Evalie's 1st Birthday Party

I love planning parties and I hate planning parties for the same primary reason..I get so invested in the details and work to make sure everyone has a great time that it becomes a chore until the actual party comes together..and this time was no different. It was my second daughters first birthday on Thursday and the party was on Saturday and after all my worrying..it turned out really great..and I even had some fun as well. We had just the right number of guests and the right ones too, she was surrounded by those who care so much for her and wanted to celebrate such a memorable occasion with her. Everyone got on well, laughed, ate drank and celebrated my little Evie. She had great time as well, even tried it at the pinata and had her own little cake for the first time.

The morning started out pretty mellow, I had been pretty well prepared and left on al few things to do in the morning. The party was at 1:00pm and located about 30 minutes away from our home so I started somewhat early in the morning, making the cupcakes. I made two kinds using this recipe I found from a blog earlier that week. The cakes came out pretty good. I also used the frosting from the same place but decided to do the chocolate cupcakes with a hazelnut frosting which I found here. That frosting was divine..in my opinion but I digress.. I had put the favors together a few days before and had spray painted her name out of cardboard letters and glittered a pennant banner onto them for the table decor. I also make a tassel garland and a bunch of the flowers tags for the toppers and favor bags earlier.

While the cupcakes were cooling I made two batches of chocolate walnut brownies and made the vanilla frosting.  My husband packed up all the stuff in my car and then scooted out to get the cakes from our favorite bakery (one large one for everyone, a little one for Evalie and one for her grandpa who shares her birthday!) 

Once the cupcakes cooled I frosted them, packed them up and got myself and the kids dresseed.We got there with 25 mins to set up, my mom was already there with a wardrobe change fro the little one and to help set up. So Arielle, myself and Grandma put together the sweets table quickly and changed Evie into the dress grandma brought. The table didn't really consist of too much because I wasn't sure how much space I would have ( I had a lot) and did not feel like having to pack two kids and lots of the stuff in my car that mornong. In hindsight, I wouldn't have been so bad. Anyway, here are some the things that were on the table. The favor bags, had bunch of little novelty toys from the party store, a flower pencil, notepad and bubbles, then I sealed them off with some gold glitter tape and placed the personalized flower on one side and a flower with a single candle (stickers from Michael's)  on the other side. The cupcakes toppers were made the same way using card stock in three shades of of the pink with white centers each saying either "Evalie 1", "E" or "Happy first birthday". I also made some that said "thank you" for the candy filled milk jugs and hung those on with bakers twine.

I also put out brownies with cute little flags toppers on them, some paper suitcases and the birthday cake. The cupcake boxes were actually pretty nice as well for people to take home. 

Soon, people started to arrive and the party started out wonderfully. I must say, the waiters were really stellar and kept everyone happy..especially me!.I had sent the owner of the restaurant the recipe for a punch to serve the guest (really for myself..lol) and they really did a nice job, the only problem was it was so good that it was finished by the middle of the party. Luckily they quickly whipped up something else. 

We did play a few games which everyone was really into both kids and grown ups! We gave out gifts ( wine..which we probably should have thought a bit harder about since both winners were underage!) The food was excellent, we gathered round and sang happy birthday to my little Evie. She seemed so confused but eventually reached out and tried to grab the candle. It was all really sweet and I was very pleased with everything.