Since our pup, so far, is on the up and up I thought I would share the photos from Adah’s first birthday this past weekend. This was fun to put together and I was excited to try some ideas I had been toying with. I’ll list all of the sources at the bottom of this post.
First up, my sweet little lady. I was thrilled that she was in full party mode this weekend! I’ve learned that both my children like being around other children and being the center of attention. Surprisingly, my almost 3 year old did really well even though the attention wasn’t on him.
I had a hard time choosing a theme. Even though the party was on Halloween weekend, I didn’t want it to be too Halloween-y. Since I am an invitation designer, it made sense for me to find something from my upcoming collection and use that as the guiding inspiration. I ultimately chose this bird/tree card, that I had originally designed as a birth announcement. I thought the bird idea could serve as a loose framework for the party. The top of the invitation read, ‘Adah’s first year has flown by!’
I designated the red and white polka dot dress as her birthday outfit a long time ago. I love the little bit of chalk ‘graffiti’ leftover from the party on the steps in this picture.
I didn’t want to the party to be too pastel so I used pops of red to give it a little more punch. To make it feel Halloween-weekend appropriate, I decided to make it a carnival, which played well into the pink + red color scheme. I noticed that many of the parties I am drawn to have a little bit of craftiness/homegrown feeling to them, so I tried to keep things on the loose side. I painted this sign that offered up our variety of treats. Had I known how much time I would have to put into handpainting the sign, I don’t know that I would do it again. But I really liked the addition to the party.
My friend, Melodie, recently opened a ‘treat truck’ called Tin Can Treats. She serves vintage-y goodies like caramel apples and ice cream pops. It didn’t hurt that the color scheme of her camper fit in perfectly with Adah’s party color palette. And of course, being Melodie- she was the best dressed (next to the birthday girl) in her red gingham dress and cherry earrings! I don’t think I could have pulled off the party without her. If you are in the Nashville area- she is fabulous to work with for events and very reasonably priced. I asked Melodie to use my favorite item from my partyware collection to serve the popcorn- the striped favor box.
I had been dying to try a cupcake liner garland ever since I had seen one a couple of years back. I thought it was the perfect way to adorn Doris (Melodie’s nickname for her treat truck). It was super easy to make and I thought it was incredibly festive. I strung the liners on fishing line with a needle, not worrying about what direction they were facing and whether I was puncturing the center exactly.
I relied on Melodie for the majority of edible eats, but decided to make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for the birthday cake. I call Adah my ‘muffin’, so it seemed appropriate for a couple of reasons! I was really happy with how they turned out. I made a huge amount of cake flags, some using ribbon and others with washi tape. I wasn’t sure how many I would need, but let’s just say I made way too many. Because I was also spelling out her name with the muffins, it would have been overload to have lots of flags on them as well. I also found some really cute vintage bird cupcake picks on etsy that I used sparingly.
For activities, I kept it simple. It’s fairly easy to entertain the 3 and under crowd, though we had a couple of 4-6 year olds. I hired a babysitter to help wrangle the kids and also act as facepainter. My husband acted as tattoo artist. I might hire another babysitter next time. He proved more impatient than the kids- he was actually the first to mess up my carefully crafted display! Go figure. I suppose a beer-laden man dressed as a penguin wasn’t the best choice. I also set up a crafts table with some flower shapes I had cut out of poster board. I envisioned putting the flowers on wooden dowels to make a ‘stem’, but in the mix of everything, that didn’t happen (and I really didn’t care!). We gave out bubbles, bird whistles (I don’t think any of the kids got that they had to be filled with water to make the bird sound), and balls. I also ordered some big pink balls for the little ones to play with. I have to remember next time that almost everything that says ‘pink’ on the internet means florescent pink. Not the pretty shade I had envisioned.
I cut out the letters for the tattoo and facepainting tables using red cardstock. I adorned the tables with tissue paper flowers and adhered them using a piece of double-stick tape.
All in all, I was really happy with how it turned out. I never seem to have enough time to set up or completely execute my vision, but usually it doesn’t matter in the end. We were so happy to have a beautiful day outside and a wonderful group of friends to celebrate with!
I’m sure there are things I have forgotten- feel free to ask in the comments section and I will to my best to answer.
sources…
{click to follow link}
red and white dot dress (on Adah) … pears + bears
invitations … hicks paper goods
striped popcorn boxes … hicks paper goods
white trays (for muffins) … CB2
muffin liners … bake it pretty
bubbles, birds, balls…oriental trading co.
ceramic birds and bird cupcake picks are vintage.
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Cute cowboy setup from Munchkin Tables.
If I weren’t planning a first birthday party for Halloween weekend, I would be planning a Halloween affair (at least I tell myself that). Thank goodness for 
