It's BennyMania!! A Beatles Themed 1st Birthday!

Here are some pictures and details from our recent BennyMania- a Beatles Themed 1st Birthday Party! And what would a post from me be without some money saving tips?... As guests entered they passed signs for "BennyMania" and "Penny Lane" (afterward we wondered that we didn't make this Benny Lane, duh!) You'll see these signs throughout. I made them from foam board and foam adhesive letters (both found at Dollar Tree), construction paper and paste (both in my craft closet), wrapping paper (found in the dollar bins at Target), and Beatles note cards (found on clearance at Michaels and bought with a coupon.) Total cost for all signs- $5.

We also had a bubble machine out front spilling strawberry scented bubbles into the path. The bubble machine, along with its mate in the backyard, were picked up at Walmart using coupon overage so those were free!!! And, the bubbles were from the Dollar Tree. We used 3, so that's $3.

Inside, we decorated 2 of the walls with collages of Beatles pictures. I originally was going to buy posters online, but each one was $5-7. Instead, I picked up a calendar from Big Lots and cut all the logos and pictures out and arranged them as I saw fit. They even had the right colors on the borders! Total cost for 2 collages- $7.

No party would be complete in my house without paper lanterns and poms. I actually had the red and purple lanterns from previous parties- free. Then I tried my hand for the first time at making poms. They're not perfect, but they were a crazy kind of cute. Cost for tissue paper in the exact shades I wanted- $5. (That's silly. I could've done better there.)

In the dining room, I created an Octopus Garden where the presents eventually ended up.

There's another sign...and flowers recycled from previous parties. But the octopus himself was a treasure!! He came to us from Michaels...on clearance from $40....down to $2!!! He was, unfortunately too pink for my boy, so I painted him with good old fashioned acrylic paint and a sponge brush, both of which were in my craft closet so no added cost.

For lunch, we served Yellow Submarine Sandwiches (bought from Subway because that is still cheaper than buying all the fixings, and easier), Here Comes the Sun Chips, and I am the Eggman Deviled Eggs.

To drink, we had Sgt. Dr. Pepper, For the Benefit of Mr. Sprite, Muddy Water (iced tea), and Not so Muddy Water (bottled water). Next to those, we perched our little guy's toy drum to which we stuck a familiar looking sticker. I couponed for all the drinks so they were totally free!

On the dessert table, we had O's Darling (Cheerios for little ones, and donuts for adults),

They Say It's Your Birthday Cupcakes, Yellow Submarine Twinkies,

Lucy in the Sky with

Diamond Ring Pops, Kaleidescope Pops, Applesauce Records, and Watching Rainbow Skittles. Phew! All the references to Beatle culture were exhausting to coordinate. But oh so fun!! Now, most of the sweets were free due to coupon overages at Walmart. But, I did pay $4 for Ring Pops, and as mentioned in the previous post about the record dessert stands, I spent $5 on displays. Along with these little cartoon Beatles you see everywhere (cut from the afore-mentioned note cards), I found Beatles stickers for just $1/sheet. I got out some frames used in previous parties, printed up party details in a "Yellow Submarine" font, and adorned the pages with the stickers. So that cost me just $4 to add a lot of detail.

The backyard was covered in quilts and baby toys with a sign that said, "Strawberry Field for Babies" and the second strawberry bubble maker.

We also had balloons everywhere. Again, thanks to coupon overage at Walmart, I got a helium tank for just $9 with balloons included.

If you add in about $15 for tablecloths and paper goods, I'm all in at....

$60 plus the cost of the sandwiches!!!

And, come on, isn't this sweet face worth it?

The very last dollar was spent on the "1" candle we blew out for him. Cheers!