Hello One-derland! Part 2: Party Prep

As promised, here are some behind the scene things from G's first birthday party. I love that I can now share some of the treasures that I've been harboring on a secret Pinterest board. A lot of prep work went into her party even though I tried to keep it pretty simple. I went with a Spring theme so that I could incorporate a lot of fun festive colors without having to put Easter eggs everywhere (since her birthday was the day before Easter).

The Food:
I wanted to keep the food simple. We were having her party mid afternoon so a meal wasn't quite necessary, but we'd be cutting it close so I wanted people to have something to hold them over. With the help of my mom and sister, I put together a tray for the "Veggie Patch" and made turkey and ham tortilla wrap pinwheels. Super easy. Really good.

My mother-in-law brought a fruit tray that we displayed as the "Fruit Field" on the food table.

We also had "Peanut Bunny and Jelly" sandwiches for the kids (and adults). My sister spent some time making PB&J sandwiches and then used carrot and bunny shaped cookie cutters to make cute shapes with the sandwiches. They were a big hit!

One of my favorite components of the food table was what we served to drink. Besides bottled water, I mixed together this delicious "Carrot Juice" punch. Don't let the name fool you. No veggies were harmed in the making of this punch.

The Cake:

Of course I was going to make her cake. Although I haven't decorated a cake in over a year and a half and I may be a little rusty, I had to give it a go. At first I thought I'd just make cupcakes, but then I saw this adorable cake and had to try it.

It began with G deciding on the color of her cake. I knew I would do a basic vanilla but thought I'd add a touch of color. I presented G with several food coloring bottles and she chose the turquoise. Her cake then became a white/turquoise marble vanilla cake. The icing was my homemade butter cream. Now for the fun part...the decorating!

I shaped the bunny bottom and feet out of Rice Krispy cereal. I then covered them in the fondant and used toothpicks to help hold the pieces together.


I filled in the top with chocolate candies and used KitKats to border the cake.

Her smash cake was also a treat to put together. While it may be years before she appreciates all the love put into these cakes, I must say that I enjoyed putting forth the effort.


The Decorations:
There were several things I wanted to do for her party, but time and budget dictated what I could muster. I put together this adorable carrot garland.

I also made up these cute carrot party favors. I found the bags on sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics and with my coupon I got them for next to nothing. I filled them with animal shaped cheddar cheese crackers.

 

 

I made up this sign to put next to the party favors.

I fell in love with this book idea for her party. I found a book to commemorate her first year. The idea is that people will write special notes to her throughout the book and it will become a keepsake that she'll treasure for years to come. I made this sign to put next to the book. I placed these on the gift table so that people would be sure to sign it.

Another fun touch was added to the food table. I found the idea for these super cute napkin/utensil rolls. Who wouldn't love to put their paws on these?

The most taxing, both surprisingly in cost and time, were the topiaries I chose to make for the centerpieces. I'm still not sure what I did wrong, but the topiary ball would not stand up on the dowel rod...even though it was fully supported in the flower pot. So...to spare my sanity, I scaled them down a bit. Over 360 suckers later, here is my version (the original version can be found here).

 

 

Everything came together so nicely and I can't thank my mom, sister, husband and best friend for all of their help to make this come together. You can check out the events in my Hello One-derland! Part 1. I'll be posting little delights from her party soon!