I’m having a hard time accepting this reality, but Jackson is about to be a year old. How did that happen?
I may not be ready to deal with the fact that I’m about to have a toddler, but it’s happening whether I want it to or not. And I’ve been having people ask me what I plan on doing for his birthday party, so I figure it’s about time I get it planned.
Now, I won’t lie – I would love to do an awesome, Pinterest-worthy, absolutely perfect first birthday party complete with handmade decorations and professional photography. But that’s just not my reality – I don’t have time to do a ton of DIY for the party, and I don’t have the money to go crazy on a party that my kid won’t even remember. Mr. Garland and I debated whether or not we would even have a party for Jackson, and in the end we decided to go for it even if it’s just for us. It’s been a rough year adjusting to this new life, and I want to celebrate the fact that we made it!
When he’s old enough to tell me what he wants, I’m absolutely willing to go with a theme for his parties, but if I picked a theme based on his favorite things right now it would be a hitting-things-and-putting-stuff-int0-other-stuff theme, which really just isn’t that exciting. So, we picked a few colors (navy and gold), decided on a menu (breakfast, because it’s Jackson’s favorite part of the day), and started throwing together a quick and easy first birthday party!
We’re keeping things very simple and affordable this year, and I’m hoping it’ll also be cute. Here’s the inspiration I’ve gathered for his party so far.
1. Invitations – The only thing we “splurged” on were the invitations – I didn’t really want to buy fill-in-the-blank ones that weren’t personalized, so we waited for a sale and snagged those cute ones for less than $20 total. To be honest we probably could have skipped the invitations altogether (I think we mailed out 8), but I couldn’t resist doing something special.
2. Decor – I want to use lots of balloons (they make a big impact for not much money)! I’m getting a large gold “1” and hopefully we can get some big 36″ balloons as well – we used a few as decoration for our wedding and we loved how they looked!
3. Book – I see this adorable Dr. Seuss birthday book all over Pinterest, along with the idea to bring it out at every birthday party to have the guests sign as your child grows. I’ve already ordered our copy, and I think it’s a fantastic idea. It’ll be such a fun keepsake to have as he gets older!
4. Garland – I absolutely love these tassel garlands but they’re so expensive to purchase pre-made! This is the only DIY project I’m really doing for the decorations, and this tutorial makes it look like it’ll be a breeze. I’m not usually very good at this sort of craft, though, so we’ll see how it turns out – I’m definitely giving it a shot!
5. Cake – I found this recipe when I was looking for healthy alternatives for a smash cake. I love that this cake has no added sugar and is a much healthier version of a regular cake. I haven’t decided if I’ll do the blueberry “1” or if I’ll actually put a candle on it, but we’ll be doing a healthy(ish) cake for him!
6. Streamers – I want to make sure to create a cute little backdrop for his high chair, since there will probably be a ton of photos taken with him in it. We’ll likely stick with just navy, gold, and white, and I haven’t decided exactly what we’ll do yet, but I know the high chair needs to be a focal point!
7. Waffle Bar – And finally, the part I’m most excited about…the food! We’re having a waffle bar with lots of fun toppings, along with scrambled eggs (one of Jackson’s favorite foods), fruit, and some sausage and bacon. I’ll also probably have some hot chocolate and maybe stuff for mimosas – brunch is always so much fun to plan for, and it’s a pretty easy thing to throw together, too!
So, that’s where I’m drawing my inspiration from for J’s party – I’ve got a couple of weeks left to get everything together, and I’m absolutely not allowing myself to stress at all. This is supposed to be a fun day, there’s no reason to get too worked up. I’m going to keep it as low-key as we can, and have as much fun as possible along the way!
What’s your approach to parties? Do you like to go all-out or keep it simple?
grapefruit / 4649 posts
Brunch is a brilliant idea! It looks like you will have a fabulous party, I can’t wait to see photos!
kiwi / 511 posts
We have been pretty low key so far since we have just family over. I have a 2.5 and 4.5 year old and their birthdays are within 4 weeks of each other, yes I do separate birthdays for them. They are each individuals they deserve their own party.
We do balloon decorations and that is about it., We have a helium tank and inflate the latex balloons our selves and we get one mylar balloon that represents something they really love. I make the cakes each year, they are not fancy smancy but I love them and that is part of my family tradition, plus we have food allergies so a cake I make is one part tradition and happy memory, one part stress, and one part ease of mind. I do outsource the cake toppers though to a company that I found that meets our family needs. I have done cupcake toppers from them, a standard image (it was the Avengers) and then I have also done personalized photos that they turn into a cake topper.
We have done, burger bar and a taco bar. And just a regular cookout with grilled chicken a variety of salads etc. Not sure what we are doing this year (end of May and June parties). I was thinking of a bunch of cold cut sandwiches for one, not sure for the other.
Oh and invites are evites
I do take a screen capture of it and print it out for their scrap books.
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
I love the waffle bar! I wanted to do one years ago pre kids but my husband thought it was lame because he has no imagination. Cant wait to see pics!
apricot / 491 posts
Sounds like so much fun! That waffle bar sounds delicious! We did a burrito bar for DS’s dedication and had breakfast and lunch foods.
For our 1st birthday, I wanted to make our yard look better (since we have a tiny house and had lots of people-we were outside) but I couldn’t. That was the one thing I wish was different-better backdrop- I should have moved him, but oh well. I didn’t even think about garland like that! I love making yarn tassels into garland and I didn’t even think about making one! It would have been great! Next year!
I LOVE going all out for parties, but we just have no money, so we DIY’ed a lot, or went without. It was still a great time, and everyone enjoyed themselves!
I can’t wait to hear about yours!
blogger / nectarine / 2043 posts
We went super simple – Evites, close friends and family (all we could really fit into our condo), minimal decorations, save a couple banners on the walls, and appetizers and dessert since it was between nap and bedtime to make sure kiddo wasn’t cranky. And we had a ladybug theme, only because my mom bought her a ladybug dress ages before her birthday and it was perfect, so we just put everything around that.
grapefruit / 4923 posts
love the waffle bar! we did paperless post and invited only immediate family. i did late afternoon, with fruit salad, small sandwiches and cupcakes. no decorations.
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
love that happy birthday book! will have to do that this year!
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
We did blueberries and a candle on C’s cake. She LOVES blueberries and they were the only part of the cake she wanted so I’m glad they were there.
nectarine / 2217 posts
great ideas! looks like it will be lots of fun and memorable
I will say though, that having made tissue paper tassels a few times now, they are not super easy and definitely take a while :). they are beautiful, though, and you can pack them away carefully afterward to reuse.
pomelo / 5621 posts
Looks like it is going to be a fun party!
I really like the idea for the birthday book.