first birthday

I remember Mary Elle’s first birthday party perfectly. It was June in the middle of the pandemic, but you’d never know it from the photos. Happy faces and family filled the room, while party animals paraded atop the dining room table. There was cake, candles, presents, and high-chair pictures. Mary Elle looked so cute in her new birthday dress, but so much older at the same time.

The stress of planning a first birthday party is pretty high up there on my list. For first time moms, it’s brand new territory. All of the hard work and planning was exciting, but exhausting. After the last presents were opened and we said our goodbyes, I found myself carefully packing up Mel’s handmade birthday banner, the placemats I cut out from wrapping paper, and the party animals I painted topped with tiny party hats. I couldn’t help but look at all of it and think, “That’s it? This all just goes in a box?” All that time spent planning and working to end up forgotten on a shelf. I stared down at all of my work, took the lid off of the box, and the idea of MerryMaker Party & Paperie was born.

MerryMaker Party & Paperie

Like my About page says, MerryMaker was named after my daughter Mary Elle. I started off selling my party animals on Etsy in 2020, made my first sale later that year, and then transitioned into the paper and party supply side of things. Throughout this exploration, my goal has remained the same - to make it easy for anyone to throw their ideal party. A merrymaker is someone who enthusiastically takes part in festive and merry occasions. The way I see things, party or not, there’s always a reason to celebrate. Why not make life merrier?

make your own magic

It’s true. I sometimes go a little overboard on parties, but there’s one truth I never forget - There isn’t a budget in the world that can take away from decorations, invitations, and decor made with love. A party crafted in DIY fashion can rival even the most elaborate of affairs. Unique details and personal touches are often the stars of the show! They serve as a secret ingredient that can make a party magical. No matter what kind of birthday party I throw next, it will never outshine birthday number one.

DIY details

One of my favorite details from Mary Elle’s birthday party were her placemats. Placemats and other paper accents are a great way to dress up a table and add some extra color and pattern. They can also help incorporate the party’s theme. If you can’t find exactly what table accents you’re looking for, make your own!

Using a charger plate as a stencil, I traced over Rifle Paper Company’s party animals wrapping sheets to create these placemats. A few things I learned: The wrapping sheets are nice and thick, and didn’t crease while I cut them out. They also stayed flat on the table while tracing, so I wasn’t fighting with a wrapping paper roll. I once attempted to make more placemats with a wrapping paper roll instead, and while they’re great for wrapping large presents, they aren’t great for this DIY. They crinkle and tear too easily.

Another detail I loved DIY-ing was Mel’s painted party animal figures. I had seen several options for painted party animal cake toppers, but they were either too expensive or the colors weren’t quite right. I wouldn’t describe myself as great with a paint brush, but I figured they couldn’t be that difficult and decided to give it a go.

I went to a local craft store and purchased acrylic paint, paintbrushes, fabric trim, scrapbook paper, and pompoms. The animals came in a multipack that I had ordered online. The actual painting part was pretty easy. I found some images to use as inspiration, and then I just had fun with it! After painting the animals, I hot-glued trim around their feet to make it look like they were wearing party suits, and then made tiny party hats out of scrapbook paper. I also used a hot glue to attach the hats to the animals, and the pompoms to the hats.

A few things I learned: Wash the animals really well beforehand, or better yet let them soak in a large bowl with dawn dish soap. The oily/slippery coating on the figures made them difficult to paint. The paint wanted to slide off or glob up before I figured out that the coating was the problem. Another tip is to give yourself plenty of time to work on these so you aren’t watching paint dry, literally. They will need plenty of time to dry in between coats and before adding any other designs on top.

I have a love/hate relationship with my Cricut, which is what I used to DIY Mary Elle’s birthday banner. In another case of being too picky about things, I couldn’t find the banner I wanted but knew exactly what I wanted it to look like in my head. The placemats turned out so cute, so I thought why not incorporate more of the party animal paper into her banner. Cricut has a great design space online that you can use to find or create just about anything. I’m still a beginner in the Cricut world, but a banner I can handle. I don’t have a close up picture of the banner at her party, so an iPhone picture will have to do.

I found two banner flag patterns I liked and a cute, legible font on Cricut’s design space. The trickiest part was using the right type of paper for each part. After some trial and error, here are some things I learned: The pink paper I used for the scalloped banner flags was cardstock. It helped the banner not look flimsy on the wall, and it held its shape when I glued the party animal paper on top. I tried using the same pink cardstock for the letters, but they didn’t cut out well in letter form. I found another thin, shimmery pink paper to use that worked much better. I also tried to have as many animal faces as I could visible and not hidden underneath letters, and not have the same animals right next to each other, but that proved to be pretty impossible. :)