When our baby turned one I knew I wanted to have a birthday party
for him while keeping it simple and homey.
I figured he would never remember this, but I still wanted him to have
something for pictures for his 1st year! We didn’t want to go all out, firstly because
we couldn’t afford that (hello, we’re on a one post doc income right now lol!),
secondly because we didn’t want to have to top it year after year and thirdly
we knew that Isaac could care less at this point about a birthday party,
lol. Frankly, his dad did not see the
point either, he was like, “Umm this bday party is not for Isaac, this is for
you.” Ok ok, maybe it was for me (I do love planning events!), just a little,
but I was honestly thinking about the memories for our little one and having
loved ones around.
First thing I did was tackle the guest list. Poor Isaac does not really have other babies
his age he plays with (except his one bestie), so his party mainly consisted of
grownups (our friends and fam). We
figure as he gets older and starts going to pre-school and school this will be
rectified soon enough, so we’re not sweating it. Plus, I haven’t been too pleased with the
braggy, bougie stay at home moms I’ve met in Atlanta (I’ll discuss this in
another post). We wanted to keep it
intimate and not have a very big event because we’re rather simple, so the
number of guests that came was just right for us! After the guest list was complete, I had to
figure out a theme. There are soo many
cute ideas out there for kids! I went
with a theme centered on one of Isaac’s fave books we read to him almost every
day, Eric Carle’s, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. How did I pick this theme? I wanted to have something personal to him,
something he liked/enjoyed and full of vibrant colors! I didn’t go with Sesame Street because his
room is already decked out with it and one of my baby showers had this theme as
well, so I wanted the new new! It wasn’t
until he brought his baby version of the book to me that a light bulb went off
in my head and I started my research. If
planning a bday party or kid event, just observe your kid and see what he/she
enjoys. This will definitely inspire
you!
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| Caterpillar cake |
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| An extra cake we got just in cake the cupcakes were gone! |
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| Some of the Trini food! |
I found a couple of ideas
for a cake (see below), but one of my besties, Alex found the caterpillar
cupcake cake that we went with! I thought
it was super cute because it was in the shape of the caterpillar, I was going
to use its head as Isaac’s smash cake and who doesn’t like cupcakes?! One
of my other besties, Melissa’s mom who makes all of our beautiful and yummy
cakes made this so special for Isaac! It
was a hit, we all LOVED it!! We also
wanted to have food because his party was from 1pm-4pm and I don’t know about
you, but I like to eat lol! We decided
to go with Trini food to go with something different… and Isaac is part Trini
afterall!
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| Another cake option: cake pops |
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| One of the cake options |
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| Watch Me Transform |
If any of you are familiar with Eric Carle’s book, you know that
one of the many lessons it teaches is the concept of metamorphosis and growth
as the caterpillar transforms into a beautiful butterfly. With that, I wanted to showcase the same with
Isaac so I made a banner saying, “Watch Me Transform” and had a picture of him
from birth to each month leading to his 12 month birthday, so that we could all
see his transformation. Babies sure do
change a lot in appearance from month to month!
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| Here's the tunnel, balls scattered, one of our furry babies and a couple of Isaac's cousins! |
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| Smash cake time! |
The weather was surprisingly nice that day so we had activities
outdoors in our backyard and indoors. We
got the kiddies a tunnel with balls to crawl (like a caterpillar) in and out of
(Isaac still loves this tunnel so def recommend this!), a car buggy that his
Auntie Zak got him and of course our other babies Pumpkin and Toby running all
over the place to keep them entertained!
The smash cake is also messy so had him eat it on the deck for easy
cleanup, thank goodness! Almost
forgot! Isaac’s bday is actually very
close to Halloween, his bday being on October 26th, so I decided to
have everyone dress up as well! For some
reason, I think this will occur at many of his bday parties, call it a hunch lol! We had him dress up as our little caterpillar
and Jon and I were mommy and daddy butterfly.
I thought I was going to have to battle Jon for him to dress up as a
butterfly, but he surprisingly didn’t! I
was shocked, but it also warmed my heart knowing that he was doing this for his
fam and didn’t think twice about it.
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| Our happy baby! |
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| Family shot! |
Overall, we had a great time filled with love and laughter! We couldn’t have asked for a better 1st
bday for our baby, and while I was busy planning trying to make it cute and
whatnot, I realize that’s not what matters the most. What matters is having special people around
you (who can make it of course) to celebrate this time and create magical memories together! So whatever your budget, work with what you’ve
got and don’t put too much pressure on yourself. As long as those dear to your fam are there,
it will be awesome!
Ohh and how can I forget, Isaac also got his first haircut after
he turned one! We took him to a cute
kiddie salon called Kuts 4 Kids and it was the cutest little place. I don’t remember ever seeing those when I was
a little girl. He was all smiles before,
but once he got that smock on and his hair got wet, he looked oh so pitiful and
cried as well. He wanted to nuzzle his
head in my chest and as much as I hate to see him cry, I absolutely LOVE when
he does this! Internally I’m like yes,
he needs me and wants me to comfort him!
I am such a weirdo I know, lol! I’m
going to be one of those moms who can’t handle their child growing up and will
be a bag of bawls once he has to start school.
I think we’ve found the perfect hair stylist for him though, Shiquita,
at least I think that’s her name??? I
dunno, I’ll have to find out again because I know I have a difficult (ghetto
lol) name as well! The place was super
kid friendly, with a toy train travelling around the entire shop, toys, music,
Disney movies playing and cute seats for them to sit in. It was also a good price, only $14.50,
score! They also send coupons in the
mail so I love that! Shiquita also gave
us tips for Isaac’s hair that I wanted to share because I had no clue! She said to make sure to cut his hair with
scissors and not clippers or else it will affect the way his hair grows and
completely change it. I love his big
curls, so I definitely appreciated that bit of advice and won’t let clippers
touch those locks! Check out pics below
of my sad cookie bear! I thought that people would stop thinking he was a girl with his haircut, but it keeps happening (even when I have him dressed in blue from head to toe), to the point that I don't even correct them now because it happens quite often so I just smile lol!
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| Before haircut |
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| Smock time |
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| Crying Cookie Bear |
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| He only cheered up after we left lol! |
