Mint and Coral First Birthday Party

I can hardly believe how fast time has passed and my baby girl is now a big One Year Old! It seems like just yesterday that we brought our sweet little bundle of joy home...

to her beautiful new nursery.

And now she has grown into an amazing little toddler who has the cutest laugh and heart melting smile.

I'm learning just how fun it is to have a baby girl after so many little men!  I've planned lots of Thomas, Lightning McQueen, Star Wars, or dinosaurs birthday parties and it was so fun to get to do something girly. I decided to go with a coral and mint theme to match her nursery...of course!

 If there is one thing I've learned (especially this last year) about doing birthday parties for your little ones, its that simple is better. There have been so many times when I've stressed myself out over cleaning every last square inch of my home, or making sure every last detail is right.  In reality I've learned that my guests often don't care if my baseboards have been scrubbed...and by the time it gets to your 5th child, they often are not as inclined to make a big deal out of it. My oldest child's First Birthday party had so many guests! Everyone was so excited to come celebrate him and he was spoiled rotten. As we've gone through each of my children's First Birthdays the parties have gotten smaller and smaller, partly because I've invited a lot less people (I've whittled the guest lists down to immediate family instead of everyone I know, ha!) and partly because after so many parties- for all my kids- the novelty starts to wear off for guests and host.

I've learned its better to keep it simple and remember that the party is not for your guests but for your child. I've gone from reserving rooms at clubhouses and serving a full course meal to just having the party at my home and serving cake and ice cream only. In all honestly, I'm a person who loves a big party and would easily go over the top...but doing it five times a year every year is a lot of work! For baby girl's party I tried to keep it simple and sweet...AND I didn't clean every square inch of my house.

I started out by purchasing this Mind's Eye fan set from Zurcher's as a backdrop for her party vignette. The fans are easy to set up and I attached them to the wall using clear bulletin board tacks. Next I added the ONE balloon garland (balloons also purchased from Zurcher's).  I added a couple of white flower shaped balloons from a local party store and the main backdrop was done!

I'm a person who loves to use what I have around the house so I grabbed some old tassel garland that I had left over from her baby blessing luncheon and put them upside down in my vintage blue mason jars. I then taped some of her 1 Year Old photo shoot pictures to wooden skewers and stuck them in the middle of the tassels.

Gift wrap can add so much and this gorgeous Rifle Paper Co. wrapping paper was the perfect touch! I found some mint and coral polka dot bags from Target to add in and the presents were almost too cute to open.

I am not a cake decorator by any stretch of the imagination! I often buy a cake or have someone make one for me. It is just not my thing at all. I'd had a sweet friend make me a cake for her photo shoot that was absolutely gorgeous! I was really tempted to ask her to make another, bigger one for the party, but I was also trying to be very careful about staying on budget (because it would be so easy to go over the top!). I ended up making my own cake and kept it very simple.  Two 8 inch circles stacked with my favorite homemade butter cream frosting. I found this cake garland and "1" cake topper at Hobby Lobby and they added so much to the cake.

 I had one of her pictures from her photo shoot printed out at 11 x 14 and mod podged it to a canvas so I could use it as a center piece.  I will later be using it in a gallery wall in my basement...I love decor that has a purpose and can be reused!

I bought some gold plates from Target and coral plates from Zurcher's and stacked them alternating on a cake stand.  Forks in a mason jar and cups stacked in an old tray rounded out her little birthday vignette.

The party went fabulously and we were so excited to watch baby girl open up her gifts.  I'm pretty sure she had a blast playing with her cousins and smashing cake all over herself and the floor.

Here's my favorite buttercream frosting recipe, enjoy!

Butter Cream Frosting

• 1 C REAL butter
• 1 1/2 tsp REAL vanilla
• 4 C confectioners sugar
• 2 Tbs evaporated milk

Cream butter and vanilla until smooth. Add sugar and mix well.  Then add in milk.