Hellobee

Our little birdie is rapidly approaching his first birthday. The first year is totally a living embodiment of the phrase “the days are long, but the years are short.” I am feeling quite nostalgic these days as I see memories pop up from one year ago with my big swollen belly. I’m reminiscing on the wonder of being in any day now territory, imagining how life was about to change and the little person that would soon be joining our family.

One year just like that. There seems to be a spectrum of birthday excitement people have, from the most important day of the year to just another day. While I love to celebrate and acknowledge birthdays, I’ve never been one to make a big deal over them. We waffled on the party, but in the end decided to throw one. The party is for friends and family, and let’s be real, for us. The first birthday is a celebration of survival, transition and our first year as a family. But until he’s at a point of understanding and wanting parties, we’ll be celebrating just us for the years to come.

We have approximately fifty people (the numbers balloon up fast!) coming to our house in a few short weeks to celebrate our little tie-dye babe and his first year of life! When deciding on a theme it was obvious that tie-dyed was the perfect fit. At my baby shower guests had made tie-dyed onesies, and for the past year our little guy can be seen wearing one several days a week.

We’re keeping things low-key and social with a mix of bright and colourful decor, food and outfits to celebrate this past year. I took on a few easy projects that I’ve been chipping away at for a couple of months, so the party hasn’t felt like a huge undertaking.

1. Invitations. I put together a simple invitation that I circulated to friends and family electronically to share the details on of our celebration. We decided to go with a mid-afternoon (between naps) drop-in style party. Our house is rather small (the downside of a November birthday means we’ll be indoors), so by keeping things open we don’t want our guests to feel like they have to be on time or stay for hours. Our friends have kids in a range of nap schedules, and we know how busy weekends can get!

2. Party Favours. I made some tie-dye crayons and printed off some colouring sheets as favours for our little guests.

3. Tie-Dye attire! Our little guy is rapidly outgrowing his tie-dye from my baby shower, so my husband I had a craft night with a Tulip tie-dye kit and white shirts to ensure the tie-dye attire will stick around in year two. I purchased an iron-on decal for his party outfit.

4. Tie-Dye Decor. I’m printing some tie-dye photos from the past year and hanging a large sheet we made during our craft night for some low-key easy decorations.

5. Colourful Food and Smash Cake. We’re going to feature some colour rainbow food for guests and make a tie-dye smash cake for the main event.

I can hardly believe we’re here and the big day is just around the corner.

Did you throw a first birthday party? What theme did you go with?