Look Whoooo's ONE!

I apologize for yet ANOTHER post with a million pictures.  I guess that's what happens when Christmas and birthdays fall so close together. 

I am big on themes at birthday time.  There was Amelia's "Very Hungry Caterpillar" first birthday (pre blogger blog).  Her farm themed second birthday.  A rainbow third birthday.  And most recently her princess 4th birthday. I went with the same "theme" as Henry's room for his first birthday party--owls.  And for what it's worth I am already gathering ideas for his second birthday party.

Here's a sample of Henry's invitation.  I'm proud to say that I did them all by myself!  I only had to purchase the scallop punch (which I will be using often) and a pack of nature-y paper that I used throughout the party. 

I used some of the same paper from the pack for Henry's birthday hat that he had no interest in keeping on his head.  I thought it turned out cute nonetheless, although I should have probably paid more attention to the direction the owls were in before I cut out the hat.

I whipped up a little sign for the front door.  I started to feel a little bad for not having a single outside decoration.  Although, Amelia's June birthdays are a little more conducive to outdoor decorations.

As the guest list started to expand, I thought I might set up an extra table in the dining room.  After 3+ years of living in our house, we still cannot agree on a dining room set.  I didn't have much time to come up with something for the table, but the blue just looked too plain.  I found some pictures of Henry and hung them for our Halloween tree.  I filled the jar with some of Amelia's nature walk treasures and made Henry's name using some of the paper from the Nature paper pack.

 This isn't the best picture, but I sewed some streamers for Henry's big day much like I did for Amelia's princess party.  I love this project so much because its easy and the sloppier you get, the better it looks!

The birthday banner has become a bit of a tradition around here since Amelia's 2nd birthday.  Each has been unique to the party.  One of these times, I will hopefully be able to reuse one of the previously made banners.  I've kept them all, you know.

Henry's attire was quick and easy.  I couldn't find the right kind of owl fabric, so I decided to try and match the colors of the party instead--blue, green, and brown. 

Amelia's attire was a bit more involved.  I had visions of making her a beautiful owl pillowcase dress, but time got away from me.  Then, I remembered I had this rather plain brown corduroy dress that I found on clearance at Target.  I showed my mom an owl I loved and she replicated in on the dress (and the owls wings match Henry's shirt!).  I LOVE how it turned out!  She decided to try felt this time for the main part of the applique and it has already held up much better than traditional fabric usually does.

I really wanted to get a picture of the kids before the party started, but this is good as it got.  Amelia, apparently, wanted to eat something--a brownie pop would be my guess.

Early in the party planning, I started toying around with the idea of making cupcake picks.  I have never tried it before, but it was fun!  And easy!

 

After I made the cupcake toppers, I decided to give cupcake wrappers a try.  It was soooo easy and I like how they added a little something, something to the cupcakes.  Only some cupcakes got wrappers and only some cupcakes got toppers.  Considering there were 60 cupcakes, I didn't want to go overboard. And do you see the brownie pops?  Those were a fun find at Costco that I felt were a nice touch.

 Here's the whole display.  I made the tablecloth myself to match the colors of the party.  I needed a new tablecloth anyway and I tried to make it generic enough that it could be used everyday.  I probably need to go back and hem it again, though, it was pretty long on the sides.

As far as party favors go, I really liked the idea of giving something edible.  My friend, Erin, made chocolate chip cookies for her daughter's first birthday.  I was worried about doing something similar so close to the holiday given that most people already feel "blah" with all the sweets they've consumed.  I decided to make these chocolate "H" letters instead.  My friend, Erin, made these for her wedding favors (I guess she like edible gifts!) and let me borrow the molds.  I made milk chocolate, white chocolate, and dark chocolate varieties.

Hey look! The birthday boy!  Relaxing in his new rocker pre-party.

I had my "Year of Henry" pictures displayed on the blinds.  A terrible picture, but maybe you get the idea.

Again when it came time to sing "Happy Birthday", Henry seemed to enjoy the song more than anything else.  He clapped when everyone finished the song and then got busy exploring the cupcake.

 

Henry had quite the crowd watching him eat his cupcake! I think the total in attendance was 49 people!  I am not sure who grabbed my camera and took a picture each way of the people watching, but I'm glad he or she did!

Then it was time for presents!  Henry got some great gifts including tons of clothes, toys, and books.  He isn't much of a gift opener, so Amelia and I did all the work while Henry reaped all the benefits.

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to share these wonderful milestones with!