I was given a challenge recently.  Create a centerpiece for a 1st birthday party, for a little boy who was born on St. Patrick’s Day, (no problem) but, make the centerpiece ‘playable’.   This was going to be a tough one, but my creative juices got going right away.  What I came up with was a “Lucky Charms” theme.

I actually had to do some research about the cereal, because we don’t usually have sugary cereals in our house.

What I found were the colors of the marshmallows.  Pink hearts, orange stars, yellow moons, green clovers, red balloons, blue diamonds.  And naturally, Lucky the Leprechaun.

This centerpiece was harder than I thought it would be.  I started out by making a little “Lucky”, (he’s magically delicious) making sure that it had no removable parts.  I painted on the features & hair & sewed all of the clothing to the body of the doll.

Then I made him a little pot of gold pillow out of satin.  I wanted the pillow to be smooth for his delicate 1 year old skin.

The orange star became a door hanging.  I used command performance on the back of it so that it wouldn’t damage the walls or door.

I painted a wooden star shape in a bright orange:

It needed two coats, and luckily the wood grain still showed through.  I thought that the wood grain gave it a slightly more masculine look.  And then I painted his name on wooden letters.  I chose white so that it would show up from a distance.

Then I glued the letters to the center of the star.

Once the glue dried, I turned it over and applied the command performance strip to the back.

The shapes became magnets & bathtub toys.  I used craft foam, because it’s soft for his little fingers & it floats in water & will stick to the side of a wet tub.  Craft foam will also stick to a wet window or mirror.

I made paper patterns for the shapes:

I traced around the patterns with a pen and then cut several of them out of the appropriate colored foam (making sure that I’d cut the pen markings away).

I added magnets to one set of the shapes.  (I know how little ones love to move the shapes around on the fridge, especially when Mommy is busy cooking)

I used a large plastic punch bowl to hold everything. (I had to add a little something for Mommy) Then I add a red ball instead of a ‘red balloon’.  And then added a green helium balloon to the top of the basket/ centerpiece.

Happy Birthday Weston!