AHHH! My baby is one!
I can’t believe how fast this past year flew by and over the weekend we got to celebrate the ‘mane’ man with a carnival style party. You may be wondering how we pick the birthday party themes….well, Will was pretty easy. For his first birthday we went with a farmyard theme because his favorite thing to do was ride around on ‘the tractor’ (aka our riding lawn mower). For Weston, his little trademark was the mustache paci so we did a little mustache bash. And for LJ, the only two things we know about him is that his name means “brave as a lion” and that he is super sweet. I contemplated doing a safari theme to work the lion aspect but then switched to a carnival theme after thinking about how fun it would be to have my sweet little feline be the ‘mane’ event.
I whipped the invites up in photoshop and email them out. It’s easier and cheaper than sending out real paper ones. I do print out one version for the baby book though 🙂
The set up was fairly simple. We decided to do it out on the deck this time (our first time allowing people out there!) and it was fabulous.
I got all the decorations on Amazon and the Dollar Tree. It was a really easy thing to do (I guess carnival themes are popular). Our menu was pretty much all finger foods…corndogs, corn on the cob, veggies, fruit and of course the treats.
I figured that since adults would probably be the majority of guests that they would appreciate more healthy options so I made the fruit and veggie trays the night before the party.
This is LJ’s favorites….grapes and strawberries and blueberries. I would probably say that last one is his absolute favorite. He is a piglet when it comes to the little blueberries and will scream if Weston tries to steal them 🙂
The treat and favor table was super simple….I simply draped some scrap fabric (sorry it’s wrinkled…the kids kept trying to get to the M&M’s!) and popped everything down.
I saw some clown cupcakes on Pinterest and they were super simple to make. I used a red M&M for the nose and bought the eyes at Walmart. The cupcake liners are really old so I don’t remember where I bought them. All the kids loved the cones and the funfetti cake mix.
For LJ’s smash cake, I made a big top cake. (yes the icing was melting in the kitchen!) and used my first ever silicone cake pan. It was really fun and I can’t wait to use it again! I got the candles at the Dollar Tree and I think they are so cute.
For the decorations, I decided to use the carnival lollipops that also doubled as favors. I put some floral foam down in the bottom of the Dollar Tree popcorn boxes and then stuffed tissue paper around it to keep it in place. The lollipops went straight in and then I covered everything else with the crinkle paper. It was super fast and easy.
Along with the lollipops, I made little favor packages for each kid. The skinny plastic popcorn containers were also at the Dollar Tree and then I put in Animal stickers…it had a giant lion on the front!!!….and a silly straw and a couple other pieces of candy inside. Each favor cost about $3.25 which is a bit more than I normally spend on favors but I thought they were well worth it and all the kids loved them!
Weston after he was caught with his hand in the M&M’s. This kid.
Outside we set up the bouncy house and a little face painting/balloon animal station. The bouncy house was actually rented by our neighbors for their daughters birthday party the day before and they had an extra day for free so they told us that they would bring it over if we took it back to the rental company for them. DEAL! It was the hit of the party and I am so thankful that we have such great neighbors!
My mom came to the party!!! And she brought her clown stuff so that she could be “Pinky” and it was hilarious. She answered the doorbell and scared half the kids and thrilled the other half. By the end, it was a huge hit though 🙂
Plus, she did all the face painting and it helped put all the little ones in the party spirit.
Funny story…I walked over when she was doing this Seattle Seahawk and was out of my mind impressed with her. I praised profusely saying that it was the best paint job ever and then I said….How did you know exactly what that should look like?! And she said with the straightest face…”Katie….he has a picture on the phone.” Duh.
Clay is a little flower child 🙂
I was really thankful to her for being so willing to scare entertain the children. I can’t wait to tell LJ when he is older that Nana was a very special guest at his first birthday party 🙂
The other thing I absolutely need to tell you about is the smash cake. The sun started going down and it started getting a bit nippy out there so we did this part inside and LJ was the cutest thing ever.
After singing, he tried the icing and then, he started sticking out his tongue. Everyone started laughing and we thought he was gonna just lick the cake clean….
Until this happened. It was amazing. My boys are constantly surprising me and this was a huge one because this little dude is rarely aggressive about anything. In fact, if I would have guessed, this would be more Weston’s personality than LJ’s….but Weston cried at his cake smash and LJ just went for it.
