Hellobee

Will is about to turn two years old, and I am in the midst of planning a small-ish family gathering for him. As I plan, I’ve been reminiscing about the fun I had crafting and executing his first birthday! Will had an OBSESSION with blueberries this time last year, so that was at the center of our BBQ Picnic Party. Here are a few details that helped bring it all together:

We stuck to simple decorations centered on the party’s colors – red, white and yellow.  Simple banners from a party store hung in various places throughout our house.

We saved Will’s baby food jars for the months leading up to the party and cleaned them in our dishwasher.  As a small thank you favor, we gave them out stuffed full of homemade trail mix – peanuts, almonds, and red and white M&Ms! Instead of reusing the lids, we cut out small pieces of red and gingham fabric and tied them with red or white ribbon.

As a guestbook, we had friends and family drop thumbprint blueberries on a bushel Mr. Milk had drawn on cardstock.

My labor of love for the party was printing 10-20 pictures from each of Will’s first twelve months and stringing them up using red yarn, tiny clothespins, and my husband’s patience.

I started each section of the string with Will’s monthly photo and used red and white paper plus alphabet stickers from the craft store to delineate each month.

I asked guests to choose their favorite photos of our little guy and take them home with them.  You can see in the photo above many missing photos/empty clothespins – people started grabbing them right away after they read the signs hung telling them to choose some mementos!

We set up a staging area for the big moment – Will’s first birthday cake/song! The playard went on our deck during the actual party.

Will may have ripped off the banner I made for his highchair, but we still got some drama from the backdrop we lovingly created!

We had lemon and blueberry cupcakes and blueberry mojitos, as a nod to that lingering blueberry obsession.

And is it a kid’s birthday party these days WITHOUT a chalkboard sign?! Mr. Milk’s grandmother particularly loved this gem.

We catered the party with BonChon chicken (the most delicious Korean friend chicken EVAH), which meant everyone was nice and full in time for some smash cake success!

Anyone else planning a summer gathering for your kiddo’s birthday this summer?