Birthday bash, take ONE!

Today’s weather was gorgeous – in the 70s, low humidity and absolutely not a cloud in the sky.  The party preparations started Saturday morning when we got our house thoroughly cleaned from top to bottom.  What a great feeling, and we are now on an every two weeks schedule – I am very psyched! I also went on a bit of a shopping spree and bought a new rug for the living room and kitchen. What better excuse to do some home decorating than your baby’s first birthday?

I also went a little crazy and inspired by our recent photo shoot with Jecca D Photography, bought tons of new photo frames, and printed our family photos as well as wedding photos (two years later) to frame and hang up by the time of Julian’s party.

Wedding photos by Sarah Bastille Photography.

Spiced up my fridge a bit too:

If you book Jecca D Photography or Sarah Bastille Photography (both totally rock) please tell Jessica or Sarah that I sent you!

Next up, the cake. I have an awesome coworker Joanne (@JoanneStanway) who offered to make Julian’s cake. She is crazy talented. She didn’t have enough alphabet letters to spell “Happy Birthday Julian” so she had it say “You are 1 Julian” instead.

Then we got busy with party preparations. I framed my favorite photo of Jecca D Photography’s shots of Julian’s “cake smash” session and her cool idea to have Julian hold the letters O, N and E.  I found a cute little sparkly J that fit perfectly into the corner of the frame.

Then it was onto getting the tables outside and the food table set up:

Tom made a pork loin roast on his awesome grill.

Who is going to eat all of this food?

Oh good, we remembered to invite people.

My father and Julian share the same birthday, so next up was present opening by the patriarch of the Mather side of the family:

By the end of the party, Tom and Julian were tuckered out.

Thanks for coming everyone! Julian, check out all of your cards.  We are going to put these in your baby keepsake container.

Now I truly appreciate what goes into planning your kid’s birthday party!

Do you have a birthday party coming up that you are planning? For your kid or anyone else? I’d love to see photos or hear about what you are planning or any cool sites you’ve found for birthday planning supplies/ideas.

I know a lot of my babycenter friends have  kid’s birthdays soon or who recently turned.  Did you write a blog about it? Tell me!