May and June are crazy birthday months in our household, which just so happens to go hand in hand with business and sale mayhem.
We don’t share lots of our personal lives in this space but for many of you who know our little family, we welcomed our third baby last year.
We had a small intimate gathering to celebrate our beautiful girl turning one and it was such a magical day. It was super low key with a few touches and special details that made this day super magical.
Happy birthday beautiful girl we love you to the moon and back you have brought so much laughter and love into the world and we hope you realise how special you are and how grateful we are to have you in our life everyday.
I’m not going to lie, our lives are silly crazy like many working parents so we have given some tips on how to make your little ones birthday special without a party planner.
The decorations
Fresh flowers
This is my go to. I love fresh flowers and if I could I would have them in my house on a weekly basis. Flower arrangements don’t need to be expensive. I love to add some greenery from our own garden with some beautiful in-season blooms.
Creating something amazing doesn’t have to cost a fortune. I made a fresh flower crown and also a beautiful flower centerpiece to go above the cake table, also known as the kids grazing table. For my fresh flower wall hanging, I used a wire mesh from Bunnings as the main structure. I made it the shape I wanted and threaded both flowers and greenery into it, securing with floristry tape and wire to hold in place.
In all honesty this probably only took 40 minutes and I love making these so it was super therapeutic.
For more ideas jump on to youtube and type in flower crown or flower arrangements for ideas on how other people have constructed different arrangements.
My biggest tip is choose a colour theme and also ensure that these flowers are in season. If you have a color thread that runs throughout your party, it will help with the dramatic effect and pull together a well thought out party.
Balloons
What party is complete with out balloons. We had some special balloons one with the written word one and some confetti helium balloons. We didn’t go crazy on the balloons, as the main focus was the flowers.
Outfit
Be sure that your little one has a super cute outfit that is also practical. There is nothing worse than a freezing cold bub on their first birthday.
Coco's outfit for the day was centered around our Dusty Pink Frill Knit Overalls and our cute little Pink Suede Lace Up Fringe Moccasins. We layered this over a gold and cream stripe long sleeve top for warmth and to add a little sparkle to keep in theme of the magical garden party theme.
This outfit was made super special with a flower crown that could be taken off after photos and she could crawl around happy, warm and comfortable on her special day.
Be sure to have a cute bib ready, as you don’t want the birthday out fit spoilt.
Cake
As it was a one year old party, we had a carrot cake with fresh flowers on top. Again it was the same flowers that had been used throughout the decorating to tie these all in together. I made a little arrangement and secured with floristry tape. I then popped the arrangement in the fridge overnight to keep it looking super fresh and placed it on the cake just before the guests arrived.
Grazing tables
This is hands down the best decision I have ever made in the catering department. This was super easy to put together and you can buy the special pieces over a couple of weeks. Another life changing tip is to purchase all things online. Yes Coles online shopping has been a game changer in our busy household. This also allows for extra time for organising and decorating for parties.
Make the grazing table interesting with different coloured foods and different cracker types, there are so many available now. Be sure to include gluten free or any special dietary requirements. Group cheeses and dips together and place in different interesting bowls and onto different shaped and sized platters. Also stagger the heights to make the table more visually appealing.
I had a kids and an adult zoned grazing table with plenty of fresh fruit.
Add fresh flowers and you have an interesting centerpiece, again tying all the decorations together.
Drinks
We had beer and wine for the grown ups but it was lunchtime party with lots of people driving so the biggest hit was all our freshly squeezed juices. We added different and fresh coloured juices to the table think beetroot / carrot and green juice all to add a vocal point of interest and everyone loved them.
Gift bags
We made up some super cute party bags featuring Miann & Co wands and crowns to continue on the magical garden party theme. We topped them off with a couple of sweet treats and put them in cute brown and gold spot bags. Again as this was a one year old party we didn’t go crazy on lollies.
Capturing the special moments
Be sure to capture these special moments and memories and get some beautiful photos from the special day. Remember, they only turn one once.
We set aside 30 minutes before everyone arrived to put the camera on a timer and get some lovely and special family snaps. These photos with us all together are rare and are super treasured and we were pleasured to be able to capture such lovely moments together. It’s also nice to make time before everyone arrives to get photos of everything in its beautiful uninterrupted set up. It also allows for you to relax once the guests arrive and enjoy the day.
Parties don’t need to cost the world or be super stressful. Do what you love. If you find it stressful outsource to someone that does love doing those things.
Enjoy the day as moments like these don’t last forever and little ones grow up so incredibly fast and we treasure every minute. Happy first beautiful girl xx