Leighton's 1st Birthday

Birthday Girl

Yesterday we celebrated Leighton's first birthday.  Tomorrow is her actual birthday, and I am also planning on writing a little blog about our first year with our precious girl.  However, this blog is all about the party!!!   Her party turned out better than I could have ever expected.  I'm not judging this by how Pinterest-worthy it was, because then I would have to say it was a bit lacking. But my expectations were exceeded based on how much fun Leighton had.  This girl LOVED all the attention, all the sugar, all the friends she got to play with, and definitely all the presents.  I barely saw her the whole time!  She was crawling around everywhere playing and having so much fun.  I just keep thinking of yesterday and it still puts a smile on my face and a warmth in my heart.

Even a small party like Leighton's took some time to plan and organize.  If you'd like to know how I set it all up and how it turned out, read on below.  You'll notice a common theme in all of my decisions: for my own sanity, I tried to keep things as simple and easy as possible.  

 The Invitations

The Front

The Back

I spent WAY TOO MUCH time on these things.  They turned out alright, but I should have reminded myself what happens to invitations after people get them.  They throw them away.  At least I had my sister give me back hers so I could put it in the scrapbook that I will probably never get around to making for Leighton.  My humble opinion about invitations is to go the easy route.  Do emails or Facebook or store-bought.  I mean, does anybody out there actually get an invitation and think "wow, this is a great invitation I'm going to keep it forever!"?  Anyway, the invitations might be the one thing I would change about her party.

The Food and Decorations

My camera isn't very good, so the picture quality isn't great, but as you can see I definitely went the simple route with food and decorations.  I'm so glad I did! I went with sort of a pink and yellow, shabby chic, little birdie type of theme.  I loved how it turned out, and all we had to do was attach it all to the ceiling with thumbtacks.  It took about 10 minutes.  For decorations all I did was tear strips of fabric and tie them to a ribbon.  Then I took some old white lanterns from our wedding, ripped squares of fabric, and used spray fabric adhesive to attach them to the lanterns.  I also bought an unfinished "L" from Hobby Lobby, tied a piece of fabric to it and hung it from the ceiling.  For a design so easy, it really did look pretty cute and I plan on re-using it all to decorate Leighton's bedroom when we move to Waco.

The food was cheeeaaap and easy, but was a nice little spread for a little afternoon party.  We had three different kinds of popcorn (kettle corn, white cheddar, and plain),  all from Trader Joes where it is less than $2 a bag. Popcorn is the easiest thing ever...open the bag, pour it in a bowl.  Then we had some cheese and crackers.  We put crackers and chunks of cheese in little cupcake liners.  The protrusions from the bird cage are marshmallows dipped in chocolate and covered in sprinkles.  I also did the same with the pretzel sticks.  I made all of them a couple weeks ago and just put them in the freezer so they were all done and ready to go.  To wash it down, we had some water bottles and punch (sherbert and sprite) for drinks.  Cheap. Delicious. Easy. 

Okay, so I already know I am going to have a few mixed reviews about the cake.  So for all you cake connoisseurs out there, you can just skip this part.  Store bought cakes and/or cupcakes are super expensive so even though that would have been the easiest (and more delicious route) I just couldn't justify spending that much money on it.  So I decided to go "homemade".  People, I made box cakes and used canned frosting (gasp!).  I made the cakes a week ago and froze them, then my mom and I frosted them before the party.  Somehow, I didn't hear a single complaint!  So I saved myself a lot of money, stress, and time.  I figured I could either spend the time making everything from scratch or spend the time with my daughter.  I think I chose well. 

The Activities

 My sister-in-law Sandy always does a great job with her boys' birthday parties, so I reached out to her for some ideas to keep all the kiddos happy and busy during the party.  She suggested keeping any games/activities very simple, and leaving some toys out for the kids to play with.  I took her advice, but I did plan two activities.

Bird Feeders.  This was a bit of a bust due to the ages of the kids.  I set out yarn and big bowl of fruitloops.  The kids were supposed to string the fruitloops on the yarn and then hang it in a tree for all the little birdies to eat.  A couple of the kids sat and strung a few on, but then were ready to go and play.  I don't blame them!  I plan on making them to hang in the tree that leans next to our balcony so Leighton and I can watch the little birdies eat them. 

Sock Scramble.  Our dear Leighton LOVES socks.  She really loves taking them all out her drawer and carrying them around in her mouth.  So I filled a whole tote with socks and threw in a bunch of little toys for the kids to pull out all the socks and find the hidden toys.  They had fun and got to take home some little toys.

Toys. All of the kids loved playing in the wagon and with the basketball hoop.  They kept themselves entertained and they all seemed to have lots of fun.  I wish I would have taken more pictures of all the kids, but I didn't get around to it.  (fortunately, I think other people took a lot of pictures).

Texting. This is just a fun little pic of Tre "holding" Leighton.  I think she is getting a little too big to be held, but she was totally loving it.  That might have been because she had someone's phone at that time too. 

Candy Bar.  We had a little candy bar where all the kids could fill bags to take home as a party favor.  I was going to make a cute little sign and fun little "thank you's" to put on each bag, but I just never got to it.  I don't think any of the kids cared.  The parents were all a little stingy with the candy, so I had to take each of the kids through and fill their bags to the brim.  You're welcome!

Bird Masks.  Keeping with the party's theme, I made some bird masks for people to take pictures in.  I noticed there were a couple of people that got away without taking their pictures!  Here are a few of the good ones.

Mommy and Daddy with the Birthday Girl

Grandma and Grandpa Putz

Aunt Hannah with Grandma and Grandpa

Aunt Leah and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa Bates

Tre and Grandpa

The Williams Family - Willie, Carter, Kendra, & Tre

BFF's and their kids

The Onufrock Family - Aaron, Alivia, Kaela, & Baby Frock

The Bearinger Family - Grace, Erin, Bear, & Ella

The Gifts

Leighton was definitely spoiled!  She hasn't stopped playing with all her new stuff.  She did a great job opening the gifts and knew exactly what to do.  The hardest part was getting her to stop playing with the one she just opened so she could open the next.

Daddy read the cards so Leighton could get right to opening the gift.

OBSESSED with her new rocking chair.  She has figured out that she can push it anywhere she wants, stand up on it, and reach all the things she is not supposed to. 

Cake Time!

Leighton just sat and smiled while everyone sang Happy Birthday to her.  She is definitely a fan of having all the attention on her!!!

She was very reserved as she ate her cake, putting only a little on her finger before daintily putting it in her mouth.  She is such a little lady! Not sure where she got that from :). We cut her off after a few small dips into the cake. 

All in all, it was such a great birthday.  Even though I tried to make it as easy and simple as possible, I am still exhausted today!  Planning and putting on a party is hard work.  It was very special though and we are so thankful for everyone who came and celebrated with us.  A special shout out to the grandparents that drove 5 hours just to be there for Leighton.  She seriously has some of the best grandmas and grandpas in the world!!!