Baby's First Birthday Party

Well it's official.  My little boy is ONE!  Where in the heck did the year go?!  I thought he and I agreed that he was going to stay little forever.  Little stinker went back on our deal.  Oh well...guess it's party time, then!

I'm sure many of you have seen all the crazy parties for one year olds online and desperately want to do all those fun things for your baby.  I'm here to tell ya...it's not worth the money!  Don't get me wrong, I had the same urge.  I was going to make custom invitations complete with photos and embellishments and then I was going to made little party favor bags...and then I realized how much all that was going to cost me.  I mean, really, he's one and he won't remember any of this stuff...so why not use that cash for something he will enjoy like more toys??  Want to know what items I saved or splurged on?  Here ya go!

1. Invitations
I opted to save myself postage and save a few trees by using Punchbowl.com.  It's an awesome site...can't say enough good thing about them.  They have all kinds of fun features to go along with the invites, but I'll get to that later.

2.  Food
My first instinct was to serve a meal since it's mostly family with a few close friends.  But mealtime with Ayden is quite the production, so I figured it'd be better to go light on food and keep the party flowing.  I put out two kinds of chips, dip, and a veggie tray that my mom brought.  The veggies were perfect for the little ones at the parties because they're healthy and bite sized.  Obviously, we had a cake and this is where I splurged a little.  Sure, I could have baked one myself, but Publix offers a free smash cake for the babies first birthday when you order a sheet cake.  PLUS, I got a $4 off coupon for the cake from the Publix Baby Club.  So...for a 1/4 sheet cake and a smash cake, I spent $18.  Not bad!

3. Decorations

Here's where I REALLY had to restrain myself.  There are so many cute decorations out there.  It's very easy to get carried away!  I had to resist the urge to buy out Party City because they had the cutest stuff (I  did break down and buy the plates and napkins).  Thankfully, a friend of mine already used the same pattern for her son's birthday, so she gave me the leftover party hats, candle and a few napkins.  Instead of the themed stuff, I bought a few rolls of streamers and a plastic table cover.  My mother-in-law already had balloons and another table cover, so I didn't have to buy any of that.  So our decor was entirely made of streamers and balloons and I think it turned out spectacular!  I also put out Ayden's baby book and a couple of photo books from Shutterfly.com that I made.  It's much more fun to look at those than to clutter the table with disposable decor!

Clockwise from left: time capsule, photo albums, smash cake, sheet cake.

Snack table..veggies were still in the fridge when we took the picture...oops!

Ayden's chair...streamers, ribbon and ballons, oh my!

4.  Fun Extras

We opted to make a time capsule for Ayden to open on his 18th birthday.  We asked every guest to select one item that represented 2012 and add it to our box.  We got a lot of fun stuff for him to check out, some things we got: a newspaper from the day of his birthday (happened to be the day after the election, so it'll be really cool to read in 18 years), a stock report, an angry birds game, magazines showcasing celebrities, fashion and decor styles that are popular now.  We also had a few personal letters from family members including Ayden's Great-Grandma.  Those will be so sweet for him to read when he's an adult.  I just used a little tote that I happened to have and made a little sign to go on it and added some curling ribbon to the top for the party.  It's waterproof, so it's safe for us to store in the garage and it won't take up too much space!

To help us make sure that no one brought the same item for the capsule, I used Punchbowl's potluck feature.  You simply set up a potluck list and your guests can select whatever item(s) they wish to bring.  There is an option for them to add an item that is not already on the list if you would like.  I made a few suggestions on mine and left a bunch of blank item spaces for guests to fill in.  This way, you won't end up with a dozen newspapers!

At the end of the day, everyone had a great time!  Ayden was happy with his gifts and sufficiently stuffed with cake.  Since we kept it pretty simple, cleanup was easy, so we got to really enjoy the party, too.  Now, there's only 360 days to plan his next birthday party!

CAKE!!