Eddie's First Birthday Party - FAQ

It has been 2 years since Eddie's awesome 1st birthday party and I still get lots of questions from people asking about some of the details. About 99% of the questions come from people visiting from the awesome Party Like a Kid after Eddie's party was posted there, and since these people are usually in the trenches planning a party, I wanted to get them answered in one post.

*Where did you get the shirts from?
I used a local t-shirt printer and designed the logo with his help. This was all super simple. I used Scrapblog to design the logo (it's a free program, so anyone can use it!) and the printer worked with me to include '1' in the tail of the Y. If you'd like to use someone local to you, I would recommend asking the local high school what company their sports programs use to get their shirts printed.

BUT! Today I actually called the company that did our shirts, and they are happy to work with you, too! I got my shirts printed from The Competitive Edge in Dekalb, IL. Don, the owner there, said that if you call and reference the Turza order from 2009, they can customize the design for your party...change the name, the age, the color of the shirt sleeves...anything you want! The shirts range from $18-20 for the children's and adult shirts, and are totally worth it....years later all of our shirts have held up well without even a hint of the printing fading. This also included the name and number on the back, which was quite a bit extra from other printers I looked at. So - if you're interested, call Don at 877-788-8488 and reference the Turza order - he'll get you all squared away and ship to anywhere in the continental US. (For the record, I am not getting anything from this - I enjoyed working with Don and will help out a local company any time I can)

*Where did the invites come from?
Those I also designed on Scrapblog. I had them printed (again, a local guy - you can go to the Fed Ex store or even use your own printer) 4 per page and sent one to each person in the household. Unfortunately there isn't a way to me to send you a copy of it that you can alter...maybe if you have a scrapblog account you can open it through there? Email me if you'd like to try and figure it out, I'm always willing to help!

*How did you make the balloon arch?
Oh, the arch. It was awesome while it stood....which wasn't long. I used an arch tape that you can get at any party store and just popped balloons into it. WHAT I DID WRONG: I cut the tape into three equal strips, about 6 feet each. I figured that I would cut it so it was easier to transport and then tie the strips together so it would be one piece and all would be fine. Our day was very windy though, and every spot I tied came apart about a million times. If I were to do it again, I would do it in one long strip like I assume you're supposed to. Maybe they say that in the directions? Hehe - who reads those anyway?! WHAT I DID RIGHT: in an effort to be more cost effective, I didn't use helium, I blew up all those balloons with my (thankfully strong) swimmer's lungs. This gave me a lot more time to accomplish the task...the balloons were all blown up over a couple days and the entire arch was completed 2 days before the party. Of course we had some pop, but I was able to just fill in the couple that did. I kept the entire arch in our basement where it was cooler, and that seemed to help the balloons live longer. It was nice not to have to worry about it the day of or even before. I also taped the arch along the doorway, so if you were planning to have it stand on its own, you'd probably have to use helium.


I think those were the big 3. As listed in the Party Like a Kid post, the idea for the cupcake burgers and sugar cookie fries came from the always awesome Bakerella. If you have any other questions, please email me - turzablog (at) gmail (dot) com - or comment here. It is much easier to keep up with the comments here rather than on the post from 2009!



Of course, I hope you'll click through to the rest of the blog and keep up with our adventures. I'm hoping to get a Halloween party figured out soon, and of course Finn's 1st birthday next year, so we'll have lots more party fun happening on the Turza Blog. Stick around, and as always, happy planning!