Ellie's First Birthday!!

We celebrated Ellie's first birthday last Saturday.  

The weather forecast kept changing so we decided to do most of the decorating inside in case there was rain.  We were blessed with great weather and were able to utilize our backyard which is always a plus.

Since there wasn't an actual "theme" to the party, aside from colors (you can see the inspiration here) Coral, Mint and Gold.  I think I stayed pretty true to the inspiration but of course as the planning went on and shopping ensued I had to make a few changes.

The Decor!

 I found some great inspiration on Pinterest and decided to take my hand at a chalkboard design.  I am super happy with how it turned out (the banner is my favorite part).  I love it so much that our weekly menu might not be visible for a while!

 Thank you to the bloggers who went before me to give me the idea to make a #1 out of her weekly pictures!  This was a surprisingly easy task to complete.  I figured out the pattern on my second try (I drew it out on a notepad).  The photos are 4x4 instagram pics, I got them printed at Walmart for $0.25 each for a 1 hour pickup (through ebates) if I had planned ahead they would have been $0.19 each for home delivery.  (Which was much better than the $12.00 for 24 on Printstagram that I was originally going to use)

 I stole the favor idea from Erinn (she throws a mean party!).  I just reused some baby food jars I had on hand and filled them up with bubble solution $3.99 for a gallon at Target and then made the wands out of gold pipecleaners - yes they really work!

The banner above was a compilation of the monthly photos I took, once again 4x4 printed at Walmart. I strung some twine and attached them with mini pink clothespins from my baby shower.

 The blue streamers and medallions were in a 10 piece package and are from Party City (wedding aisle) and the coral streamer and mint/green streamers I got on clearance nearly 9 months ago at JCP from the Martha line, the coral poms are from Hobby Lobby (wedding aisle).

 I love the gold #1 balloon its from Party City. We used it in her one year photos the week before so it was a little deflated but was a great addition to her high chair (still need to post the before and after of that)

This was by far one of my favorite projects for her party (aside from the invitations!) I used this tutorial for the template.  I found some gold polka dot burlap at JoAnn's and just knew I had to use it somehow for her party.  The stencils were from Walmart as was the paint color.  This was a super easy project and even though I split it up over a number of days I think all in all it took me about 1 1/2 hours to complete.  The most time consuming part was the cutting, but I was going for a more rustic look and the burlap really lends itself well to that.  I used the same twine as the month banner and used a zig-zag stitch on the sewing machine.  My favorite part about this is all the pieces are separate so we can use the Happy Birthday part for each member in our family!

 The morning of her party I went to our local farmers market to pick up some flowers.  I was on the hunt for pink peonies and the first stall I stopped at had the most perfect coral colored ones - it was meant to be! The blue mason jar is vintage as is the owl planter (one of my favorite junking finds)

The Food!

 I love that our buffet has a shelf so I have different heights for the food display

 I found the perfect plates and napkins at Party City and the white plasticware was a total hit (also from Party City)

On the Menu we had fruit salad, a veggie tray, pasta salad, salmon bites, butterhorns, pigs in a blanket and then Red Velvet Cake from a local bakery.  One thing I hadn't planned on purpose was that most of the food was from recipe's of my mom's.  So even though she couldn't be present in the flesh her memory and food was the star!

 the food was a total hit and we hardly had anything left over.  Which is both a good sign and a not good sign.  That means that everyone liked the food but I didn't follow my mom's rule of making sure you have PLENTY to eat for your guests.

I was starting to get worried that girlfriend didn't have a sweet tooth, fortunately it came out at the party.  She had so much fun with her piece of cake! She had it in her hair, ears, eyelashes and nose!!  I absolutely adored her gold glitter crown from Sweet T Baby Boutique! (remember Tessa is giving my readers 15% off their order through the end of June, just use the code ELLIEISONE at checkout!)

girlfriend was so blessed at this party.  so many wonderful gifts, from a mini car, to a teepee, to a wagon, of course some clothes, and other developmental and educational toys, along with a phone and the CUTEST goat stuffed animal! 

Thank you so much to everyone who helped celebrate our sweet girls big first day.  I announced the winner of the Freshly Picked Moccs...was it you?

♥ Ashley