After two months I have finally found time and decided to spend it updating my blog! I have been wanting to post about Alyssa's first birthday, which happened over 2 months ago. So here goes...
My little princess turning one was a very excited and long anticipated and planned for event! I knew as soon as I started thinking about her first birthday (which was as soon as she was born) that I wanted her to have a "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" party! We threw quite the party, my parents are divorced so are Joe's so there were quite a lot of people there. I told Joe from the start of the planning (which he thought was all a little much) that her first birthday will be the one and only where I invited EVERYONE. It was fun and exciting, but I am now certain it will be the only BIG one!
I got, as many people do nowadays, got A LOT of my ideas from Pinterest! Here is a link to my Pinterest board for her birthday...Alyssa's First Birthday Board. There is a bunch of Hungry Caterpillar ideas as well as some Minnie Mouse ones too (we went to Disneyland on her actual birthday so I wanted to do a little Minnie Mouse "party" there).
Before I share the party with you I want to thank my father and step-mother for opening their house to use and all the support and help they provided through the planning and party!
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| Alyssa with my step-mom, Kathy and dad, Jim. |
Of course I had to make her a special PARTY dress. I found the fabric on amazon, just search hungry caterpillar fabric. I bought it through fabric.com through amazon. I don't have a good picture of her in her dress, but here is the best...
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| Alyssa and her cousin, Kayla, best picture I have of her dress :) |
Ok...on to the PARTY!!!
I knew I wanted to make pretty much all of the decorations and everything for the party, I am not so big or interested in generic "character" stuff. There are some decorations/plates/napkins on line for The Hungry Caterpillar, but I didn't want them. So I knew I was going to need Photoshop, which I used in college and knew how to use, but didn't have. I searched and found out the font used in the book is Bodoni and then I found a free download for for it here. So Joe got it for me for me for my Birthday this year! I searched Pinterest and Etsy for ideas for the invitation and here is what I came up with...
Invitation
The invitation was a fold over 5x7 card, the picture was on the front (the banner hanging in the back says "You're Invited") and the text was on the inside. I took her picture at my dad's house, which is where we had the party. I made the tutu, the party hat, and the banner. I took about 2 hundred pictures and was so happy with the results. This one was my favorite, but here are a few others I put up and her party...
I decided to really keep to the theme and only serve food from the book...incase you have forgotten what he ate, here is a poster I made from the text of the book and displayed at the party...
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| The birthday girl and I before the party :) |
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| One of Alyssa's aunties, Mariah, BIG shout out to her for being our wonderful photographer!! |
I made sure to serve at least one of each item the caterpillar eats. Here is what we served: sliced apples, pears, oranges, plums, and strawberries, the cake I made for the guests was chocolate cake, Joe made mini ice cream cone cake pops, individual scoops of ice cream, pickles, assorted cheese, salami, and crackers, the party favors were lollipops, my stepmom made mini cherry pies, sausages and hot dogs with buns, cupcakes, watermelon wedges, and lastly oriental chicken salad and taco salad (for the leaf, hey, lettuce is a leaf). Hopefully I didn't leave anything out :) Oh...and I made Alyssa a mini cake in the shape of an apple (which you can find the recipe here). We served lemonade, iced tea, water, and "spiked" lemonade for the adults. Here are some pictures of the food...
I had many ideas for what I wanted for the cake...changes my mind many times, but am very happy with the result. The bottom cake is just homemade chocolate cake frosted in this buttercream (which is delicious--I will only eat this frosting now!!!), and the top cake I found the recipe and tutorial on Pottery Barn Kids, here. I was a little intimated to ensure it was apple shaped, but I think it turned out well. The bubble gum was a last minute idea, but made the cake!!!
Now on to decorations...
