Now that the sweets have been decided on for Madeline’s 1st birthday party (in case you missed it, click here to see what we are serving), we have now moved on to the decorations. I am happy to say that I was able to make A LOT of the decorations myself, which helped keep our party budget in check. 🙂
One of the main things I love when I look at 1st party pictures, is a little munchkin sitting in a cute high chair tearing into their smash cake (particularly when they have frosting EVERYWHERE). I think that it is SO CUTE!!!! Before Madeline was born, I was able to locate this adorable vintage Jenny Lind high chair from a friend. I think that it is SO PRETTY, and I know that it will look super cute at her party. We repainted it with some white chalk paint, which was really easy. I am going to tie some cute balloons to the back, which will add some height and color to the room. I bought THESE balloons from Amazon, but I am not sure if they are going to work. The colors seem a bit off, but I will make that decision the day of the party (after they are filled with helium). If they are too bright and shiny, then I will simply put them out in the front hall, where they will still be super cute (I don’t want to waste anything). I had a friend make a “ONE” sign for the high chair, but you will have to wait until the party to see it! FYI – it is SUPER cute!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
I am going to make Madeline’s smash cake, but I still wanted a little plate to put it on. Since she tends to throw things (sigh…..), I knew that it would not be a good idea to have a real plate. Luckily, I found these cute little paper plates from Home Goods for cheap! I also picked up this “1” cake topper from Hobby Lobby at 40% off. I really hope her cake turns out well, but I am not too worried about it. She is just going to stick her hands and face in it, so there really isn’t a lot of pressure – LOL! 🙂
Here is one thing that I do NOT love. I typically wrap cute ribbon around water bottles to serve at a party, but in a moment of weakness, I grabbed these ready made bottle stickers at Hobby Lobby. My advice is to NOT BUY THESE!! I did go ahead and use them, since I had already purchased them, but I will not be buying these again.
Since they are stickers, they don’t fit bottles correctly. Also, they don’t wrap all the way around the bottle – BOO!!! Oh, well. Lesson learned…..
We avoided a minor issue with my banner that I ordered from Amazon (HERE). Although it is very cute, it is peach. The color is pretty, but it did not coordinate with the rest of the items I had already purchased. I was proud of myself, though, because I did not panic. 🙂 I actually took leftover wrapping paper (HERE), used the existing cardboard banner as a template, and taped the paper to the banner. It actually turned out really well! I think that I am going to permanently use the existing banner as a template for future projects, and then just wrap it with whatever paper matches my next party theme. I used just a few pieces of double sided tape to attach the paper to the banner, so it will be really easy to remove. I might keep the cut paper pieces (if they don’t tear when I remove them) and store them, so I am not constantly having to re-buy paper. It might not work out, but I am going to give it a try.
I used one of Madeline’s presents as decor on the dessert table, which I think worked nicely. I also borrowed a frame from her room to display her party invitation, as well as a couple of bonnets and hat stands. The “1” will be painted vintage gold with this really cool metallic paint from Martha Stewart. The table runner is pink and white seersucker, with white ric-rac along the sides. The two pink candle holders are really pretty, and I actually found them in the Dollar Spot section at Target – hooray!! 🙂
We are not going to serve a ton of food, since the party will be in the morning and very small. I think that this is perfectly acceptable for a child’s first birthday (or any birthday). I know that a lot of people go all out (which is 100% fine), but we are going small for the first one. 🙂 Since we won’t have a ton of serving pieces out, I needed a few extra items on the food table. I took two vintage gold picture frames from my office that had some sweet pictures of Madeline in them. I also borrowed another one of her tall presents to use as decoration, to give the table some height. Some of the dishes needed some height as well, so I put these white boxes under them to elevate the back half of the table. I am going to wrap the boxes in some leftover wrapping paper (I told you that I love to save money by using things that I already have), so they will coordinate perfectly with my decorations. All in all, I think that the table is going to look pretty nice, even though the food selection will be small. 🙂
Here is another view (below) of the two boxes that I am going to cover with wrapping paper. I am a little worried about the weight, so I am going to reinforce each box with some packing tape prior to wrapping them.
If this works, I am going to definitely keep these boxes to use as table decor. I love a table that has dishes elevated at differing heights, so I really hope this works. 🙂 Here is a pic of the wrapping paper that I am thinking of using:
The wrapping paper is from Home Goods (which is a FANTASTIC place to find cute wrapping paper that you do not see everywhere), and the ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. Their ribbon goes on sale ALL OF THE TIME, so please never pay full price for something like this. There is no need! 🙂
Here is another view of a “1” that has already been painted with the vintage gold paint. I bought several of these at Hobby Lobby in a variety of sizes (on sale, of course 🙂 ), and I really think that they are going to add to the overall color scheme.
Well, that is it for all of the decorations. If you want to see more aspects of Madeline’s 1st birthday celebration, then please click HERE, HERE and HERE. Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Party Planning!
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