Ty-Ty's Tie Party!

Since the Ty guy is only 1 and so far the only word he says for sure is "more" (as in, give me more food), he didn't really have much of a say in the theme for the celebration of his 1st birthday.  I took the liberty of going campy and filled some of my empty brain space with some "tie-riffic" ideas for his tie-themed party!  I kinda do have fun doing corny stuff like this, so watch out world for the annual cheese-filled birthday parties of the future!  Since most of my fam was going to be together the 1st week of August, we decided to celebrate with them.  Ty was lucky to have his cousins and lots of aunts, uncles, and even great-grandparents there!

(These pictures are all out of order, but I don't feel like putting them in order...sorry.)

A ball!  Ty knows just what to do with these and is always happy to have one.  The kid's got a rocket-arm already!

 This gift was definitely popular with the children...and it's still in the box!

 This is funny to me, but it's not really how I feel.  I just can't keep the boys away!

 Uncle Kai-Kai and his formal dinner with "Mr. Swift" and "Mr. Espinoza."

 Generous cousins offering to help Ty with his new books.  (Thanks, dollar store for lift-the-flap books I don't care if Ty rips!) 

 Nom-nomin' some birtday cake!

 It was always a treat to lick the candles from the cake.  (Anyone else do that?) Our genius little guy took htat one step further and ate part of the candle...like wax chunks missing.  Oops.

 "Happy Birthday, dear Ty-ty, Happy Birthday to you!"  And please don't judge me on the cake.  I did what I could with the little that we had.  It's not very easy to do full-on cake plastic surgery and design with limited vacation materials.  In case you couldn't tell, it's supposed to be a tie.

 The popular "Pin the Tie on Ty" game.  Just about everyone got in on the action!

 And the victors are: Carl and Mor-mor (my mom).  Good ol' dad didn't fare too well...his tie was practically down the hall, hence the goofy-eye glasses prize.

 Our tux-and-tie-wearing strawberries.  Again, with limited resources, it was difficult.  Julia, my mom, and I did the best we could.

 Russell hard at work placing his tie.

Uhh...Grandma?  We're over here.  As in, in this room.  To be fair to her, G-g'pa did spin her around and ended with her pointing in the wrong direction.

 

All the party guests (minus Curt taking the picture) posed under the tie banner.  Please note the lovely custom ties in lieu of party hats. I think Ty's the only one without one on: his lasted about 2 minutes before he pulled it off.  It was so drool-covered that it was falling apart (it is only paper), so Russell came to the rescue with his Wolf tie as a substitute.

 Dinner included bow TIE pasta salad, hot dogs/brats wearing mustard TIEs (if you chose to put your mustard on in the shape of a tie), salad (couldn't think of any more "tie" food, and we actually wanted a rounded meal, so that's what we got), and fruit (including blueberries, Ty's current fave).  Delish.

 Tina asked G-g'pa to smile big and boy, did he! (These are my mom's parents.)

 The spread.

We had such a fun time that we didn't even get to our special "Tie Walk" candy bar game (like a cake walk) or our "Tied-leg Race" (3-legged race)!  Thanks to all who came/helped! Ty (I) had a lovely time.

Next year Ty may actually have a say in what type of party he'd like.  Russell says that we should do a "Number 2"-themed party with a lot of...chocolate-looking stuff.  I dunno about that one.  Either way, be looking forward to some fun times next year!