My cousin's son turned one this weekend.  And in the grand American tradition, a big first birthday party was thrown.  Baby C really didn't notice the fuss and didn't give much attention to his giant John Deer themed birthday cake and decor.  But he did get piles of presents.  I made my gift as I never know what to get kids, toy-wise.  I just don't see them often enough to know what they might like or need.  When I go there, it seems like they already own everything.  I'm sure they don't but as someone who never goes to toy stores, it seems like toy overload to my untrained eyes.  Plus, I know my cousin's mom (my aunt) and his wife really do appreciate things that I make.  Since his sister got a tutu on her first birthday, it seemed only appropriate to make the baby boy a superhero themed onesie and cape.  It was quite a hit with all the adults at the party. 

Though I have to mention this odd moment.  So I was outside chatting with some family members when the gifts were opened.  Which sort of bummed me out because I like to see reactions to things I give and think one year old gifts in general are pretty darn cute.  But events in my family are very relaxed.  Not like my hyper-organized and scheduled events.  It was a stunning day and people were enjoy the last amazing summer sunshine.  So I missed it.  Moving on.  Next up was cake.  We all stood around and sang happy birthday. Twice. Because after we sang it the first time, the baby's older sister, who is two and a half, requested we sing it again. So we did.  I thought that was rather hilarious that 30 grown adults gave in to the request of a tiny little girl without a bat of an eyelash.  So they are getting ready to cut into this giant green John Deer theme cake and I notice this woman standing mere inches from the cake holding my gift.  That I stayed up the late the night before making because I sort of forgot about the party.  White onesie and kelly green frosting were now centimeters from each other and I am ticked off to say the least.  I wanted to grab it and tell her to put my damn gift down.  It turns out, I don't think my gift was even opened and she actually opened it.  Because she was showing it to the mom for the first time.  Showing it off because she liked it but it annoyed me that I bothered wrapping it all cute for some stranger to open it and have it in a ball in her hands right next to the cake.  It was just such an odd and uncomfortable moment.  And reminded me of when Bestie started going to wedding and baby showers held at southern churches.  When all the church ladies unwrap your gift instead of the bride.  Seriously, if I knew that was going to happen, I would have just thrown it in a gift bag and been done with it.  I wonder if they even saw the cute card.  I'm sorry but this is not the south.  When I wrap a gift, I expect the recipient (or their mother) to open the gift themselves.  Not some stranger (to me- they knew her- she was not a stranger off the street).



But I digress...

I've made several capes as gifts but I was pretty pleased as punch with this one.  It came together fairly quickly, despite a few glitches along the way.  And I made the cape large enough that he can wear it for a few years.  I use the softest Velcro I can find for the closure- a tie just scares me that it might be a choking hazard.  And I love the colors- very primary and bold.  The inside of the cape is the red and white polka dot too.



Of course, baby gifts are so much easier (for me) to make than big boy/pre-teen gifts.  Once they become teenagers, it's gift cards all the way. But between the ages of 5 and 13, I am clueless about boys.  Nearly all the kids in my family are boys, too.  I struggle every year at Christmas to figure that gift out.  Here is what I came up with last year and the year before that.  The novelty/edible route seems to be a hit so I am already trying to come up with round three this year.  If only little boys could forever be happy with opening up a superhero cape!