Clara’s Dragon-Themed Birthday: Invitations and Party Details

As part of our annual tradition, we’re sharing Clara’s invitation and a few of the party supplies we’ve gathered, just like we did in previous years. After last year’s worm-themed celebration, this year Clara picked dragons—so say hello to our little dragon.

The dragon theme grew naturally. Clara declared that Dragons Love Tacos was one of her favorites (we even read it to her preschool class), and she frequently wears her dragon cape around the house. Between that and her telling us dragons were coming to her party, it felt like the perfect direction.

Invitations were sent out last week, which is a big to-do off the list. To recap, for her first birthday we used a design that played off a weekly photo project theme, and last year we created chevron-y worms that helped set the color palette. This year we wanted friendly, Clara-like dragons—so we decided to turn Clara herself into the dragon on the invite.

To make Clara the dragon, we needed a charming open-mouth portrait. Capturing that exact expression took a bit of patience, but when we saw the photo below we knew it was the one—she looks coy, like “oops, am I breathing fire?”

There were other fun outtakes too—one of which almost made us tease a Julius Caesar theme with “Friends, Romans, Preschoolers—lend me your play doh.” We stuck with the dragon idea, though, and built the invitation design around Clara’s photo.

We added graphics and text in Photoshop, aiming for the look of three-dimensional paper cutouts. To get the paper texture, we scanned construction paper for a slightly pulp-y feel, then layered cutout shapes for a flame-like effect around the photo.

In past years we used a service that allowed fully custom postcard printing, but this year we had a coupon for Shutterfly’s 5 x 7 stationery postcards. We had to hunt for blank postcards and eventually found suitable ones in the holiday section. The fifteen postcards were already discounted, and with our coupon the only charge was shipping—so we paid about ten dollars total after upgrading shipping to get them sooner.

We’ll share a full recap after the party, but here’s a sneak peek of some of the decorations and favors. Clara loves novelty socks, so the dragon socks were a fun, inexpensive favor—99 cents each from Target. The ikat serving plate shown was on clearance for $6. We’ll also have a dragon egg hunt, which explains the plastic eggs in these photos.

A small, meaningful project: Clara helped paint the wooden castles we bought from Michael’s while we had the alarm system installed at the new house. Those castles were inexpensive—about $4 each—and we thought they’d make a cute centerpiece on the food table. It was also a sweet mother-and-daughter activity since she loves to paint.

The party will be held at our current house. We wanted Clara to have her three Christmases and three first birthdays celebrated in that home, and the new house isn’t really ready for entertaining yet—though the occasional centipede does lend an oddly medieval vibe.

Psst—Tonight at 7pm we’ll be chatting with Kate Hall (aka: Richmond Mom) about parenting, decorating with your family in mind, and Mother’s Day gift ideas at the Barnes & Noble in Glen Allen (near Virginia Center Commons). The event will include a Q&A and a book signing. We’d love to see anyone who can make it.