My Faere Lady: Viv's first birthday

Viv's First Birthday: Little Details

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With only about 8 hours to plan and create a small birthday party I will say that I'm pretty happy with how things turned out.

We wanted to keep a Valentines Day theme since that's what we were planning on doing a few weeks from now.

I spent less than $30 on decorations and not much more than that on food!

During the two parties we only had about 14 people over so it really was very small.

I always make it my goal to keep everything I do on a small budget and create as much as I can with my hands.

Not only because our bank account calls for some budgeting but because it's a hobby of mine.

Whether it be clothing, home-decor, parties or whatever else it's always fun for me to go the extra mile to find things on the thrifty-side and create as much as I can on my own.

Don't mind all of my crooked pictures frames.

Viv's new favorite thing is to play with them so they're usually all over the floor.

That frame wall has got to go!

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crepe paper garland: 3 rolls of crepe paper at $.50 per roll

Tassel garland: plastic tablecloths $1 each and I used 3 tablecloths so that's $3 (each tablecloth made 4 garlands)

Tissue paper flowers: already had the tissue paper

Balloons: $1 for a package of 12 - I bought 3 packages

Heart shaped drink stirrers for decoration: $1 per package of 9 - I used 2 packages

Treat bags for favors: $1 for 25

paper straws: Target: $1.97 for a package of 24

Plates, napkins and treat dishes: Target: $1 per package

Large paper heart doilys (I used them with yarn to make garlands around the house): $1 for a package of 16

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Everything else I already had on hand and raced around finding things that matched the decor.

I cut out a bunch of hearts using different colors of construction paper and used for tags on the mason jars, on the favor bags, and for people to write notes to Viv on.

I kept everything extremely simple since I didn't have much time at all and I also had to cook and bake!

Her cake was really simple too - I just used 2 boxed cakes and a simple buttercream frosting and made some decorations for the tops using paper and some wooden skewers.

So it's not hard or stressful to plan a party if you keep things simple and easy!

Viv's First Birthday: Party #2

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Sunday morning (Viv's actual birthday) I got up at 6am to make some special treats for the party with Josh's family. Viv woke up at 7:30 and I made a special breakfast for us all and we made her feel like a princess.

We went to church at 10 and by that time we were all pretty tired already.

After church we had Josh's family over for snacks and treats and some fun with the birthday girl!

That night we went to a Super Bowl party with our church and Viv played with all of her friends and had special birthday cupcakes!

By the time we got home we were all exhausted and went to bed right away and Viv and I got to sleep in the next morning.

We had such a fun weekend celebrating our first little girl's first birthday!!

Viv's First Birthday: Party #1

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For months we had been planning on having Viv's birthday party closer to Valentines Day rather than the weekend of her actual birthday. On Friday night I was on the phone with my mom and she said that she wanted to come out the next morning to see Viv and I and by the end of our conversation we had decided to have the whole immediate family come and we could just celebrate Viv's birthday then.

I was feeling a little guilty that we weren't giving her a party on her birthday weekend anyway so it worked out perfect!

So, I quick made dinner and got Viv ready for bed and then ran to the dollar store to frantically grab a few things to decorate with!
I grabbed just about everything that was for Valentines Day or either red/pink because I already had the paper goods and they were Valentines themed so I decided to just go with that just a little earlier than planned.
The next morning I rushed around like a wild woman putting up a few decorations and making food and her cake.
It was really crazy and really the most last second party ever.
I'm so happy with how everything turned out though and wouldn't change anything even if I did end up giving myself weeks to plan and prepare!
So on Saturday afternoon we had my parents and brothers out and on Sunday we had Josh's family over for a party after church.
Our apartment is so small that it's hard to fit many people inside at one time so it ended up being easier just having two small parties instead of one.
I threw everything together in about 8 hours and spent less than $30 for everything (not including the food).
All in all it was probably the best weekend ever!
It was a little surreal to be throwing my first child her first birthday party but I was so busy that I didn't get too emotional like I thought I would.
We were so filled with excitement all weekend and just had so much fun!