There are few things that had me as excited as my baby's first birthday. Initially, I wasn't going to do much because 1) he won't remember, 2) his dad is deployed, and 3) I have like 2 friends in El Paso. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it's perfectly ok to go all out (for myself) to celebrate the most amazing thing that I've done: give birth. Seriously. His birth was traumatic from start to finish. But finally being able to hold my sweet baby, after only being able to look at him, was the best thing ever. He deserved a big party. And so did I.
I went back and forth about the theme, but ultimately decided on Curious Dylan. It sums up his personality perfectly. Read on for more about how I decorated and what I learned.
The first thing I did upon figuring out the theme was look for his 12 month shoot outfit. If you follow me on Instagram, you've probably seen a few of his shoots I've done monthly from birth. I found the cutest "chalk board" that says cute facts about Dylan, his monthly photo banner, and Curious George outfit on RegrETSY (make sure you check out my store too if you haven't already!) Of course little wiggly boy wouldn't sit still for his photo, but watching him try cake for the first time was hilarious. I'm still not sure if he likes it lol. And now, on to the party decor!
One of the most important things I was told about 1st birthday's was to not stress and enjoy it. I did not listen! I had a vision for his party, much like I did for my baby shower, and with both, they didn't come out right due to uncontrollable circumstances. In this case: horrible weather. I will NEVER have an outdoor party again! Though I did manage to get one photo of his dessert table (after we had already cut the cake), it was beyond windy the day of his party. There were tornadoes. It was awful. All of the decor blew all over my yard and all of the balloons popped. The backdrop kept blowing over. I was literally the most stressed I could be.
This is how the set up looked when I was planning the layout in my garage before the party.
I made home made strawberry lemonade (yum) for the beverage. We also made cotton candy which was super fun. And delicious.
How adorable are these little yellow hat pastries? I got the idea off of pinterest. The were super easy to make.
Of course I had to make my baby's candy station boxes. It was fun to not be do them in tiffany blue for a change.
Dylly's piñata (for the older kids) and a shot of the eating table. All of the plates and decor on it kept blowing away. I swear the wind was my enemy. Again: never again will I do a party in my back yard!
All in all, the party came out great (minus the decor). My baby had a great time and he wasn't grumpy at all (I planned it for right after his nap and kept the party at 3 hours so he wouldn't get overtired or over stimulated). I didn't get a chance to photograph the food (or make myself look presentable due to all of the decor mishaps), but I made jerk chicken, burgers, macaroni and cheese, and grilled vegetables. All of the guests (about 12) said that they had fun, so I guess it wasn't a fail after all lol. Thanks for reading!
xx Slim
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