get a little extra creative, but I think all in all it came out okay. I love having the memories of the onesie, the framed poster, and of course the Corduroy Birthday book which we can read over and over with Gryffin!

• Baby Onesie from SewLovedBaby on Etsy (to have the overall Corduroy “effect”) – he wore this under an adorable Janie and Jack blazer. I had such a hard time finding green overalls so I went this route instead. She has so many cute options on her site!
• Flowers – I picked up some fresh baby’s breath and created mix-and-match arrangements from an assortment of green flowers I found at Trader Joe’s – they have a great flower selection!
• Corduroy Poster from Lithographs (I framed it to hang in his room after the party!)
• Corduroy’s Birthday Book to tie the set-up together. You have no idea how long it took me to track this one down. My Mom actually got one on loan from another library in her network that we used for the party and then I gifted Gryffin his very own copy when it arrived a few days later.
• I gave up trying to find a bear themed birthday banner, so I just went with this traditional birthday banner set from Amazon. However, if you want to go the “Cute as a Button” route – there are some great DIY options on Pinterest.

3. The Menu – If you’ve been following my blog, you know that cooking and entertaining is my jam – so this was an easy category for me. We had an afternoon party (2-5) so I was focused on light bites. Since I knew most people would be focused more on the cake, I figured I’d just focus my energy on a few “green” noshes and then some bear-themed treats. I also prepared a Cheese Board and a Mezze Board, so we had more than enough food!

Sweet Pea Spread – recipe coming soon! 

Tahini “Button” Cookies (I made a batch of these from the blog to look like buttons!)

California Hummus – recipe coming soon! 

A snack bowl for the kiddies (below), a mix of animal crackers, coconut and m&ms

These amazing cookies from BeSweetBakeryOmaha on Etsy (I requested a custom order so they came in blue and green). The vendor went the extra mile and even added bears in little green overalls! They were so delicious and came individually wrapped so they were great giveaways for the parents.

The Full Spread – see the first birthday Teddy Bear Plates + Napkins:

4. The Cake – I had a lot of help with this one, sorry guys. I went to my local cake designer (shoutout for Beascakes in Armonk, NY!) and showed her pictures of what I was thinking, but clearly she went the extra mile with this baby!