Claire’s 1st birthday party was a huge success! We spent months prepping for the party by crafting decorations, collecting supplies, and planning what needed to be done on the day of. After Claire went to bed every night, I would whip out another project and try to get as much done before I got the point where I just needed to relax with CJ. I’m really happy with how everything turned out.
A huge thanks to my mom for her help in getting ready for the party in advance and the day of, and to our friends and family who came over early to set up.
The theme was “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” because I used to sing that to her to calm her down. Plus, it’s an adorable theme. 🙂
Here are a few photos of the event:
We had a little “Time Capsule” where people could write their predictions of what Claire will be when she grows up. We’ll have her open them when she turns 18 in 2032. The wands were party favors for the little girls.
I baked the cupcakes on the morning of and made all of the star cupcake toppers. They are double-sided so I had to cut quite a few stars. I frosted about a dozen of the cupcakes and then handed over the frosting duties so I could finish getting ready for the party.
I made the tassel garland for the high chair out of tissue paper and hand cut the ONE letters. A friend brought in an AMAZING printing machine that cut out the banner behind Claire’s high chair for me. It saved me hours of work.
I absolutely loved these sugar cookies!! One of our friends baked these delicious masterpieces in advance of the party.
We had lemonade, water, and beer for attendees. We decorated the cooler with stars to match the theme and had mason jars and striped straws for drinks.
I made a first year banner with a monthly photo for each month of her first year + a newborn photo. I also hand cut each of the stars in between. One of my favorite decorations from the event!
A close-up of the wand party favors. I tied on ribbon to make them extra special.
We used baby food jars for the party favors. CJ spray painted them with chalk paint to make them a uniform color, we filled them with Werthers candies, and I cut out a million more stars for the Thank You tags.
The entryway with another star banner that I made, our party favors, a beautiful flower arrangement made specially for the party, and a fun 1st birthday image of some of our favorite photos of Claire (from Shutterfly). Word of advice: Get a helium machine to blow up your balloons, if you have a bunch. It’s much more convenient and cost-effective.
Claire’s “smash cake”. I made the cake topper, bought the candle from Amazon, and baked her cake in the morning.
The food and dessert table. We originally planned on putting the cake in the middle of the two flower arrangements and on top of a really cool shelf that CJ made but we were worried the cake would melt. So, we kept it inside until the cake smash time and moved the frame in between the two flower arrangements. I made that banner too. 🙂
My other most favorite decoration. CJ made this in Adobe Illustrator and I absolutely love it! It’s filled with stats on Claire and a few of her favorite things. Such a fun keepsake.
For entertainment for the babies, we had a blow up kiddie pool filled with ball pit balls and a tunnel for them to crawl through. It was a hit!
And that was her birthday party!! We are sooo happy with how it went and now need a vacation to rest after all the prepping craziness and the busyness of last weekend.
Love & Then Some 