Because we had so many family members driving in from out of town (and knowing that most of those family members work on Saturday), we decided to have Felicity’s party on Sunday…rather than on her actual birthday.
And, considering that I planned to become “Martha Stewart” overnight, I needed the extra time to prep.
Our menu included Party Ham Biscuits, Chick Fil A chicken nuggets, rainbow fruit skewers (Pinterest inspired), a veggie tray, cheese, yogurt melts, marshmallow chocolate puffs (total fail), CAKE and pink lemonade.
We still have a ton of fruit and veggies left over, while all the good stuff seems to have disappeared. Note to self…buy less fruit and veggies next time. I’m now looking for ways to prepare the extra. We’ve now had some good veggie meals, blueberry pancakes…and I will be preparing a pineapple crunch later today.
I suppose I could think of worse problems to have.
We had actually planned for the party to be partially outdoors. My husband spent all morning setting up a few tents, chairs and a water table (for the kids to play with). Then, just as the party was getting started, the bottom dropped and we were forced indoors. I don’t think we’ve ever had 30 people inside our house at once…but we made it work.
Did I mention that I asked my friends Casey Martinez (of Casey Martinez Photography) and Michelle St. John-Grover (of St. John Photography) to bring along their cameras? What a blessing to have friends with mad photography skills. I knew that I wouldn’t have much of a chance to take any photos during the party, so they made sure to capture it all for me. Casey’s photos have my watermark…Michelle’s photos have her watermark. I am so thankful to them for letting me enjoy every moment.
Like most parties, we kicked things off by telling everyone they had to eat or leave. HEHE I worked too hard on all that food for it to just sit there. After a little encouragement, people did eat though.
At that point, it was birthday cake time. Felicity even wore her birthday hat…for two seconds.
See, there it goes. She hates a hat on her head.
Interestingly enough, Felicity is one of those children who is not interested in smashing into a cake. I thought this might be the case. I even tried earlier in the week to give her a practice round and she just wasn’t interested.
So, my dad suggested that we cut her a piece. She seemed to like that much better.
I guess it makes sense. I mean, she doesn’t dive into any other food…why would we expect her to dive into a cake. She was quite dainty about eating her first piece of cake.
We’ve been delaying stuff like cake, cookies, ice cream, etc until she reached her first birthday. I felt like she had a lifetime to enjoy cake – why rush it. And at this point, she’d rather eat corn or chicken or even hash browns. She hasn’t quite developed her sweet tooth.
She looks to me for approval – yes dear, go ahead.
Then her daddy decides that he wants a bite. Silly daddy.
Look – it’s Casey!
I also decided that I wanted a bite. MMMM yummy!
Once Felicity was done eating cake, we thought it’d be fun to jump into presents. First birthday party tip: once your little one has eaten their cake, go ahead and cut cake for everyone else to enjoy while opening gifts…it’ll make that whole process more fun for everyone!
Since there were people everywhere, we just plopped down right in the middle of the floor and let everyone gather round. Felicity was content with her first present. The rest of the babies were happy chewing paper.
Puzzles, drums, a wagon, clothes, a scooter…and much much more. I think we have more than enough toys to last us until Christmas.
And to all those who got loud toys (I’m looking at you…you know who you are), I’ll remember you the next time I buy toys.
I’m actually kidding. Felicity is in a banging stage so with or without toys, she’s going to make noise.
See what I mean about the paper. They loved it!
One of the funnier things that happened at her party was when we all started clapping. Felicity loves to clap – especially if I start singing “Clap Clap, Clap Your Hands…” So, everyone started clapping and Felicity lit up – she was so excited!
Such a happy girl!
Once the presents were open, it was about time for our party to come to an end. I have so many more pictures of family to process, but thought I’d share a few of just the three of us.
I also had to share one of her future partners in crime. These kiddos are a trip!
With that said, I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into Felicity’s first birthday party. We had so much fun. I hate that it’s all over. On the other hand, I’m excited to see what’s in store for us over the next year.
Until then,
PS: Just in case you’re curious…I tried doing a “cake smash” session with Felicity after her birthday. It went something like this.
First, she cried…as if I was forcing her to commit a felony or something. The face on the left is the exact face she gave me each of the four times I tried sitting her in front of the giant cupcake…even after I cut it (that I baked – yay me). I finally asked her daddy to get her to smile. That’s how I ended up with the photo on the right. Like I said, cake is just not her thing.
