ANDD WE HAVE A ONE YEAR OLD…..
I can’t even BEElieve Layla is already ONE! Where has time gone?! We celebrated her birthday with family and friends the weekend after her actual birth day and I wanted to do a little recap post on the party details. I went back and forth on two different themes for her party and ultimately decided to go with FIRST BEE DAY! I know she won’t remember her first birthday, but I still wanted to do something special, not only for her to look back on when she’s older, but also because party planning makes me happy and let’s be honest, the mother’s need to be celebrated too, am I right?! I survived pregnancy, a c-section, a year of breastfeeding, and a year of being a MOM…so if that’s not worth celebrating, I’m not sure what is! 😉
Now, when I said I love party planning, I was talking about adult party planning – so the kid part was VERY new to me! At first we had planned to have the party outdoors and have a bounce house and fun in the yard with the kids, but the weather decided to take us on a different path. We moved the party inside and even though it was supposed to rain all day, it actually didn’t rain at all during the party, but down poured just after. It was also so humid the day of the party, so moving it inside ended up working out for the better. As far as location, my friend Ashley was so sweet to offer up her beautiful home for us to use. It had enough space for everyone.
DECOR
We had a mix of DIY projects, decor purchased from Amazon, and local vendors. I’ll go over the DIY in more detail below, but as far as what I purchased from Amazon, we got the balloons for the balloon garland (including a number one balloon and daisy balloons that I totally forgot to use), the ONE banner for the high chair, cupcake toppers, the easel/tripod for the milestone board, and some bee themed plates and cutlery as back up.
I worked with Ash + Arrow Events for the boho table set up – it usually includes a back drop and picnic table set up for the theme you’re going for. Their disposable plates are adorable and everything is always set up so well. They were the same event coordinator I worked with for my baby shower last year. For the backdrop, we actually had a custom one done with Cedar & Spice, who also did the backdrop for my baby shower. They are super talented and we talked through some ideas and they nailed it! They also supplied the number 1 marquee. It was the perfect addition to the backdrop.
DIY PROJECTS
I had a TON of fun DIYing a few of the projects for her party. If you want more detail in video form, I shared each item in detail on my Instagram Stories HERE, but I’ll also go over them now!
Welcome Sign/Milestone Board
I made both of these signs (above) in Canva – I used some similar signs on Etsy as inspiration and went from there. They also have templates you can choose from and customize to your liking. As far as printing them, I used Walgreens and chose their poster board prints – they come with a stand to attach to the back too! I found a 50% off code online and got them printed for SO CHEAP!
Wooden Monthly Milestone Board
This was a very last minute project. I wanted to custom order one, but didn’t want to pay a lot for it. Conor had some sanded plywood in the garage already so he used that and made an arch for the start of the board. I found some stick on letters in the Target craft aisle and printed Layla’s monthly milestone photos with an added border to make them stand out more. For the “Layla” part, I used sharpie mainly because it was all we had in a pinch. We literally did this the night before the party. It wasn’t great, but it worked.
Honey Jar Party Favors
To go along with the Bee theme, we had little jars of honey as party favors. I created the “Thanks for BEE-ing Here” sticker for the top on canva as well. I actually printed them out on printer paper and glued them to the top and they stayed on super well and looked great!
Layla’s Lemonade Sign
This I also created on Canva and just used the same graphics from the other signs to keep the theme going. I just printed this one out on regular printer paper and used an old frame to display it next to the lemonade.
Balloon Garland
I wanted to save some money with the balloon garland too and since I had experience doing mine for one of my baby showers last year, I figured I’d give it another go for the party. I share lots of tips on creating the garland on the Instagram Stories I mentioned earlier. I didn’t have enough time to really make it quite full, but it ended up looking just fine! I wish I would’ve taken a timelapse video, but next time I do one I will!
Photo Collage Backdrop
I actually created this for Layla’s One Year smash cake photos and ended up using it at the party too! Watch a time lapse video of me putting it together HERE.
THE SWEETS
For sweet treats, we had the CUTEST cookies made by The Missing Pastry. She is seriously so talented and the designs are too cute that it makes it hard to eat the cookies… BUT once you do, it’s WORTH IT! They not only look good, but taste good too! They last for awhile too!
For the cake, I ordered it through Miggy’s Bakes – I sent her some of my inspo from Pinterest and she did such a great job…even better than I imagined. Clearly, Layla loved the cake too!
I also grabbed some mini cupcakes from the store as some extra treats around – we had carrot cake and oreo (so kind of yellow and black for the bee theme) and I used the cupcake toppers on them.
OTHER FOOD & DRINK
Originally we were just going to have snacks, but we decided to do a meal as well once we moved things inside. We made BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. We just threw some meat in the crock pot so it was super easy and fast! My mom made all of the apps and she did such a great job. She made little hummus cups, turkey roll ups, and a few other items. My Mother in Law also brought a fruit salad. Plenty of food and sweets for everyone!
For drinks, we had water, La Croix, and Lemonade, which I made the “Layla’s Lemonade” sign for.
OUTFITS
Layla’s adorable ONE onesie is from Amazon. I swear she grew out of it the week before her bday, but it still worked! She was between sizes around her birthday so I should’ve just sized up, but I would still say it’s true to size. I wore a wrap dress from Amazon – it’s so comfy and also comes in other colors. I have it in red, which is perfect for fall with some booties too! {OUTFIT DETAILS}
I hope you found this helpful if you’re planning a BEE DAY party in the future! Be sure to SAVE this post to PINTEREST for future reference! Below I put together a quick vlog of her birthday and birthday party too!
Thanks so much for reading/watching!
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