Grace’s First Birthday Party!

My baby girl is ONE! I can’t even believe how fast the past year has flown by. Each and every day with this little girl keeps getting better and better. She has so much personality already and is always laughing and smiling – unless of course, it is her first birthday party in which she refused to crack a smile for a single picture. Stubborn. We are in serious trouble.

I had always said that I would probably have a small party with family only for G’s first birthday. I had done a lot of event planning in a past job and have been over it ever since. Two months out, I started browsing on pinterest and things started spiraling out of control!

After much debate, I finally settled on the theme of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I am sure that you are thinking “this is obviously her favorite song.” Well, the truth is that it was the only song I could remember during the screaming sessions in the early days, and so I sang it to her repeatedly. And as soon as I started singing, she would stop crying. It seriously worked like a charm, and I was pretty pumped that someone appreciated my singing voice!

{Testing out the Ball Pit}

Back to the party theme. Instead of the usual blues and yellows, we chose shades of pink and gold. We love pink around here and did not want to be subtle with the shade for this baby girl’s first birthday!

Nico and Lala did an amazing job with the invites! I told them the theme and the color scheme, and they dreamed up the rest of the paper products! Again, I went a little overboard with goods here but really, aren’t the cups and napkins the cutest?! I always have edits when it comes to graphics requests but not with them. I barely told them a thing and yet they knew exactly what I wanted! Love that!{ Food Table + Bar Setup}

My poor mom spent way too much time with the star cookie cutters on the day of the party. We made star shaped sandwiches, brownies, tortilla chips, and last but certainly not least, star shaped pineapple to top the fruit skewers. I’m sure no one even noticed the fruit but they may have been my favorite part!

I ordered poms from PomTree on etsy and had to call in reinforcements at 11 am on Saturday to pull them apart. They were super easy but what I thought would be a 5 minute project turned into an hour one. This is what happens when a not crafty person attempts to be crafty…four hours before a party starts.

I ordered pink hydrangeas from Fifty Flowers and was incredibly impressed by their customer service. They were amazing! This was about the time that things started spiraling out of control. I mean who orders flowers online for a first birthday? I know. But seriously, this was a great purchase! One week later, these pink beauties are still looking gorgeous in my living room! That could be a record for me with hydrangeas – or any flowers ever!

{Favor Table: Bubbles, Sugar Star Cookies, and Star Wands}

My sweet friend Ann-Hayden of XOXO Sweets made these adorable star shaped cookies as favors for the party. I also had bubbles for the boys and glitter wands for the girls.

{Photo Wall of Grace’s First Year}

I ordered tons of photos from Social Print Studio using the pictures on my phone. My friend had the brilliant idea to make a wall collage with some crepe paper fringe I had ordered and I love the way it turned out. So much cuter in person than in the pictures!

{Smash Cake Setup}

I also spent hours making tassels for these Geronimo-inspired giant balloons. Unfortunately, the tassels were too heavy so the balloons would barely float. It still looked pretty but I’d love to know how the real things keep balloons afloat?!

{Birthday Girl Getting Ready for the Party}

{Playing with Friends}

{Family Photos}

Since the main focus of this blog is food, I can’t leave without sharing the food served at the party. For some reason, I really stressed about what to serve. Four to six in the afternoon is a strange time and my go to happy hour appetizers would not work with the star theme. While some of these things are non-traditional for a late afternoon shindig, I barely had any food left!

The Food + Drinks:
Chicken Salad with Star Shaped Tortilla Dippers
Pineapple Star Shaped Fruit Skewers
Chipotle Pimento Cheese Sandwiches (recipe coming soon)
Goldfish for the kiddos
Ina’s Outrageous Brownies (in star shape of course)
Pink Birthday Cupcakes (in assorted flavors)

Wine
Beer
Fresh Squeezed Lemonade
Bottled Water

We are so thankful to have so many family and friends come to our house to celebrate our sweet girl. It was such a special day for the entire family!