A "Crabby" Birthday Party-Part 1 (All Things Crab!)

So I'm going to do this in two parts because we got lots of cute pics of Bennett's big day to share. I need to start off, however, with the actual day itself (before the party). You see I've been planning this for months, envisioning the perfect party for Bennett- outside on our patio, with friends, kids, all the cute crab stuff and the one big thing-SUN. Yep, I started watching the weather like a hawk on the Monday before his party and it was iffy. But as the week went on it got better and looked like just cloudy weather with absolutely no rain so really, was there a need for a plan B? Not when you're a perfectionist and you've had the perfect party planned in your head! I checked the weather several times the morning of-still cloudy but warm and NO RAIN until Sunday.

The sun started to peek through the clouds and Ainsley and I did a little happy dance and we brought more stuff outside. And then it started to get really cloudy again. And I checked the weather about 2 hours before the party but it drastically changed and they were calling for light showers from 4-6pm- the party started at 4:30! To make a long and stressful story short, we frantically put up tents because it called for LIGHT showers/DRIZZLE but about 40 minutes before it was to start, the sky opened up and the rain began to POUR {what the heck happened to light showers and drizzle weather man!!??}, all.over.the.decorations. I was in tears. I mean it's not like I had pony and elephant rides for the kids but you know how it is, right?

So I pulled myself together (Mike's saying "yeah, riiight" when he reads this) and quickly went with plan B-which never really existed by the way. Sigh. I know it's not important and our friends don't care, we don't need to impress them because they're our friends and that's what friends are all about but still:( Anyways, I thought I'd share everything crab that was at the party with ya'll...

Okay first, I just had to share this one. Here is Bennett opening up his family gifts that morning and Harper is so upset because she really wanted to "help" Bennett open them, only she was ready to rip right into them and not give him a chance. He's got his pouty lip out because he isn't pleased with her loud crying-LOL.

Here he is in the crab pool I found at Target-this was obviously outside for the party with a bunch of cute crab squirters for the kids-didn't get to do that though;( But he loves it- should be fun this summer when we can't make it to the big pool!

The outfit that inspired it all!  I made it.

The crab invites (info. blocked out-obviously) from zappos.com

The kitchen table that decorated at the last minute as rain poured down{boo-hoo}. I have to give credit to Mike because as I was crumbling under the pressure-lol-he whipped up 3 awesome dips in minutes just before the guests arrived.

My friend Jeannie did it again by making Bennett this awesome crab cake!

And a cute little smash cake too!

She also made yummy cupcakes and I added these crab cupcake toppers that I purchased from here.

Cute crab banner from the same etsy shop as the cupcake toppers.

More crab goodies!  The lobsters crabs were from Giant (grocery store)-they kind of looked like crabs:) I also did a cute crab craft with the kids- you can see the little styrofoam crab in this pic-got the idea from searching on-line. They seemed to enjoy it:) Bubbles were from the dollar store in the wedding section and I even found some crab lollipops from here.

These awesome monogram cookies I got here.

Crab totes for the favors (found them at Christmas Tree Shop for nothing-well not nothing but you know what I mean!) and more crab stuff-squirters (Doller store), beach critters sand toys.  The crab gift tags were from the same place as the banner and cupcake toppers.  And the tiny crab cut out confettis that I put everywhere were from here.

And if you look hard enough, you can even find a crab bib!  Dollar section at Target.

So you know I had to dress the entire family up in crab attire! {Minus Mike:)}

And then my friend Jenni made these adorable thank you cards and address stickers (info. blocked out again). I love the little saying "I could just pinch you" that she added- too funny!

All in all the party went great and no one cared that we were inside, bumping into each other (except for me but I got over it) and I'll share pictures from that in the next post- too many pics all at once!

I definitely learned my lesson in being flexible with this party, that's for sure!

And to always have a solid plan B!! Oh and to not really trust the weather man;)