Stella’s first birthday party was a great success! She was a bit overwhelmed when everyone arrived, but soon warmed up to all of the attention and enjoyed watching everyone and playing with her cousins. Here’s a run-down of the whole shebang!
Theme: “Sunshine, Lemonade, and Fun!” Oh, and pink. There was lots of pink.
Treats: Homemade ice-cream (made by Nana and Papa and Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa), homemade semi-healthy chocolate cupcakes (with not-so-healthy frosting :)), and pink lemonade.
The goodies!
The cupcake tower was made from my mom’s antique cake stands and the pink baking cups were Wilton brand.
Mason jars were used for the pink lemonade. I adorned them with pink chevron and polkadot ribbon using glue dots. The daisy lids and paper straws were ordered from Amazon.
Pink depression ice bucket and bowl for the lemon slices.
Decorations:
Tissue paper pom-poms. Stella LOVED the poms. I put them up a few days before her party while she was napping. When she got up from her nap, she noticed them right away and started clapping, pointing, and giggling with excitement! She couldn’t wait to get her hands on them!
Fresh flowers.
Antique birthday poem (that my mom gave me for my birthday last year).
Buntings made with scrapbook paper and ribbon.
“Happy Birthday” bunting
“One” bunting.
Giant “1” on the wall made from pictures of Stella’s first year.
Activities for the older kids: Balls, water balloons (they didn’t last long!), sidewalk chalk, and bubble station.
Gifts: Books; dress; Royal’s t-shirt; farm puppets; a baby place-setting from Tiffany’s; and drawings by her cousins.
Favors: Homemade almond butter granola bars.
We took like 200 photos (thanks Cassidy)! Here are a few of my faves:
Blowing out the candle.
Opening presents.
Eating her very first cupcake! A semi-healthy one, of course 🙂
Loving on Nana and Papa.
Stella will get to celebrate with more presents again tomorrow at Nana and Papa’s house and then with just Mommy and Daddy on her actual birthday (Tuesday). What? You know you want a week long birthday celebration, too 🙂
As the party was winding down, my brother-in-law asked me what the one word was that I would use to describe the first year. My answer — joyful, fast, and life-changing (yeah, yeah, I know that’s three (four?) words). With more time to think about it though, I think the one word that would best describe it all is “blessed.” God has blessed us so much through the gift of Stella. Even at age one, I can already see her kind soul and loving heart shining through. Her smile makes my heart sing, she can move me to tears with her contagious laughter and sweet hugs and kisses, and her mind amazes me every day. She is simply a joyful little person and I am blessed to be her mommy. Those smiling eyes say it all.
Happy 1st Birthday, Stella!
Cherishing Childhood 