Baby’s First Birthday Party

January 14, 2024 in Parenthood, Journal

My baby is a year old and when planning for his first birthday I had one goal, keep it simple. Firstly, because after the marathon of holidays and our anniversary, an elaborate birthday was not in the cards. Secondly, because he’s not going to remember it anyway! So the vision was something simple at home with family only. I still wanted to decorate and decided to go with a subtle ball theme since baby boy is obsessed with them. Think lots of colors, balls, balloons, and bubbles.

I DIY’ed most of the decor over the course of a week. If I am being honest, the balloon garland did the heavy lifting to make things festive. My cousin and I made one of these for my baby shower, this time I sized down and it was very manageable to make on my own. I also made the cutest garland of his face (ugh I know such a tease) from each month of his first year and a little cake topper to match. And the easiest and most nostalgic of all my crafts were colorful paper chains, oh how fun and I cannot wait to make them with my little guy when he’s a bit older.

The day of I made a little cake and tried out a watercolor frosting technique. This was meant to be a smash cake but as predicted he was not interested in smashing anything. He stuck his little fingers in the frosting and once he realized it was sticky, retreated his hand in disgust, ha! He is in a phase where slimy and sticky textures are lava and I can complain because I was not excited to wash cake out of everything anyway.

We kept food simple and ordered pizza. Honestly after hosting Christmas brunch we felt like we deserved to cheat a little with this event. Plus a pizza party screams childhood to both my partner and our guests loved it!

What I Bought for the Party

Beige “One” Balloon (Amazon)

Balloon Garland Kit (Etsy)

Custom Fabric Crown (Etsy)

Party Hats (Target)

Paper Plates (Target)

Paper Napkins (Target)

Compostable Flatware (Target)

Ball Party Favor (Target)

Bubbles Party Favor (Target)

Et voila, that was it! We sang happy birthday, ate, and played in his playroom. No gifts, no planned activities or schedules. It was low-key and I actually got to be present with everyone! Happy birthday to my baby <3

Glimpses of Our Baby Shower

November 30, 2022 in Journal

In early November we had our hybrid (virtual/in person) baby shower to celebrate baby and it was better than I could have expected. I was initially on the fence about celebrating given the holidays and covid, but in the end my sister and cousin convinced me and I am so glad they did! Here are a few shots from the set-up and you can find a some more on my Instagram.

See my Planning Post For More Behind The Scenes

Baby Shower Planning

November 06, 2022 in Journal

Now that I am officially in my 3rd trimester, I have been looking forward to celebrating baby with my closest family members. I’ve never been one for throwing extravagant parties; my partner and I eloped, I never had big graduation parties, typically I like to keep things low key. But let’s just say the journey into parenthood has changed that! My lovely sister and cousin are hosting this event, but I got to plan the “artistic direction.” I knew I wanted something soft and filled with flowers. I also wanted the colors to be gender neutral and more about what I liked than a color representing baby. Here’s what we came up with!

We’ll like order our catering from a local mediterranean grill. I am thinking chicken kebabs, rice, salad, and a few delicious mezze dips. For dessert we found a lovely local cake maker who bakes stunning naked cakes. We’re also planning to bake cookies that will also make it into the take-home goodie bags. As far as drinks, we will have an assortment of Italian sodas and my sister and cousin are planning peach bellinis.

As far as take home gifts for our guests, I fell in love with P.F. Candle Co’s “Golden Coast” scent on my recent road trip (up the golden coast!). We’re going to gift those candles with the homemade cookies and incense bundles.

Decor wise we are planning to make fresh floral bouquets, hang delicate bunting here and there, using pretty compostable tableware to brighten things up, and create a very dramatic balloon garland!