I have been having a really hard time narrowing down the pictures from her party. Thanks to Harry and Ione, we have TONS of pictures. The hard part is choosing that one great picture. Well, after a week of trying to figure out how to tell the story with just one great picture, I have decided that photo collages, and five or more different posts will be the best way to tell the story of the day.
I had a video montage of all the pictures ready to go, but that was 20 minutes long! So without further adieu, here are the pictures I like to call "DETAILS", and let me tell you...I spent hours and hours planning, crafting, dreaming, researching, bookmarking ideas....glorious ideas to make Lauren's First Birthday all the more magical. I came up with the theme ONEderland. I liked the play on the ONE since, afterall, she only turns one once. From there, I planned a ONEderful birthday party, but I was careful to not move in to a Mad Hatter Tea Party theme, because that may be one we want to use at a later date.
It started with her invitation...since this is a copy of the invite, you cannot see that it was cut to look like a giant playing card. You may notice that certain info is blocked off...that is because this is a public blog and well, the info is private. Sorry. I designed it myself. I think I spent about 5 hours making it just right. Ask my friends, I think they were SO tired of me asking, "Does this look good? "Do you know what font this is?" "Should I move anything?" "Does the ONEderland part make sense?". Seriously, they were saints, and I am sure they were very happy when they found out they were printed and in the mail, because that meant there would be no more polls and questions. Haha!
Next on my ONEderful birthday agenda was to create a special birthday banner in her birthday colors. I found ones online that I loved, but I was SO not willing to pay the $45+ price tag...so again, I designed it, cut it with my Silhouette Cutter, and assembled it myself. It took hours! HOURS! But in the end, I was happy. We hung the banner above the fireplace and placed balloon bouquets on both sides. The presents were placed on the hearth, and I think it made for some cute pictures if I do say so myself.
Next up was the "I am ONE" high chair banner. I made this one as well. Again, I was not a fan of the price tag online. I made the cake and decorated it as well. It was a delicious vegan cake, with vegan frosting for our little vegan sweet pea. The secret egg substitute was a can of Diet Sprite. Kendall helped me cover her high chair with a hot pink table cloth. Not only did it protect the fabric, it made for some cute pictures later in the day too.
My next goal as far as details were concerned was to get Lauren a special first birthday dress the way Sydney's Mommy Laura did on her first birthday. Even before I got pregnant, I had Sydney's dress bookmarked so if I ever had a sweet baby girl of my own, I would be able to order her a custom monogrammed dress for her to wear. Unfortunately, the company that made Sydney's dress was no more, so I turned to Etsy.com for the perfect dress. I contacted multiple dress makers before settling on Palmetto Princess Boutique as the official first birthday dress maker. (It happened to be recommended by Sydney's Mommy) I placed the order and waited...and then I freaked out that there would be no bloomers for under the dress, so I frantically contacted the dress maker, Amy, and asked if she could do some monogrammed bloomers too. The dress and bloomers were $57 and in my opinion, worth every penny. I had the dress made to be reversible, so Lauren can wear it again and again. Doesn't she look so cute!
When I plan a party, I have this "Go BIG or Go Home" motto...and this party was no exception. While some people claim that "You should not spend so much on a party she will not remember." I followed a different motto and that was "She may get married more than once (hopefully not) but she will only turn one once, so I am going all out!" and that is just what I did...well, Justin paid for it, but I planned it.
I got this crazy idea that we needed a themed candy buffet. On the buffet were miniature playing cards that matched the invitations labeling each of the sweet treats and also provided cellophane bags for guests to load up some candy to go. My original plan was to have the two tiered strawberry cheesecake cake with buttercream frosting that I made myself sit right in the center of the table, BUT it did not do so well...it was having a little problem...so it never made it to the table and lived safely in the refrigerator til it was time to cut. Also on the table were fresh flowers, a digital frame showing pictures of Lauren from birth to first birthday and her framed birthday invitation.
The last of the details is the buffet, drinks and tables. I made fresh arrangements for all the tables outside. I mean, you have to have fresh flowers, right? The drink bar consisted of Iced Tea, Lemonade and Water...with lots of fun add ins like Peach Syrup, Mint, Lemons, Cherries, Sugar...I planned to have strawberries as well, but that did not happen. We ran out of time to muddle them before the party.
Stay tuned for the next post...THE FOOD!
Everything looked soo cute!
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