Liam's 1st Birthday - Part One - The Details

First of all, thank you all so much for the nice comments about Liam's one year photo shoot! I've been really bad about replying to comments lately with all the party planning and being SICK, but I really appreciated them all! Yes, this past week from Monday until Thursday, Liam and I both had horrible colds! But we rallied thanks to lots of sleep and meds, and were both good to go by party day. A piece of advice: plan as much as you can ahead of time because you never know what could come up! A BIG thanks to my mom and Will for helping out so much throughout the week both with party prep and taking care of us sickies.

Now on to the party...

Because there are so many pictures from Liam's first birthday party, I'm breaking them up into three posts.

Part 1 - The Details. Part 2 - The Party. And Part 3 - The Photo Booth.

I wanted to post about all the party details first because they are my favorite part of any party! My mom, Will, and I made all the food and 90% of the decorations, (pretty much everything except the balloons!) so if you have any questions about where to get or how to make anything, feel free to ask. Also, click on any of the pictures to make them bigger. Blogger's small pictures do not do them justice!

My friend Shannon photographed the party for me, so most of these amazing pictures were taken by her. You have no idea how much more enjoyable it is knowing your memories are being captured by someone else, and you can just sit back and enjoy yourself!

The theme: One Year Old in a Flash

I got the idea for the theme from one of my favorite blogs, The Macs, and she originally got it from here. I picked elements from both parties that I loved as well as finding many great ideas on Pinterest for birthdays in general. I loved this theme because I have been all about capturing the moments and memories of Liam's first year that have truly flown by. I also really loved the idea of the time capsule and definitely wanted to incorporate that.

The Invitation:

Jess from The Macs said she made her son's invitations herself on photoshop, so I thought I would give it a go myself too. I designed them and then downloaded this kit for the film strip. I printed the invitations on cardstock, glued them to orange scrapbook paper, and wrapped the film strip around both pieces of paper.

I also included a personalized piece of paper for the guests to write on for Liam's time capsule along with instructions for the time capsule and a note about the photo booth.

The Dining Room

This room was my favorite to decorate! Since a first birthday is probably the most "adult" birthday party we'll have, I used it as my excuse to get out all the pretty dishes and make this the "fancy" area. I traced and cut out the letters for Liam's banner similar to one I pinned, and my mom strung it for me because I'm impatient. The amazing 36" balloons (as well as the orange polka dot balloons, stripey straws, and cupcake wrappers) are from Shop Sweet Lulu.

The Dessert Table

Baking/cooking for parties is not my favorite thing, so everything I chose was fairly easy to make or the mix came from a box. I am all about baking from scratch, but not when I have to make so much! (Except the favors, those are a different story.) I served chocolate dipped oreos, cake balls, red velvet cupcakes, vanilla cupcakes, rice crispy treats, and jello cups. I filled some clear jars that I already had with an assortment of candy from the party store. I also had mason jars out on the table for drinks with cute orange stripey straws. The cake pops were the biggest hit, and they are really not that hard to make!

The bunting I used for Liam's smash cake was a free printable found here, and I added the letters of his name with stamps I had.

There were also an assortment of drinks!

The cupcakes toppers, water bottle labels, and tented cards were all part of a free birthday package download I found here. Once I downloaded it, I opened it up on photoshop and changed the colors and personalized the text. Will had them all printed at Office Max for $10, and they were so vibrant and professional looking!

"Firsts" Garland

In keeping with the theme, I wanted to have a "wall of firsts" showcasing some of Liam's milestones. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but ended up throwing this together the day before. I think it turned out pretty cute, and it was super easy to do!

I used thumbtacks to hang the ribbon and then just attached the pictures with miniature clothespins. I tied fabric scraps to the ends of the horizontal rows to hide the yellow thumbs tacks, and my mom added the balloons on top of the vertical rows to hide their tacks.

The Mantle

I wanted to decorate the mantle because that is where we did Liam's cake smash. I printed a couple photos from his one year shoot and put them up there along with some cardboard L's and a 1 from Hobby Lobby that I painted and covered in fabric. I also stuck the chalkboard we used at his shoot up there as well. For Liam's monthly garland, I printed out a picture from each month, glued it to scrapbook paper, attached a circle punch with foam stickers correlating with that month, and clothes pinned them to some ric-rac ribbon. Easy!

Favors

I wanted to give away camera cookies as favors, and decided to try and make them myself. They took many, many hours, but I loved the way they turned out. I found some camera cookies on pinterest that I really liked and used them as my guide. I printed out a picture from Liam's one year shoot with the words "Thank you for making my birthday picture perfect" to go along with the cookies. I wrapped the cookies in plastic bags and attached a thank you tag.

I took this picture after the party so there are not many cookies left, but imagine the tray full of camera cookies!

Time Capsule

For the time capsule I asked guests to write on the piece of paper included in the invitation and bring whatever else they wanted to include. My mom made a photo book of Liam's first year and a personalized birthday book. My parents and grandparents also started savings accounts for Liam so we put the deposit slips in there - that will be a fun surprise when he's 18! I also included his party invitation, everyone's birthday cards from the party, and I will probably add some photos from the party once I get them printed out and maybe some cupcake toppers. My friend Natalie also made Liam an amazing scrapbook with all the Top 10's of 2011, but it's too big to fit in the time capsule. I'll show some pictures of it in the party post.

Miscellaneous

My dad helped me spray Liam's $15 vintage high chair, and I made the mini banner. My friend Tracey let me use her cri-cut to cut out the letters for his name. Now I really need a cri-cut! My mom sewed Liam's bib and I cut out and ironed on the one to the back of his boxers. Everything made out of fabric came from the same half yards I bought so they would all match. Small pieces of fabric (especially if you can find it on sale!) and scrapbook paper is a good, cheap way to incorporate the same colors and patterns throughout the entire party!

I made Liam's hat quickly the morning of his one year shoot. I just wrapped a plain paper hat in fabric and hot glued ric-rac, scrapbook circles, and a pom pom to the top.

We had a nacho bar as the food for the party. Since it was an afternoon party, I stuck with something easy and more snack-like than an actual meal. I meant to have a sign up that said, "Say Cheese! Nacho Bar" to go with the photography theme, but it never got made. Oh well.

When people walked up, they were greeted by giant pinwheels flanking the entryway I found at Hobby Lobby, and a birthday sign I made out of posterboard, paint, and crepe paper. I saw one similar on Pinterest, but it was $50 to order so I just made one myself for about $5! It's not perfect, but it did the job.

I used a 1" circle punch to cut circles out of scrapbook paper and then sewed them all together. I strung them up along the shelves in the living room.

So that's it for the party details!

I truly enjoyed decorating and making everything for Liam's 1st birthday party! Stay tuned for Part Two where I will highlight all the memorable and not so memorable parts of the actual party! Something has to go wrong, right?!?

I had to add one picture of the birthday boy!