I have been wanting to blog about my daughter's 1st birthday forever, so here goes.
I know a lot of people thought it was over the top and crazy (including my husband) when I started planning it - and without my friend Meghan who helped so much, I would have never been able to pull it all off! I loved everything that we did, all the details that we put into it, all the arguments I had with my husband about being extravagant, everything! All the kids and our guests LOVED it!
We had a one year photo shoot for Suri - She was tired and cranky but the photographer (Pandya Photography, NJ) made it work and the pictures came out amazing! We wanted to use the pictures form the shoot for our invite so this was on top of our list to get done.
We decided to go with the "One year in a Flash" theme and decided to use pinks and blues for colors! Once we had the theme down, the next on our "to-do" list was invites! We had Gwen from GwenMarie Designs design the invite for us. She was extremely patient with us and made all the changes we requested! She designed the invite, insert and the return label for us.
The invite included an insert that asked the guests to bring something to add to Suri's time capsule, which she would open on her 18th birthday! This was a great success, guests were really creative with what they added to the time capsule box.
Next on the list was decor. Having nailed the color down, it was easy enough to figure out what we wanted to do in terms of decor. We started with getting a sign for the yard, found this at Party City for $5.99, worked so well with out color scheme. Meghan and I worked on the wreath as well! I loved how it set the tone for the party, colors and all!
We found an easy, inexpensive way
to make a personalized wreath. We were able to find all the supplies at
Michaels, less than $15 to DIY. I have a post on the blog on how to make it, it's simple and easy and can be personalized.
For entertainment, we had two fun things. We set up an open style "photo booth" or like our photographer, One Rock Studio, liked to call it, a "photo fun station." Michael, the owner was generous enough to bring lots of fun photo props for the guests to use. He even created an amazing personalized frame that would directly print on the picture, which was available for the guests to take home. I also bought frames that I used as favors from Ikea (.99c each), guests were able to put the pictures from the photo station into the frame and take them home as a memorable favor!
Additionally, we had an amazing face painter/balloon twister come out to entertain the kids. She was lovely, extremely professional and did a great job with her wonderful art for all the kids!
We also had Tyler Rieth from Tyler Rieth Photography take pictures to capture the fun moments of the party! He did an amazing job and many of his pictures are displayed all over this post. He also did a blog feature of the party on his blog.
Here is some decor from the party-
This was the candy table that we decorated with all pinks and blues. I found most of the candy and scoops from Party City and bought a few from the dollar store. I bought almost all the candy dispensers from Michaels. We had these adorable cookies that we had a local baker make for us, she is absolutely amazing and you can find some of her work here. I borrowed the table runners with "s" from a friend who had used them for her wedding, the colors went perfectly with our theme.
The desert table was on display as soon as you walked through the front door. I purchased the ruffle fabric from ebay, i found it the cheapest there, I have since gotten a dress and a skirt make for Suri from the fabric - makes for a great memory and I think the fabric wasn't a complete waste. I bought the pompettes from TheFlairExchange on Etsy and we glue dotted them onto the fabric. We ordered the cupcakes, truffle pops and the cake from a local bakery, they did a spectacular job with the colors. We also decorated all the cupcake stands with pinks and blues to keep with the color scheme and cut out cupcake picks and name tags for all the desert.
I know a lot of people thought it was over the top and crazy (including my husband) when I started planning it - and without my friend Meghan who helped so much, I would have never been able to pull it all off! I loved everything that we did, all the details that we put into it, all the arguments I had with my husband about being extravagant, everything! All the kids and our guests LOVED it!
We had a one year photo shoot for Suri - She was tired and cranky but the photographer (Pandya Photography, NJ) made it work and the pictures came out amazing! We wanted to use the pictures form the shoot for our invite so this was on top of our list to get done.
We decided to go with the "One year in a Flash" theme and decided to use pinks and blues for colors! Once we had the theme down, the next on our "to-do" list was invites! We had Gwen from GwenMarie Designs design the invite for us. She was extremely patient with us and made all the changes we requested! She designed the invite, insert and the return label for us.
The invite included an insert that asked the guests to bring something to add to Suri's time capsule, which she would open on her 18th birthday! This was a great success, guests were really creative with what they added to the time capsule box.
Next on the list was decor. Having nailed the color down, it was easy enough to figure out what we wanted to do in terms of decor. We started with getting a sign for the yard, found this at Party City for $5.99, worked so well with out color scheme. Meghan and I worked on the wreath as well! I loved how it set the tone for the party, colors and all!
For entertainment, we had two fun things. We set up an open style "photo booth" or like our photographer, One Rock Studio, liked to call it, a "photo fun station." Michael, the owner was generous enough to bring lots of fun photo props for the guests to use. He even created an amazing personalized frame that would directly print on the picture, which was available for the guests to take home. I also bought frames that I used as favors from Ikea (.99c each), guests were able to put the pictures from the photo station into the frame and take them home as a memorable favor!
Additionally, we had an amazing face painter/balloon twister come out to entertain the kids. She was lovely, extremely professional and did a great job with her wonderful art for all the kids!
We also had Tyler Rieth from Tyler Rieth Photography take pictures to capture the fun moments of the party! He did an amazing job and many of his pictures are displayed all over this post. He also did a blog feature of the party on his blog.
Here is some decor from the party-
The desert table was on display as soon as you walked through the front door. I purchased the ruffle fabric from ebay, i found it the cheapest there, I have since gotten a dress and a skirt make for Suri from the fabric - makes for a great memory and I think the fabric wasn't a complete waste. I bought the pompettes from TheFlairExchange on Etsy and we glue dotted them onto the fabric. We ordered the cupcakes, truffle pops and the cake from a local bakery, they did a spectacular job with the colors. We also decorated all the cupcake stands with pinks and blues to keep with the color scheme and cut out cupcake picks and name tags for all the desert.
We had the majority of the entertainment in the basement. As soon as you walked down the steps, I had a decal with her name on the wall, we used pictures from Suri's first year to create photo banners going down the stairs. We decorated the space with simple balloons and banners.
Here are some pictures of some fun moments of the party! I enjoyed planning this birthday party for Suri and know that all the kids and guests at the party had a wonderful time.
Please note that all images on this blog are the property of the photographer or us. Please do not copy or use these pictures for any purpose without permission.