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| My dad and step-mom made the posters |
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| I found these buckets in the dollar section at Target!!! |
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| Found the lanterns at Oriental Trading |
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| Saw the paper circle banner a long time ago in a Martha Stewart, but have also seen it on Pinterest, I just got a bunch of paper circles out using my 1" paper cutter and sewed them together leaving a little gap in between each. |
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| Had a few pieces of the fabric leftover from her dress draped over the couches inside. |
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| These are Alyssa's footprints, we gave it to my dad for Father's Day this year, added perfectly to the decor and theme. |
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| Got this idea from the Pottery Barn link above and here. I got the lanterns here for cheap, great service!!! |
I knew I wanted a general party favor for everyone, adults and kids, and separate party favors for the toddlers and older kids. Everyone got a lollipop with a personalized Thank you sticker...
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| Got them on amazon, made the stickers in work using address labels folded around the stick |
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| Top of the playdough for older kids |
We also played a few games at the party. It was such nice weather, which was surprising, I prayed for weeks, for the middle of October. We were either going to have great weather or horrible! We have GREAT!!! Look how sunny it was! We did bobbing for apples, I made a bunch of clothespin caterpillars and hid them outside, and we had the piñata. Only one person was able to get an apple, but all the boys had fun trying!!! I had a few prizes, Hungry Caterpillar socks and writing pads from Target dollar section and a halloween cookie plate I made with a package of Oreos, and a Halloween cup.
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| My girlfriend's son, Dominic, tried so hard (and got soaking wet) trying to get an apple. I think this was the first time any of the kids had done this... |
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| Looking for caterpillars!!! |
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| The birthday girl and her "1" piñata Auntie lisa got!!! |
SUGAR?!?!?!? For those of you who know me, you know Alyssa had NEVER had sugar (other then naturally occuring sugar in fruits and such). So her birthday cake was a big deal to me. I was a little worried once it was cake time, because it was also time for her second nap, it didn't start out to well, she wasn't really having it. But once she really got a taste of it she went to town. I took the cake away after a while, she started getting slow and seemed just to be eating because it was there, not because she wanted it or was enjoying it at all. But it was a success and it was quite fun!!! Loved that the frosting was red, you could totally see it all over her face and hands!!!
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| Mom, what is this nonsense? |
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| That was good :) |
There were quite a few kiddos and adults, we had around 15 kids and 40 adults, so my step-mom and I made sure we created plenty of space for people to visit and enjoy themselves. The have a great brick "wall" around the background which we put mats on for seating and put an area rug in the corner with toys for the babies. It was the perfect center for people to gather, talk, eat, play, and have fun! Kids were able to play without too much worry because they were in a "corner."
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| Kiddos playing inside |
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| Outside "play area" created with an area rug in the corner of the yard. |
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| Table for the bigger kids to eat. |
What I didn't get a picture of were the tables and where everyone sat. I didn't do much decorating there, the paper lantern caterpillar was hanging there, but o the tables I just spread out a bunch of pictures of Alyssa's first year. I made sure to have a bunch of pictures every where, made for great decorations, since the party was all about HER!!!
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Alyssa and her cousin Oli playing at the Water table, I was concerned about having with babies, but Alyssa loved it (and got soaked!!!)
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I also had a copy of the book on the gift table with a sign asking people to sign the book with a pieace of advice or note to Alyssa. I didn't get a picture of it, but I am SO glad I did it because it is so cute and fun to read all the notes people wrote. Can't wait until she is old enough to read them!!
SO...thanks to many wonderful people our precious little angel's first birthday was quite a success. I want to again thank everyone who attended and especially everyone who helped! Again, my dad and step-mom for opening their house to us and helping in so many countless ways with the party, my mom and mother-in-law for helping with the food, Joes sister and brother-in-law for manning the BBQ, and more then ever....JOE! For being the most amazing husband and father anyone could ask for. He was quite hesitant with the whole BIG party, but I think he was happy in the end. I am so grateful for all the time, money, support, and love he provided the past year. I love him. Hopefully I didn't forget to thank anyone, but if I did...THANKS :)
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| Enjoying her party, she is the cutest little butterfly EVER :) |
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