It's happening. Our youngest will be turning two next week and I am having a bit of a hard time accepting that. My baby boy...no longer a baby. Waaaahhhhh! So I thought I would take a trip down memory lane today, back to his first birthday nearly a year ago.
We kept it fairly small and simple, inviting just family and a couple close friends. I didn't want any kind of theme this time. Instead, I picked a color scheme and went with that. I found an adorable invitation from Tiny Prints which turned out to be the inspiration behind the chalkboard and blue. Once those were ordered, I started my lists and went out to pick up supplies!
One of the first things I started working on was the tassel garland. I love how these look and how they can be hung just about anywhere to add some fun color to the party. I used black, silver, light blue and royal blue tissue paper for this one. Once that was finished, I decided to use a 1.5" circle punch on my remaining tissue paper and make some confetti to sprinkle on the sideboard. It. Was. A. Pain. The tissue is too thin to punch easily, even when stacked, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend this. It took forever and kept getting stuck in the punch. But I really like how it added a little color so it was all worth it!
I printed out a little chalkboard-inspired sign with fun details about our sweet one year old, put it in a matted frame and hung it above the garland. They have a ton of these little signs on etsy that can be personalized for around $15 but as usual I didn't think of it in time! So I designed my own and printed it on dark grey cardstock. Not nearly as elaborate as the ones on etsy, but I thought it was really cute and a fun way to add something personal about our sweet boy.
As I mentioned, I found the chalkboard cupcake invitation on Tiny Prints' website. I thought it was simple but cute and it quickly inspired the theme of the party. I absolutely love Tiny Prints. I have been ordering from them for the past eight years. Birth announcements, baptism invitations, shower invitations, birthday invitations, Christmas cards, thank you notes, even Valentines! They have great personalized photo gifts too. The quality is always amazing and their printing and shipping time is super fast. They also have optional personalized RSVP sites when you order invitations! I just love them.
I usually set the paper products and beverages on the sideboard so they're easily accessible throughout the party. I found some chalkboard stickers and thought it would be cute to add them to plain white cups so guests could personalize them by writing their name on them with chalk. I also picked up some striped paper straws in black and blue. I made some pinwheels from double sided scrapbook paper in colors to match our theme and added them to the beverage station along with the tissue confetti. I painted a wooden craft letter "M" with chalkboard paint and centered it on the sideboard.
Since we had a good mix of adults and kids, I tried to have foods that would appeal to all ages. I set out some spinach dip with pita chips, cheese and crackers, fresh fruit and homemade cheese straws. For the sweets, I made cupcakes, rice krispy treats, sugar cookies (iced in a "chalkboard black" color) and a simple white cake with a small round chalkboard icing circle in the center with a "1" in white icing. I found mini chalkboards on clothespins which I used for the food labels.
I made a banner from scrapbook paper in dark grey and light blue and added the wooden letters to spell "one." I hung this across the front of the buffet table, added a few more paper pinwheels and several Project Life cards with sweet sayings. I also made a blue tissue paper pom pom, which I planned to hang...it just never made it up there. The kids had fun tossing it around though!
He had a great time running all over the place and playing with his cousins. It was a fun first birthday party!
Looking ahead a little to next week, I am going to have to start bracing myself now. My babiest baby will be two, which really is the end of the baby years. That is a bit heavy and a little bittersweet. We will be having a simple and small celebration, but I can assure you wine will most certainly be on that party menu for this mama!
If you need me, I'll be crying into my cup of coffee.
xoxo
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