I still can’t believe my baby is one and I also can’t believe how perfect her first birthday party was. And I don’t mean that in a, “we had the nicest this and nicest that…” kind of way. I say it was perfect because I felt it was pure joy and happiness for Mila the entire time. Going into it I thought, “oh I hope she naps well before the party so she’s not fussy…” and “gosh there’s going to be 20 people over here I hope it doesn’t get too overwhelming for her…”. I was worrying about all the things (hi, isn’t that what moms do) when I didn’t need to at all. I was so amazed with how well she handled new faces, playing with her older cousins, CAKE and just the general stimulation overload. She was perfectly fine playing with my relatives without Ita and I in the room. She didn’t seem to bat an eye when all 20 of us were standing right in front of her as we placed a big cake in her face and sang happy birthday. Or when we all gathered in the living room long after her bedtime to open her presents with screaming kids running around. She just took it all in. And smiled. And laughed. And just genuinely seemed to enjoy herself. That may sound silly because she’s a year old but I felt it in my heart and it’s something I’ll never forget.
When it comes to your baby’s first birthday party, it can be easy to go overboard. At the end of the day I think all that matters is that your baby feels surrounded by love and extra special that day. Whether that means going all out hiring a caterer, ordering an expensive cake and inviting so many people it looks like a wedding or keeping it simple and sticking a candle in a hostess cupcake after bath time that night at home, just do what you want. Don’t let family members pressure you into anything you don’t want to do and by all means if you do want to throw the biggest first birthday bash the world has ever seen, DO IT! Your baby’s first birthday only happens once and if you want to go all out I think you should.
Details of Mila’s First birthday party
We decided to start the party at 3:00 because this would be about the time she woke up from her second nap. I definitely recommend scheduling the party to start right after nap time so you know your baby will be (hopefully) well rested and fed before any chaos ensues. We had just family over (about 20 people total) and had the party at my parents house (more space and a bigger backyard). I wouldn’t say we had a true “theme” other than it being pink and sweet with lots of hearts. 🙂 Here is a breakdown of her first birthday party…
The Food
Y’all know I am all about good food no matter the occasion. I wanted to keep it to pretty simple finger foods but still more than basic cheese and crackers. The table of food had…
Chicken Salad sandwiches on croissants
Hawaiian Roll Ham and Cheese Sliders
Platter of hummus, veggies and pita bread
Cheese and Heart Shaped Crackers
Macaroni and Cheese Bites (from Costco!)
The Drinks
We had pink lemonade and water in carafes and a raspberry sherbet punch in a big punch bowl. Just because it’s a first birthday party doesn’t mean you can’t serve a little bit of alcohol… we had beer and sparkling rose on ice.
The Cake and Desserts
My mom made the cakes (one big one for guests and a smash cake for Mila). She did the icing in pink ombre and decorated with fresh flowers and greenery. We kept with the pink ombre and did different shades of pink heart cutout sugar cookies and lined them up in rows to give the ombre effect. My mom used the leftover cake batter to make cupcakes, we had rice krispie treats in the shape of 1’s and hearts and I made what I think is the cutest and truly sweetest (so sweet) circus animal cookie fudge. It’s basically a white chocolate and marshmallow fudge with those pink and white frosted and sprinkled circus animal cookies. Pretty easy to make and I thought it looked so cute! I pinned the recipe here.
The Decor
Similar to my baby shower I wanted things to be simple and sweet with a bit of a bohemian feel to it. Everything was in a shade of pink with white and gold accents. I found the “yay” balloon in the dollar section at Target and most of the other balloons online from Michaels. We placed small vases of fresh flowers throughout the house and patio and my mom strung greenery and garden roses in the chandelier outside. I loved the idea of having balloons in the pool (inspo here). We didn’t quite execute it all the way but I definitely think it will happen at a future party.
I highly recommend making a milestone poster or paying $16.99 like I did to have one made that you can print. Mila’s had her name, height, weight, words she can say, things she loves, etc. and I thought it was so sweet! I had planned to make a collage of pictures but time got away from me and I didn’t get to do it. I also wanted to string photos 0-12 months but didn’t make that happen either.
I had recently received the most beautiful wooden name sign to put in Mila’s nursery from Hickory Hollow Designs and decided to hang it up in the living room at the party just for fun!
I think a dedicated area to take photos or have your baby’s highchair set up for the smash cake is important. There are so many cute backdrop ideas on Pinterest but we hung up a white sheet on the patio (fancy I know) and my mom attached flowers and greenery along with “one” in wooden, pink glitter letters. I would recommend measuring how tall the highchair is so you know where to hang the letters or whatever decor you choose for above the highchair. We didn’t do that and I think it could have been a little lower but I still think it looks so cute! Definitely scroll down to see all of the pictures of Mila trying cake for the first time…
We decorated Mila’s highchair with a fabric tassel banner my mom made (are you catching on that my mom is pretty crafty?) that had little fake flowers glued on it too. Do your best to secure whatever decorations you put on the highchair or have them out of reach of your baby because the first thing Mila did when we sat her down was pull of the banner lol not the end of the world but just something to consider if you don’t want your little photo op to be messed up. 🙂
One thing we had and DIDN’T end up putting out is this beautiful teepee my mom got us and decorated with fake flowers. It had been raining nonstop and was so muddy outside we decided to leave it inside. Her nursery isn’t quite big enough to have it in there but I would love to have it in our next house as a little reading nook! I’ll share pictures of it on the blog soon…
Mila’s Outfit
I never thought I would be the mom dressing my daughter in tutus but here we are. She looks adorable in them (especially when paired with sneakers) and I just can’t help myself! I found her pink and white striped “one” tutu dress on the Etsy shop Grace and Lucille. They have tons of colors and styles to choose from and accessories to go along with it! The matching gold sequin bow is from there as well. Her flower crown was made by my mom (are you surprised?) and she shockingly kept it on most of the party!
I love Plum also has really adorable tutu options (seen in this blog post).
My Outfit
No matter what color scheme or theme you go with I totally think your outfit should complement your baby’s. It doesn’t mean you need to go all out and dress up but even if I was going to wear jeans and a t-shirt I would have worn a shade of pink t-shirt. I had a hard time finding a pink dress so I wore my high-waisted pink pants and a hot pink scalloped cami (my pants are 40% off right now!). You can’t really tell in the photos but I convinced Ita to wear a pale pink dress shirt with grey polka dots. 🙂
Did I cover everything? Who knew there was so much right? For more first birthday party inspiration definitely check out this Pinterest board I created and follow me on Pinterest.
Thanks for reading!
