Don‘t even get me started on how on Earth this boy is 9 already! I don’t want to believe it, yet here we are, one year away from double digits...crazy!
So last year was the beginning of the pandemic and he had a quarantine style party, which still turned out pretty fun. This year that dang virus is still around but we got to have more family and friends over to celebrate which was really nice. I wanted to keep the party smaller because of that and I think it turned out perfectly.
We were both stuck on what theme to do this year, but wolf was one of the first suggestions he had. I did search around and for suggestions online because I wasn’t finding much inspo and wasn’t sure I could pull it off. I decided to challenge myself and so my wolf loving boy got his wolf party!
I chose green for the main color because that’s his favorite and seeing that wolves live in the woods, it seemed fitting. I always love a good balloon garland and I’m especially loving the matte colored ones so I searched on Etsy and became obsessed with the selection Pop Fest Co. carries. The muted greens and tans in the package I picked were perfect!
I wanted a modern yet woodland theme so I used dried moss that I actually had from Lenox’s first Where the Wild Things are party to accent the wood slices that the desserts were on. I also picked up a bag of a Spanish moss just in case I needed it, which ended up going behind the little stuffed wolf.
The wolf who’s name is Ledge, is actually Royce’s stuffed animal that he got for Christmas in 2019. It was a last minute idea to add him to the table and I think he helped bring the whole theme to life!
For desserts I searched woodland treats on Pinterest and chose ones that were simple but cute. I realized that the desserts were basically all the same color scheme which is another reason I chose them. So I went
with wolf paw sugar cookies, birch log pretzel rods, and forest acorns, which were Hershey kisses attached to mini Nilla wafers and a mini chocolate chip on top.
I used left over paper from the wolf favor bags and made little food tents to label what each woodland treat was. The wood sliced trays are from TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, and Marshall’s and I got them in 2017 for Lenny’s first birthday. They usually carry them all the time though!
When I searched for woodland cakes and naked cakes with little animals kept showing up I knew that‘s what I wanted to do. It just matched the whole vibe I was going for. I made a naked cake for Jaya when she turned 12 so I knew I could make it myself. I’ve also made Royce’s last 3 cakes now because they were all pretty simple. So I did 4 layers of funfetti, using my favorite substitution method to make the cake even more delicious, and added homemade vanilla mousse and buttercream frosting and you guys it did not disappoint! Everyone kept saying how delicious it was and there was not much left over! I love the cake toppers Katie from Fancy Free Finery makes, so I asked her to make one with moons on it so I could add a little howling wolf figurine to it. I think it came out so cute and Royce loved it!
The last thing that was on the table that I absolutely love how they turned out was the wolf favor bags! I found a free printable from a blog post on Pinterest and uploaded the images to my Cricut design space. I cut them out and assembled them on to craft bags and they could not be any more perfect! You can find the post with the template here.
So we did a piñata and the kids used these bags to fill with the candy they collected which worked out great. I also had printed masks that I purchased off of Etsy for the kids to color and then wear but the weather was actually really nice, especially for it being March in New England and so the kids ran around outside most of the time and had a nerf gun war. They never even got to the masks! I’ll just save them for when the boys tell me they’re bored ;)
It turned out to be a fun party and a great day for it! Royce told me it was a “fun little party with more people than he expected.” I was glad to hear it :)
XO,