We made it through year one. No serious injuries, no serious sickness, only busted her lip a few times, fell off the couch and bed a couple times, multiple bruises, and I only let her eat a clump of dirt once. We. Survived. It. Hallelujah.
To celebrate the big day, we threw a blue and pink 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 here.
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 to make it here – and I made the banner out of scrapbook paper – I’ll show you how to do that here! 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. See the full barn door tutorial here.
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.
See more DIY party decorations and ideas here.
Oh my gosh! This looks like a wonderful party! As the mother of all girls (7,10 & 14) I know how much TLC and hard work goes into pulling of a special bday shindig.
But,you blew it out of the water! All of it…and the #1 photo collage made my heart skip a beat!
Your baby is one lucky little girl to have such a sweet & talented mama like you.
Oh my goodness! So much cuteness, I can hardly stand it! The outfit, the photo board, the hat, the decorations…you outdid yourself! LOVE everything! 🙂
Jenna I love this!!! Everything is perfect and she is one lucky little girl!! And OMG that deer head chalk board?? I don’t know if you’ve put it on here before and I’ve just never seen it but I am in love!!!
happy birthday to your sweet baby!!!She is sooo cute:)
You make amazing party!spesialy I like so much a mini garland on the cake- super cute!!!
best wishes+++
Happy Birthday! What a great party, you have an amazing eye for detail. I can’t wait to see the how to’s especially on the backdrop…with a houseful of girls, I am always looking for something new! 🙂 ps…love the leg warmers!
It turned out so cute!! Love the color theme and the chalkboards! “Let them eat cake”!! I feel your pain on cake decorating…not easy, but bet it was still tasty!
Those two colors are my two FAV colors together!!! SO LOVELY and soooo cotton candy-y. xo
This is adorable! Don’t feel bad about the hat. My daughter kept hers on for all of 3.569 nano seconds. Hated it. She’ll be eight this year and still hates having Happy Birthday sung to her. Gotta love them for all their quirks and loveliness. The “poo” face was funny.
Lisa
Love all the ideas you had! very cute party! 🙂 your daughter is beautiful!
I loved this post!! So many cute ideas! I’m looking forward to all your future tutorials. 🙂 I love the use of your great grandfather’s barn door. Very clever! I’ve GOT to get some of those cute straws too. 🙂 What an adorable baby!
Oh, it’s so adorable, Jenna! You outdid yourself! I love it! (And I’m a sucker for bunting – good choice!)
I think if I’d had to do all that I’d need at least a liter of Margaritas, lol. I’m not party material. I get too nervous then nobody is in any kind of party mood. I just like to invite a bunch of people over and wing it. Sorry to my kids (4) from their nogoodnik Mom.
Your little one is adorable. Can understand the party hat aversion. Just never know with little ones what they’ll tolerate. Most of the time the party and all the people is enuf to make them cranky. Bless her heart, she is such a beautiful little girl. Think maybe pic with three of you might have been what you thought, lol. Can’t fault them, when ya gotta go, ya gotta go. Incredible what babies can get away with. It’s the only time in our lives people want to kiss our feet and hold them, think they’re adorable. Hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend. Have some fun.
It was a fabulous party, Jenna! I had a ball! The baby was amazing, the house looked fantastic, the cake was great…
The only thing that could have been better? If that tiered silver serving piece had not been “ruined” by the daughter of the person who lent it to you. 🙂
Awesome job and Happy Birthday to your little lady! I love all the details. The backdrop is my favorite, such a great impact. Also, love the “Let Them Eat Cake” sign. Perfect!
OMG!! Jenna! You did a fabulous job! I love the pink and blue theme, LOVE the cake and cupcakes, that backdrop?? Gorgeous! Those baby legs are to die for too 😉 Love that chalkboard wall and the number 1 collage??? Pinning!!
Hugs,
Jamie
PS: Hats always end up like that…why? LOL
wow, Mommy worked hard for her little girl…Love that old door with the pictures and the chalkboard….
Oh Jenna, you did a fabulous job!! Makes me long for grandbabies!! Love the decorated deer! Plus, your comment about needing alcohol by the end of the day made me laugh out loud (I can so relate)!! Have a great weekend!!~~Angela
What a beautiful party! And your little lady is just adorable! Great job, mama!!
~Abby =)
This is such a super cute party! I love the mixture of pink and blue. Everything turned out so pretty. I love the cake pennant for sure!
love the pink and blue theme. visiting from the blog hops,
WHAT a SUPER darling party!!!! And for a big Qt too 🙂
Turned out great! And I agree that pulling off the first birthday bash is no small victory! Well done!
Cute Ideas, found you through “Craft-o-maniac! Pinned a couple of your pictures 🙂 Have a wonderful Day!
-Kayla
Very cute! Love the colours 🙂 Greetings from Australia♥ ~Pernilla
lovely party! Have a nice week Cristina
We just loved your post and your blog and we’re so glad to have you join us at our One Sharendipity Place Link-up Party this past weekend!! It has been so much fun finding your site and others like yours out there!! We hope you’ll join us again this weekend!!
Thanks again & God bless,
Sue @ thet2women.com
Oh my gosh — SO CUTE! XO, Aimee
What a sweet day!!! I may or may NOT love character themed parties either…I have and (hopefully) always will go with fun color themes!
Everything looks so cute and done with LOVE!!
Julie
What a cute party! Love the decorations! Thank you so much for linking up. Hope to see more from you on my next linky party.
It looks like such a sweet birthday party!! I love it 🙂
So beautiful! The cupcakes are dreamy!
Thank you so much! I just iced them with a plastic bag!
Oh my goodness…this post had me laughing, Jenna, especially your description of that last picture! What an adorable party you pulled off, though. I’m actually in the midst of planning an all pink 1st birthday party for my baby girl in a couple of weeks (she has two older brothers so I’ve already had my fill of blue!), and I’ve gotten a few new ideas from your party, so thank you! I hopped over from Get Your DIY On…thanks again for the inspiration!
haha! I’m so glad you laughed! So glad you got some ideas!
Amazing job! Def trying to copy your birthday banner and cake topper! Looking for a pack of scrapbook paper you used for the banner. Don’t see it on hobby lobby’s site. Any idea where I can find it? I’m doing the same theme
Hi Tay! Thank you! I purchased all my items in store at Hobby Lobby. If they don’t have them anymore, I would try Michaels. Hope that helps!
Hey.
Quick question, where did your aunt get her birthday outfit???? The shirt, leggings and skirt?
This is such a cute idea!!! You did a great job on everything! She’s one lucky little girly! 🙂
Thanks for your time!
-Nikki
Hi Nikki! The outfit came from an Etsy shop, although I’m not sure which one. I’m sure if you look on Etsy you will find a lot!