For Little Jacks’ first birthday, we had a very low-key family affair.  This year, we really wanted her to celebrate with her friends, so we were planning a small backyard BBQ for the week after her birthday.  (That would be this coming weekend.)

Well, we found out one of her best buddies would be going out of town for the entire summer, starting the week before her birthday.  I have a summer birthday and remember how bummed I was each year when half my friends were out of town for my birthday.  I didn’t want the same thing to happen to LJ.  It wouldn’t be a party without one of her best buds!  While on a play date with her two little guy friends on a Thursday, we hatched a plan to have a combined going away and birthday party.  That gave me exactly two days to plan a party (and work and take care of the family, etc!)  I got fired up to actually do something more than make cupcakes when we decided to get the affair catered by the local Asian fusion food truck.  Their food is so delicious!

I asked Little Jacks what she wanted at her party and she only had two requests: ribbons and bubbles.  While that didn’t give me much to go on, I was thinking about creating ribbon wands for the kids.  I came to the Hellobee boards and several people suggested the same. (Thanks Oceanis723, artbee, Mrs. Blue, chopsuey119)  Meanwhile Mrs. Bee gave me some amazing Pinterest inspiration that I’d probably never be able to pull off in time, but am definitely saving for next year!

24 hours before the party, we ran to Michael’s for balloons, ribbons, and stuff to make favor bags.  That night I made ribbon wands for the kids.  It’s a super-easy project and they were loads of fun!  There are dozens of tutorials on the internet, but I found two key elements: 1) It’s easiest if you attach a key ring to the stick to attach the ribbons to and 2) Ribbon should be no longer than 12 inches, since toddlers are pretty short!

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The day of the party was beautiful.   I made a cake and cupcakes using a depression era recipe called “Crazy Cake.”  It’s vegan, so it’s really regained popularity.  It’s also reliable and delicious!  I needed a recipe that I knew well to do this without a trial run. LJ decided she wanted pink frosting, and I made it using an old family buttercream frosting recipe.

As I was running around the kitchen, I managed to catch my left pinky toe on the high chair.  I ended up breaking the toe, and as a consequence decided not to make the second layer of the main cake (so don’t laugh when you see it!).

There was no time to waste, so we assembled favor bags, got the girls ready, and then snapped some quick photos in the front yard in case it was too hectic for me to take any more pictures throughout the day.

We went over early to set up, but since it wasn’t our house, we couldn’t exactly set up the way we wanted to.  We improvised enough to make it look festive.  Guests began to arrive and all of a sudden it was clear to us that there were more kids coming than we anticipated.  I had made extra favor bags, but not enough!


Contents of the favor bags

There was sangria for the adults, the catering truck was coming, and there were plenty of little kids running around with ribbon wands and bubbles, so nobody noticed that I didn’t do an amazing decor job, that I didn’t have time to do two layers on the cake or that I was now walking with a slight limp!

Food was the easy part… and delicious!  We had panko encrusted tofu, citrus calamari, ginger beef, and coconut curry chicken as our options.  You could get them as sliders or tacos.  Yum!

All in all, everyone had a great time and I learned a few lessons for the coming year.  Namely, I will make extra favor bags, plan further ahead on decor (or host at my own house), and do as much advanced prep work as possible!

Hopefully, Little Jacks will remember the day as a fun and festive time with her best friends!


I’m eating my cupcake on the go!


Yeah, I’m 20! (and my mama pulled it off!)

Did you ever pull off a big party in a short amount of time?