Happy Birthday!

After many weeks of planning, crafting, and maybe over-doing it a little for a one year olds party, the day had finally come! The day started off when I woke up around 7 am only to find one of my favorite movies was on tv while I was getting ready (Dennis the Menace! Love that movie :)) so I knew it was going to be good day! The weather was awesome and the set up went smooth thanks to Brett and my mom.  The entire day was perfect, it was exactly what I wanted.  Jaris did AMAZING considering it was during his usual nap time.  The best thing I did for the party was hire a photographer.  Being a photographer I'm pretty picky on how pictures for important events look.  The last thing I wanted to be doing all day was running around entertaining and worrying about photos and missing something.  So while it may sound silly to have a photographer, I got to enjoy the day as a mom and not as though I were on a job.  It was a perfect day for us and I'm greatful for such amazing family and friends.

The theme: One Year in a Flash!
Colors: Navy, Orange, White

I made the invitations using Photoshop and once they were printed they were matted on to a blue card stock.

The cupcake toppers were my favorite detail of the party.  The hat comes from the invitation and there is no cuter face to put on a cupcake then that one! They were a hit! 

Since the theme was centered around photos I wanted to have a "timeline" of Jaris as he grew through each month.  This was a time consuming one folks.  Finding frames on the internet to print, tracing and cutting out the card stock, hot gluing the ribbon, spray painting little square wooden blocks and gluing numbers to them...work work work!

Next in my planning was the food.  I wanted a dessert table (which I don't have a picture of the table as a whole but it looked awesome)!  We had chocolate covered strawberries, rice crispy treats, chocolate covered oreos, and of course the cupcakes.  The table was set up with the rice treats on 2 square plates with a long plate of strawberries in between them.  Behind each square plate was a cake stand filled with the oreos and in between those was the cupcake stand.

Hot dogs, beans, fruit, pasta salad, and chips were served out on the patio along with drinks.

Since you can't really do a whole lot of different birthday activities with a one year old we decided to rent a bounce house to keep the other kids entertained.  It was a HIT!

Liked it for about 2 minutes...

Sticking with the photo/flash theme, beside the bounce house we had a "photo booth" complete with props!  So happy with the way this part of the party turned out!

After eating and mingling we did the birthday cake!!  I didn't go all out on his cake since it was going to be destroyed and I figured he would probably like just good old chocolate frosting!

I also made the highchair banner

So excited!

That's all! We opened presents after everyone left and he made out pretty well! 

Party bags for the kiddos

Is it too soon to start planning for next year?

Happy 1st Birthday to our sweet boy.  You are the light of our world and we can't imagine life before you.  You are the sweetest little guy and especially when you give your kisses to everyone.  You make us laugh every day and we can't get enough of you.  We love watching you try to interact with Maisy and one day soon you two will be best friends.   It amazes us watching you grow and learn new things every day.  You are the most adorable, perfect baby and we love you to the moon and back.  Can't wait to see what this next year of your life brings.  We love you.  

-Mommy and Daddy.