Overall, it was such a sweet day to celebrate my little Mama’s boy and I am excited to see what year two brings! So far, he is my late-bloomer when it comes to walking (he hasn’t taken his first steps yet) so the next twelve months will definitely be full of bumps and bruises and new adventures!
Happy Birthday my precious Leonard Judah. Mommy and Daddy love you more than you will ever know! LJ, you are our gentle little joy and our sweetie pie and we can’t wait to celebrate you again!
Looks like everyone had a blast! LJ looks SO cute in his lion costume (I saw on Instagram) and your mom looked great too! Happy birthday LJ 🙂
I love themed birthday party’s. We did a fishing/camping theme for my daughter’s first birthday (http://tisourlife.blogspot.com/2014/11/brylee-first-birthday-food-and-treats.html?m=1) but LJ’s was too cute. And how cute was your mom!
This was such a cute party theme! We live in Wisconsin and all of my kids birthdays are in winter or spring, where a outside party is not a option. I dream of the fun we could have. We have those same popcorn bowls and whip them out for movie nights, we are fancy like that. I have my youngest turning 4 next month, and he wants a skateboard party. No clue how to make this happen. Your little one is adorable and went for it with the cake, love it!
This made me cry! I mean, the birth stories always make me cry, but not the birthday parties gosh darn it, this is a great post. We are celebrating my little guy’s first birthday in two weeks, I’m chalking the tears up to that. Where has the time gone?!?!
Love the carnival theme and I agree, his cake smash was awesome!! Most kids do shy away but I love that he went straight for the prize!!
What a fun party! And kudos to your mom for being such a fun nana! I loved all the details of the party! Happy 1st Birthday LJ! I had a late walker too… Took his first steps at 14 months!
Yay LJ! super cute party. Way to go mama!
Happy Birthday sweet boy! Looks like it was a fun party!
Loved that photo of LJ as a lion that you posted on Instagram! What a great party and your momma ROCKS!
Brilliant!!!
You amaze us all!
Great Job!
So cute! Can’t believe LJ is one already. But ummm… What is the shape of the balloon Will is holding?
According to the balloon animal book, that is a sword 🙂
xo kb
Katie, what an adorable party! I love the theme! The invite is perfect, and I love the favors. LJ clearly loved his special day, and your mom looks so cute! Looks like it was a fun day!
How adorable. Love this so much! Can you write up a tutorial on “whipping the invites up in photoshop”? :o)
I searched for free circus clip art and then copied that into photoshop, changed the colors and then added words and the little lion print to personalize it 🙂
xo – kb
Go ‘Hawks!!
Adorable party! Your mom is a hoot, as a Seahawks fan I was also very impressed in her face painting skills!
This looks like such a fun party! I love the theme!
He is so precious! My son is a go-getter but at this first birthday he was very surprised by his cake too. He wasn’t sure what to do with it. Not what I expected!
Soooo…I was TOTALLY expecting the Mane event thing to also be a play on his hair! ‘Cause that boy has had some AWESOME hair in the past year!!! Adorable as always…*sigh*. Would you adopt me and throw me a party??!!
I love the theme! Great job on the invites! Now I’ve got that song stuck in my head 😉 Happy Birthday, LJ!
How cute!! Your Mom is awesome!!
Now…. I want a corndog. 🙂
So cute! We did a carnival theme for our kids first too. But, a little credit for “mane” event would’ve been nice :/
Cute theme. I must be the most out of it person on this earth because I’ve never heard of a smash cake before. 🙁
Love the theme of the day! Love a good party to celebrate.
I thought you guys had gotten a bounce house for the boys one year for Christmas? I remember being absolutely amazed at your house and parenting skills for setting it up in your living room! Or was that just a rental too?
No that one was ours but it is really small…maybe two kids can be on it at the same time…and unfortunately now it has so many patches that it is only good for babies.
xo – kb
Hi Katie, this is such an awesome kid’s party, what great ideas! Especially your mom, how sweet! I love the mix of homemade details in there too, it’s nice to get ideas on how to throw a colorful, fun & festive party without breaking the bank! Where did you get the big top cake pan btw? (sorry if it’s been mentioned/asked already) My mom had a metal standing Santa Claus cake pan when I was a kid and he was so difficult to get out in one piece, we always had to patch his body back together with frosting – poor santa… LOL
Well thanks for sharing & very best wishes for the new baby!
Big Top Cupcake Silicone Bakeware
Hope this helps!
xo – kb
It all looks super, the clown cupcakes look fantastic and I’m sure my children would dive right in with those! It looks like everyone had a great time x