The party plan...
I took the day off before the party to finish my party prep. The weeks leading up until the party got really busy for me at work so I needed a day dedicated to the party. I did some shopping to buy all the food, and then worked on a few craft projects for the party. The first was a high chair tutu to help make her high chair look festive. I had found the idea on pinterest as well as some tutorials on how to make it, and since it seemed simple enough (as well as no sew easy!), I went for it. The hardest part was really figuring out a method for tying consistent knots, but then it went quickly. So quickly that I decided to make a little tutu for Emma to wear with that tulle that was leftover too. That required a few hand stitches to attach the elastic into a loop for her waist, but I do have a little bit of sewing skills such that I managed that alright. It made her simple onesie so much more festive too! And to top it all off, I found a cute pink owl bib on clearance a few months ago too, so that was perfect for her to wear during her cake smash!
Her high chair decorated for the party
My birthday girl in her tutu at her party
The next project was to make the bookmark party favors. I had come across a free printable for these cute owl themed bookmarks that said "Owl keep your place". All I did was print them on some off white card stock, make a hole near the top and tie some ribbon in them to finish them off. I made one for each of the gift bags and a few extra for the adults that may want one of their own. Speaking of the gift bags, I had planned to make crafty owl gift bags, but I came across these super cute owl gift bags at our local party supply store and decided that I should go the easy route since I was already short on time to do a lot of crafts. They worked out great, holding tootsie rolls, little bags of fruit snacks, sheets of owl stickers, and the owl bookmark for each of the kids that attended.
A sample gift bag with the extra bookmarks in front of it
The last craft project was a photo banner that documented her monthly growth over the year. I had been taking photos of her each month in the same chair by her stuff koala and wanted to use them for a party decoration. I had prints of each made and then got some card stock and ribbons to assemble the rest. I kept it simple (no fancy shapes or rounded corners, just rectangles of card stock with photos glued on top. It turned out pretty good and was a nice addition to the wall above the cake table. We also had a photo show of pictures of Emma throughout her first year on the TV during the party.
Close up of the photo banner
For the cake, I considered owl decorated cakes, but in the end I wanted to keep it simple and yet really girly. I had seen ruffle style cakes in photos and knew that's what I wanted for her smash cake. Since I was so pleased with the cake decorations from Evan's 3rd birthday last month, I chose to have the same bakery (our local King Soopers) do the cakes for Emma's party too. I was not disappointed. They decorated the smash cake and cupcakes exactly per my design: multi-shades of pink in ruffles on the smash cake and then bright and pale pink and green ruffled cupcakes. I had found some cupcake toppers that said "1" that I added to a few of the cupcakes and brownie bites (for the gluten free guests) and then I made a cake mini-bunting that said "Emma" for the smash cake topper. It turned out alright, but looking back I wish I had found shorter sticks to put in the cake so it wasn't so tall relative to the cake height. But that's probably just my perfectionism that noticed that (I hope!). :) Really, though, I was pleased with how it all turned out. In fact, I was a little sad when we ate the last of her smash cake and cupcakes that were leftover after the party, because I just thought they were so cute and I just loved looking at them. At least we have photos! :)
The cake table, complete with cupcakes, Emma's smash cake, gluten free brownie bites, and an owl vase holding some light pink cherry blossom flowers.
The rest of the party decor was pink and green balloons and some hot pink fan things that I hung from the ceiling in the corner above where Emma's high chair was sitting. I had run out of time before the party to put up all the balloons that John had blown up so we dumped them out on the floor and the kids got to play with them. There were a few other things (like a cute pink stuffed owl that Emma has on a shelf in her room) I had planned to set out on the cake table for decoration, but I also didn't have time to get them out. I did set out the cute owl vase on the cake table, and a wall art that said "You are my sunshine" and had pink chevrons and a cute owl on it by the food spread. I had gotten it to hang on the wall in Emma's room, but it was perfect to set out for party decor too.
A variety of salads, mini quiches, and a fruit platter were served for lunch, along with pink lemonade to drink. There were also snack cups of pirate's booty for the kids.
Time for the party to begin… (to be continued)
1 comment:
I loved how you decorated her chair and her cake! So cute!
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