We celebrated Carter's 3rd birthday two days early on Saturday, April 11 from 3-5pm. I LOVE doing the kids birthday parties, and I really LOVE seeing how happy their parties make them. I have always tried to avoid character-themed birthday parties 1) because the kids had never been really into them, and 2) because I liked classic themes that everyone knows even if they don't watch a show or see a specific movie...BUT when my sweet Carter started asking all on his own to have an Octonauts (his very favorite tv show) birthday party, how could I resist those big brown eyes?! I've also ALWAYS done our kids parties in our backyards, and I have loved having them in the place they play most and feel the most at home. But this was another thing that would change with Carter's party this year...as we are in the middle of renovations on our house and with ALLLL the rain we have experienced lately out renovations on the exterior are further behind than we had expected. I didn't want to have partially removed siding and partially stacked stone in the background for Carter's party, so when Lolly and Pop offered to let us have the party in their backyard we said YES! It was perfect! And Carter thought it was really neat to get to have his party at Lolly and Pop's house!
Carter's first birthday party was a zoo theme because that was probably his most frequent and most loved outing during his first year. His second birthday party was a circus theme because we took him to the circus in his 2nd year, and he loves all things silly! At age three Carter LLOOVVEESS Octonauts, a cute little show about sea creatures who live in the Octopod and are on a mission to explore the ocean, rescue hurt sea creatures, and protect sea creatures in need. There little motto is Explore! Rescue! Protect!
In attendance for his 3rd birthday party were the following guests: Lolly, Pop, Nana, Grandad, Aunt Emily, Cousin Hailey, Mommy, Daddy, Dawson, Nora Kate, Alexa, Connor, and William, Colt, Carson, Harper, Charlie, Olivia, Hayden, Katelyn, Jackson, Harper (yes there were 2 Harper's there!), Henry, Thomas, Marshall, and of course all of their parents! It was a really fun bunch because even though it was Carter's party-all Dawson and Nora Kate had friends their ages to play with too!
These were the invitations we sent for Carter's party. He loved these when I showed him!
To make it look like we were undersea, John and I blew up A LOT of punch balloons, attached fins, drew eyes on them, and hung them from the trees to make it look like puffer fish were swimming around. It was a breezy day, so the puffer fish moved around quiet a bit! I think all the kids enjoyed this! Then in the favor bags, each kid got their own punch balloon to inflate to make their own puffer fish!
We rented a big (17 feet tall) inflatable slide and pretended the kids were "sliding down the octohatch" like they do on Octonauts!
The slide was a hit.
We also had the smaller inflatable bounce out for the little kids OR just big kids taking a break from sliding too!
I took a ton of pictures of Carter with this sign because he was so excited and was making a ton of silly faces! We had two of these big chalkboard signs up with details about Carter and the party!
Also his birthday shirt has a 3, his name, and his favorite character-Captain Barnacles. When we showed him his shirt a few weeks before the party he kept asking if he could look at it. He would just sit and look at it and smile! Made me so happy that he was so excited about it!
Favor bags made to look like Peso's medical bags (he's the character who is the "medic")
Each favor bag contained a stamp to make pictures like Dashi. Dashi always takes pictures of sea creatures. The punch balloons to make puffer fish. The character Tunip always feeds the creatures fish biscuits so we had gold fish bags labeled as Tunips Fish Biscuits. And little stuffed animal sea creatures for each kid to "discover a new sea creature."
Tunip's Fish Biscuits
Some of the new sea creatures to discover
This is the octonauts symbol. I cut it out of orange paper and hung it on the garage door for everyone to see as they walked to the party. It later served as a great backdrop for a group picture!
Carter was so thrilled to get to open birthday gifts!
My Sigma Kappa big sis, Lauren and her husband Dillon got to come and bring their precious daughter Harper! Isn't she adorable!?
EVERYONE had fun on the slide!
All the food was named after characters or things on the show.
We had Vegimal Veggies.
We had Tweak's Trail Mix.
Inkling's Ice Cream
When Carter first started asking for an Octonauts birthday party, he kept requesting a Captain Barnacles Cake. Captain Barnacles is his favorite and then character Carter always pretends to be! So per his request I made him this Captain Barnacles Cake. His next request was to eat a piece of the hat!
The Captain Barnacles Cake with various Captain Barnacles around it!
I wanted to make sure we had more than enough cake to feed everyone so I also made this big number 3 cake too!
He was so excited over the cake!
Cake and snacks time in the shade!
My sweet birthday boy!
A few people had already had to leave by the time we took this group picture, but it's the majority of the kids at the party!
Some of the big chalkboard signs for Carter's Party!
At the end of each episode of Octonauts they do a "Creature Report" and list things about a creature they've helped. After each list item the sea turnips yell "check" and Carter loves this part of the show. It's really cute. Instead of a Creature Report, we decided to do a Party Report!
After the party was over, Carter went to the cooler and grabbed himself a juice box and sat there drinking it! He looked soooo big just taking care of himself! He had a blast at the party, but he was ready for a little juice and rest! :)
As usual we brought all the gifts home from the party, bathed the kids, and then let Carter open them all in his pajamas. He LOVED getting the gifts, and all of his sweet friends were very generous! THANK YOU! Dawson had to get in on the gift opening too!
On Carter's actual birthday he wanted a chocolate chip waffle for breakfast!
I cannot get this picture to turn the right direction, but these are our Octonauts plates, cups, and napkins from the party!
Carter's big gift from us is his Plasma Car! He is enjoying learning to make it go just by wiggling the steering wheel back and forth!
And one more thank you to everyone who helped make Carter's party special! He is STILL talking about his birthday party. Thank you for all being a special part of our sweet Carter's life!
