Red and Brown Cardboard Box First Birthday Party

In the year since they welcomed baby Reid into their family, Brianne and Photographer Sean have seen him have a love of paying with cardboard boxes laying around the house. He’d rather use his imagination in this random brown (tents! castles! airplanes!) boxes than even play with his toys. So to celebrate his first 365 days they threw him a party with the perfect theme… a red and brown cardboard box party.

“Ever since Reid could crawl he loved to crawl inside boxes and push them all around the house,” Brianne said. “So when it came time for his first birthday party I thought it would be so appropriate to do a Cardboard box party. After all, what kid doesn’t love to play with boxes and packing peanuts.”

How does that saying go, “Give them a toy and they’ll play for 5 minutes, but give them a BOX and they’ll play for 5 days!?” It’s so true… we have more toys than we know what to do with, but an empty cardboard box is always more entertaining.

Sean and his father were  in charge of making the cardboard play-yard. They took ordinary boxes and turned them into space rockets, trains, helicopters and planes. “The kids went nuts over them! It was so fun to see all the babies crawl in and out of them.”

The ‘all-packed up’ detail in this party is just genius from bubble wrap hopscotch to goodie bags of packing peanuts.

Red was a bright accent color against all of the natural brown cardboard stock. It was used for frames, straws, and Reid’s custom first birthday hat. Red bounce ball make a great favor for boys that use their imagination.

While Brianne purchased the silverware inexpensively, she jazzed them up with a dollar stamp and stamp pad to create the bamboo effect. “Super easy, cheap DIY project and makes the silverware look so cute and custom.”

A red and brown birthday banner hung across the gazebo where the dessert table was displayed. Brianne did a great job coordinating red with her chocolate brown colored desserts. And what did she use to add height on her dessert table for cake pops and chocolate ‘one’ shaped pops? Taped up cardboard boxes, of course! Look at all the chocolatey goodness on the dessert table!

The favors were little “lunch boxes” to coordinate with the box theme. “I filled them with cardboard books for the kids, bubbles, and animal crackers.”

Thanks Brianne and Sean for sharing this awesome party with us! Looks like the family had fun together at this party!

Cardboard Party Wonders

Photography/Sean Walker Photography

Invitation/Posh-Paperie

“Not a Box” book/Amazon

Paper Goods/Handmade

Labels/Martha Stewart Collection from Staples

Lunch Boxes and Baker’s Twine/The Smart Baker

#1 Lollipop Mold, Bamboo silverware

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