oh help, oh no, it's a Gruffalo! {Hudson's 3rd birthday}

Hudson picked out his party theme a looooong time ago so I should have done better with the party planning  but with the end of school and our trip to Puerto Rico right after {pics soon}, 99% of the planning for his party happened the day before the party, after our Chuck E. Cheese lunch.  So considering, I think it turned out pretty cute!

So what's the story behind the The Gruffalo?  Welllllll.........one day last year, Hudson and I were at Target and he was less than happy to be there. I had a super long shopping list I needed to get through so I bribed promised him a movie if he behaved.

When we went to pick one out, The Gruffalo caught my eye and since it was inexpensive I tossed it in the buggy never thinking twice about it. Lo and behold, Hudson watched it and fell in love with the Gruffalo! We ordered him both The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child books and he is all about the characters...

...the mouse, the fox, the owl, and the snake.
{cake by our talented baker, Mrs. Alyson!} 

As luck would have it there is practically nothing Gruffalo related here in the states, so I had to get very creative with our party decor.

I made all the invitations and thank-yous myself...it was fun being able to personalize the invitation to each child invited...

I did manage to order a super cute shirt for him from Kelley of babe-a-gogo before our trip.  He was sooo excited to wear it.  I think it made his birthday "official" to him.  And of course, I made him a cute Lulu & Co. hat, which he wasn't sure he wanted to wear - ha!

Noonie came over right before we headed to the deep, dark wood {alligator park} to give Hudson his present.  We went ahead and gave him ours too.

Family pic!

Someone hanging on to being "two" just a little bit longer...

But happy to show us how sTRoNG he is before heading out the door!

I kept the party decor pretty simple.
{ThANk YoU, AmANda for helping me set up!!!!!} 

I re-used the ribbon garland from Grace's Vintage Kitten Birthday and just switched out the pink ribbons for orange, brown, and turquoise.  This garland is on an inexpensive bulletin board I bought at Hobby Lobby and covered in $4/yard muslin so it's light and easy to transport.

I'm not a big fan of plastic tablecovers but I didn't have enough time to sew a fabric one so I was stuck with the dreaded wrinkled plastic one.  I tweaked it with whatever wrapping paper was leftover from Hudson's presents and added a couple of sheets of scrapbook paper to disguise it.  Sometimes simple really is best :)

My friend Bridgette made the yummiest cupcakes and I just stuck a simple Gruffalo topper in each one.

The kids had pizza, cake/cupcake, and ice cream.

For party favors we gave each family a copy of The Gruffalo and each child a simple party bag with activity sheets printed from The Gruffalo {website}, a box of crayons and a bag of animal crackers.  For our tiny guests we had board books and crackers :)

I think all of the kids had a fun time feeding the animals...

...except Hudson! He preferred taking everything in from the comfort of Pop's arms!

Checking out the exotic animals was pretty fun too...

The gAtOR fEEdinG FrENzy was something else!

But I think the pOny RiDEs were the clear winner!

Taking a little break from the 100+ degrees outside by hanging out in the air-conditioned party room...

Finally! Time to make a wish and blow out those three sweet candles...

Mmmmm....that looks good!

Yum!

Super fun presents from generous family and friends...ThANk YoU!

Hudson was so excited to pass out copies of The Gruffalo to all his friends...

And in the end we had a very happy little boy!

Thanks for stopping by!
XOXO,
Hudson...and the Gruffalo!