To celebrate the big day, we threw a blue & pink themed birthday party. As much as I may or may not love the Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake theme ideas, we went for a more stylish approach to the party: Blue & Pink.
With the exception of running out of gas for the grill and setting off the smoke alarm (luckily Grandma rigged it with a plastic bag), the party went great! But hey, at least we can tell her a funny story about her 1st birthday.
If you remember my birthday party inspiration board, you know I used a lot of ideas from Jamie at Better with Age and April at House by Hoff.
I loved Jamie's cake for her little girl with all the sprinkles. I ended up not using the recipe she did, but still going for the sprinkle effect on top. I read that recipe and totally knew I was not a good enough baker to pull it off. She also put really cute sprinkles around the bottom of her cake, but once more, I am not very good at icing (Thank God my amazing mother-in-law was here to salvage the cake), so I opted to not attempt the sprinkles around the bottom.
To top the cake off, I made the happy birthday banner for it.
The kid got her very own cake served on a silver platter. Spoiled much? Grunt Labor iced it because at that point in the day, I was done icing cakes and cupcakes and in desperate need of alcohol. These birthday parties are BEASTS! My hat is off to all you folks with multiple kids!
We also served cupcakes. I did use the same recipe Jamie did for her cupcakes, which can be found here.
The white cupcake pedestals were thrifted finds I put together for less than $3 each. I'll show you how to do those later.
I completely stole the idea for the balloon cupcake toppers from April. She made flowers for her cupcake toppers and shows you how to make them here. I made the tissue paper flowers, similar to the ones April also made. They were very easy to make, a lot like my tissue paper pom-poms, just on a smaller scale.
We served pink lemonade and had some blue and pink striped straws for extra flair and decor.
The backdrop is made from tablecloths - super easy, I'll show you how in another post - and I made the banner out of scrapbook paper - I'll show you how to do that too! I threw together some of the tissue paper pom-poms to hang from the ceiling.
I decorated both chalkboards with birthday themes and the best chalkboard writing skills I could muster. Inspiration for the chalkboards came from my Pinterest chalkboard board.
While scouring through the attic a couple months back, I found this Happy Birthday musical thing-a-ma-bob that was my Dad's. I thought it fit perfectly with the theme, so I set it out as a little vintage touch. Sorry, Dad, I'm sure the "vintage" description makes you feel old.
I took an old barn door from my great grandfather's farm and made a picture collage in the shape of a 1 to greet guests as they entered.
Remember the super cute DIY party hat I made? This is how that turned out:
Get. It. Off. Me. Now. So, the hat stayed on the deer for the rest of the day.
Other than that, she was a real peach. Seriously. I was shocked. I mean, since she is my kid and all.
I pulled out my Grandmother's high chair for her to sit in. Can you tell I'm sentimental at all and don't get rid of anything?
My aunt bought her the super cute birthday outfit she is wearing. So. Freakin. Adorable.
Not sure what that look on her face is...a poo maybe? Good grief.
Over the next few weeks, I'm going to be sharing how I made all the decorations!
Don't worry - I won't overload you with non-stop birthday posts though!
Follow along so you don't miss out:
Linking up to:
Nifty Thrifty Sunday I Heart Naptime Sunday Scoop Overflowing With Creativity Flamingo Toes Think Pink Sunday Under the Table and Dreaming Sunday Showcase Party Keeping It Simple Motivate Me Monday Sumo's Sweet Stuff Market Yourself Monday Craft-O-Maniac Link Up Party A Blossoming Life Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop Serendipity and Spice Manic Monday Party Skip to my Lou Made By You Monday
Mad in Crafts Mad Skills Party I Gotta Try That Party Clever Chicks Blog Hop The Girl Creative Just Something I Whipped Up DIY Showoff Project Parade Petite Hermine Linky Party Diana Rambles Pin Me Party Cheerios and Lattes Link Up Be Different Act Normal Show and Tell Saturday Dare to Share Funky Junk Saturday Night Special Tatertots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up Party Beneath My Heart Family, Home and Life Someday Crafts Whatever Goes Wednesday Sew Much Ado No Minimalist Here Open House Party Live Laugh Linky Embracing Change Creative Inspirations Party Mom on Timeout Fluster Buster A Jennuine Life Thrifty to Nifty Thursdays My Repurposed Life Catch as Catch Can Simply Designing with Ashley Phipps Simply Linky Party Craft Junkie Too T.G.I.F. Linky Party Thirty Handmade Days Linky PartyBacon Time with the Hungry Hungry Hypo Anything Goes Linky Truly Lovely Fancy This Fridays Life on Lakeshore Drive Sunshine and a Summer Breeze House of Rose A Night Owl A to Z Celebrations My Crazy Beautiful Life Naptime Creations The Mandatory Mooch Coastal Charm Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Talkin About Thursday Designed Decor Green Willow Pond Osie Moats Six Sisters Stuff Strut Your Stuff The D.I.Y. Dreamer From Dream to Reality Primp Ready, Set, Pin Party Party in Polka Dots Suburbs Mama Sunday Link Party
