Perfect conditions for a first birthday party. :-)
The greatest lesson learned in the preparation of this party....get someone to occupy the kids while you set up the party! Poor Barrett had to sit in his carseat until daddy got there, and then in the stroller until Uncle Charlie and Aunt Kaci arrived early and saved him. Once he was set free he truly had a great time at the party.
Preparation began weeks beforehand putting together invitations, creating decorations, purchasing food for the party, and baking up the cakes. Casey was a huge help in getting everything ready. He's so good about just jumping in and doing whatever I ask. He baked all the chocolate chip cookies and put the favor bags together, used a paper cutter and everything!
The party was held at Gage Park in Topeka and I was so pleased to have only forgotten one thing...an ice cream scooper...not that we needed it. The ice cream was in milkshake form by the time we broke it out for the cake cutting.
Nearly fifty family members joined us to celebrate and it was the most laid back party I've thrown to date. I definitely credit that to early planning, keeping things simple and lists, lists, and more lists. It was a beautiful day for a picnic. I appreciate the weather cooperating for me. Once everything was set up, Casey manned the grill and I simply enjoyed the company and enjoyed celebrating Barrett...and took a whole bunch of photos!
Let's get to those photos, shall we?
The invite, designed by yours truly in PicMonkey.
The invites were printed at WalMart as photos. For the invites hand delivered, the pictures were glued to a 5x7 piece of cardstock, then placed in a brown paper lunch sack and taped shut with a piece of washi tape (colored tape with various designs). The invites that had to be mailed didn't get the cardstock, because it made them too big to fold down for mailing. It was fun mailing the paper sacks, something different, and cheaper than buying envelopes to fit the photo. Wished I'd thought to snap a photo of one before they were mailed off.
The ribbon banner is hard to see whipping in the wind.
I made the pom poms from dollar store tissue paper.
They are also being battered by the wind.
I taped his monthly photos to both sides of the post you see on the back right.
The plaid plates came from Dollar Tree.
The buckets holding the silverware, Target.
Plastic trays for the food, dollar section at WalMart.
The picnic baskets were purchased at an estate sale in Kansas City.
The plaid domes for covering the food, .25 a piece at a yard sale.
The small basket held the thank you favors,
the big basket held the bags of chips.
I made all the cakes and the buttercream icing to go on top
and was so pleased with how they turned out!
I wish I had gotten photos of them not in the shade
so you could see how pretty the frosting turned out.
Made the sign for the cake using my Silhouette.
Hard to tell in the photo, but those are ants crawling at the bottom of the sign.
I made mini banners for the two large cakes.
My excellent grill master.
Getting started on lunch.
I picked out the fabrics and Mom made the adorable bib for him.
Used a white hand towel for the backing.
He pulled on that bib all lunch long trying to get it off.
When he finally did manage to yank it off he just grinned and grinned.
Quite proud of himself, he was.
Smug even, I'd say.
Guests loading their plates.
We served hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, fresh vegetables,
watermelon, strawberries, and the chocolate chip cookie favors.
These were the tags we stapled to each bag of cookies.
I designed the tag in Word and Casey put the bags together.
The location was great.
Renting the shelter house with the tables was only $30.
There in the back of the photo you can see the nearby playground.
Casey's mom and step dad made the long trek up from Bartlesville.
My cousin Kelli teaching Barrett about table manners.
Feet don't belong on the tray.
Everyone had begun to sing to him.
His look was so priceless.
I wish I had it on video.
At first he was like, "Wha???"
Then, he was like, "Oh, that's for me. Score. Center of attention."
His smash cake....
...too windy to blow out the candle, though we tried.
At first he acted like he wasn't sure what to do with it.
Then, he just went face first into it.
Here's a short video of the cake eating.
Aggressively, like everything he does.
He actually ate all but what you see there on the plate.
After this shot I took him to the bathroom and gave him a bath in the sink.
Then it was time for presents!
These balloons from Grandma Danel were a big hit.
And, this ride from Great Aunt Suzanne was without a doubt his favorite.
Found this adorable shirt for $4 at Old Navy.
By the time of this photo it was 2:00 and he hadn't had a nap all day.
Smiling nicely for the picture was definitely not on his agenda.
When we did finally get home Barrett took a very long nap and then we enjoyed the evening outside playing. It was an awesome day celebrating his first birthday.
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