The Party was held at our home last Sunday, September 4th, and it was awesome.
It was the first time I had ever put on a party since moving to this house a year ago. I honestly had a blast planning everything, but I'm very relieved it is over with. Shit is stressful! I told myself I wouldn't go all out for this, but I ended up going overboard {to my standards! I am SO not a party planner!} & I am glad I did. Even though she won't remember it, I have pictures & memories for a lifetime!
The theme was "Our Little Sunshine" & I incorporated yellows, light pinks & white in the decor.
When I first started thinking about themes a while back, I was absolutely inspired by
this awesome 1st birthday party thrown by one of my favorite blog momma's &even though I don't "know" her, I felt inclined to ask her permission to go off of her idea. She said yes :) THANKS, KATIE!
I also got A LOT of inspiration
here.
All of the cutouts {except for the pennant banners, which I made} you see are from
Love the Day Designs. Lindi was so great. I just ordered & paid for the pdf file, she e-mailed it to me & I printed them off & cut everything out.
Food: We went pretty casual & served lunch
Turkey, ham, cheese{s} & rolls for sammiches
My mom's famous salad {I'll post the recipe sometime. Foodgasmic.}
Homemade mac' n' cheese {ya. I cooked. pick up your jaws from the ground}
Chips/dip
Drinks:
Mellow Yellow {I had to be cheesy with the theme}
Chick-fil-a Iced Tea Lemonade {mmmm}
Water
Beer
Chardonnay {duh}
Mimosas {were a total hit, since the party was held at noon :)}
Dessert:
Local Bakery cupcakes. YUMMM!
Gooey butter cookies. Sister made those. OMG. To die for.
Party Favors:
"1" Sugar cookies from Local Bakery wrapped in cellophane bags w/ribbon.
Sunflower Smash Cake:
White cake made by my amazing little sister.
Party Attire: {pre-smash cake}
Light Pink, yellow & white dress from Target {$6} that I randomly bought when I was 18wks pregnant. How perfect! She wore a party hat while opening gifts, but that stayed on all of 5 minutes.
Also, these tiny pink ballet flats, that we picked up at a little boutique a few weeks ago.
Everything went so smoothly! Claire woke up from her morning nap right as the guests were arriving, so she was in a great mood. She totally knew the party was for her. Such a little diva ;)
The Guests helped themselves to drinks and we had a slide show of C's first year playing on our t.v. in the background for people to watch while Momma & I were putting the finishing touches on lunch.
{I would put it on here, but it's 20 minutes long, ha!}.
We did the normal party routine: ate, & socialized, did gifts and THEN, it was time for the Smash Cake.
Oh, the Smash Cake. We sang Happy Birthday while Claire just stared at all of us, then I presented her with the cake. I was TOTALLY convinced she would have nothing to do with it. Boy, was I wrong. Good thing I stripped her down to her dipe beforehand! She was ALL OVER IT.
Promptly following the cake, the guest of honor was escorted up to the bathtub to get cleaned up & to take a nap. She was beat from all of the festivities. She didn't even get to say goodbye to most of the guests!
Following her nap? A post Birthday Party photo shoot. After everyone was gone. We found out that day that she LOVES balloons. So cute.
See the picture of the three of us? That is only the second picture we have EVER taken as a family. And? the angle absolutely sucks. Boo, hiss.
And then we tried out our new toys while momma finally got to sit down. and eat.
All in all, it was a fabulous day. Next time, maybe I won't put so much time into the decorations. I don't know why I expected people to actually
notice them. I mean, I practically got arthritis from cutting out everything & NO ONE EVEN APPRECIATED THEM. HAHA!
Hopefully you enjoyed the Party re-cap ;)
Also, check out my AMAZING sponsor's website. She's CONSTANTLY adding the most adorable things!!