Hosting Lottie’s First Birthday Party

Let me just start out by saying, I’m not a party planner by any stretch of the imagination. It just doesn’t come naturally to me and stresses me out (tears were shed), but in the end I’m so happy we were able to throw this little bash for our precious daughter. I’m also so thankful my mama, sister and sister-in-law helped me. I love looking back at the pictures and seeing people we love all gathered together! I asked my sister to be in charge of taking pictures so I didn’t have to worry about catching every moment. It was so nice to just enjoy the day! Thanks Jess! One thing I’m sad we did miss was taking a video of singing Happy Birthday. Everyone sounded so good! It was like having a mini choir in our dining room. I’ll be sure not to miss that next time.

Shorty after Charlotte was born, Ben mentioned that it would be fun to have a Charlotte’s Web theme for her first birthday party. I thought it was so cute that he thought of it. The party morphed into more of a farm animal theme in the end, although we still didn’t go over board on the theme. We’ll be saving the Charlotte’s Web theme for a future birthday maybe.
For decorations, I tried to keep it simple and inexpensive. I purchased most of the supplies from the Dollar Store; balloons, baker’s twine, plates and utensils, foam board for the posters and maybe a few other things I’m forgetting. 

The Happy Birthday banner is probably my favorite decoration. The scrapbook paper came from Tuesday Morning and the large gold letter stickers came from Target. I love the way it turned out so much I still have it hanging up in the dining room. Who says we can’t celebrate for a month! 🙂 This picture really doesn’t do it justice. It just doesn’t capture the detail in all the little flags.

Ben and I made two posters with lots of pictures from Lottie’s first year. They are also still hanging up in the dining room and kitchen. While making them, we had so much fun looking at how much our little girl has changed. There is so much of her personality in the pictures too.

Anyone notice the door is finally painted! It only took almost 2 years after our kitchen reno to get it done. Still plugging away at the trim when I have time and energy… Here are some close ups of the poster collages. The left one is obviously (I hope) in the shape of a one. The other one is my attempt at making it in the shape of a barn. There might have been a person or two who thought it was a church. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

I wrapped mason jars with burlap I already had and baker’s twine and stuffed them full of fresh flowers from Produce Junction.

We also finally cleaned off our porch again and set up a little table out there.

I have to tell you, Ben, Lottie and I have really enjoyed this little set up even after the party. We’ve had quite a few dinners out here. It’s definitely inspiring us to put a little work into the porch, now that we have been actually using it for something other than storage.

Although most of the decorations were done on the cheap, we did spend a little extra money on some adorable farm animal hats. Side note, we bought way to many… Told you I’m not good at this party planning stuff. Don’t they have the cutest little faces?

It was threatening to rain all day but thankfully, never did. Ben and I hung a balloon garland over the outdoor sitting area. It was a super easy to make (except for the balloon blowing up part) and was an inexpensive way to add a little festiveness outside. Notice the balloon casualties on the end… I took this picture afterward, so I think the balloons actually made it through most of the party before they started to fade.

We also borrowed Corn Hole from some friends of ours and the guys enjoyed a little friendly competition outside.

As for food, I definitely put quite a bit of effort into that part of the party. Food’s been a pretty big deal over here since we changed our diet so much this past spring. I wanted there to be lots of choices for Ben. We had veggie and fruit platters, crackers and cheese, a chicken spinach wreath that tasted pretty amazing (not healthy though), chocolate coconut ball (healthy and super yummy!), regular spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and almond flour pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (cupcake and frosting were both healthy).

Here are some food close ups for mouth watering affect!

This chicken wreath turned out so good! I’m going to have to do a recipe hack and come up with a healthy, Ben friendly, alternative.

Those cupcake toppers… So cute! Oh, here’s a little party fail secret for you. I originally planned to serve coconut cupcakes made from scratch, but had a late friday night change of plans, when my coconut cupcakes didn’t turn out right. I ran to the store bought a box spice cake mix, came home and threw these babies together in just a few minutes. I should have just started with a box cake mix in the first place. Although I didn’t partake of them (I went for the pumpkin almond flour ones), I heard they were yummy.

For drinks, we served homemade iced tea (sweetened with honey) and lemonade (sweetened with stevia) and lemon water. I borrowed the drink dispensers from a friend. Thanks Mrs. Robinson! They add a nice bit of elegance.

Like I said earlier, we had a mini choir, our friends and family with really good voices, sing Happy Birthday. Lottie was completely mesmerized! After a little help blowing out her candle, she had her chance to dig in.

After a couple of tentative pokes she really went to town.

I think it’s safe to say she liked it!

She even finished up with a little spoon action. I’m just amazed how fast she is learning.

We are so thankful for all our friends and family who came. It was such a fun day!

Anyone planning any parties in the near future? Let me know of your fun ideas in the comments.

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