Hello my loves,
I cannot believe that I have a one year old. Like, how?! Charlie turned one yesterday (October 24th) but we had his birthday party last weekend. It was so fun and truly gorgeous!
It’s interesting being a blogger. You almost feel pressure to throw big, extravagant parties in order to be able to post and share about them. I’ve definitely seen some birthday parties for one year olds that without a doubt cost $5K-$10K. Don’t get me wrong, I live for a theme and a photoshoot opportunity. Like, there should be a great set up for people to take pictures in front of! However, it’s also bonkers to me that people spend that much on a child’s party. And I’m not a cheap person! haha I love being extra and going all out. But for me, life is a balance. It has to make sense. I’m gonna share some tips for how to create this fall themed first birthday party but also some tips in general for creating a beautiful party without spending as much as you would on a Chanel.
Here’s the DL as far as how to keep it from being insanely expensive: DIY what you can, rent as much as possible, build your own flower arrangements rather than getting from a florist and have the appropriate amount of food for the guests. Something simple is 100% okay for this kind of a party. Catering is so not necessary unless you’re inviting a ton of people. Rather than hiring a party planner, DIY it! Find images on Pinterest if you don’t think you’re good at party planning. Just search what you’re idea is and things will come up. Then find a rental company to rent things that fit that idea.
And tip for getting muted colors with balloons: double them up! To get this burnt orange color: black balloon inside of an orange balloon. To get this beige color: Black balloon inside of a tan balloon. To get this white/ivory color without it being see through: Tan balloon inside of a white balloon.
- The backdrop. A great backdrop never disappoints. Enter, balloon arch. Now, you can DIY a balloon arch, it’s actually not hard but it is very time consuming. I made one for my disco themed bday party a few years ago and it looked great! But it took 3+ hours and my fingers were so sore from tying the balloons. But just know, you can DIY it to save a few bucks. If you buy one from a party store, expect to drop $200-$500 on it. You’ll want something behind the balloon arch too so it’s not just floating in outer space. Our party was inside so we put it in front of the white sheer drapes which was very neutral and pretty looking if I say so myself.
- Flowers. Similar to a wedding, flowers make a big difference in decor. You can build your own vases of course for a DIY project or go through a florist. For this fall themed first birthday party I stuck to shades of rust, ivory’s and greenery. Trader Joe’s has the best flowers IMO but sometimes limited with quantities. Get there early in the morning to grab them. No table setting/setup is complete without flowers and/or greenery.
- Food. Food is obviously important to a party and something everyone looks forward to. We did a walking taco bar! For those of you that don’t know what that is, it’s mini bags of Fritos preferably but Doritos work in a pinch, seasoned taco meat, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, sour cream, diced tomatoes and onions if you like. Something like this is great because it’s minimal dishes/trash as the meal is eaten straight out of the bag with a fork. We also made little crudite cups hummus and ranch and had a great dessert bar. You could make little charcuterie cups! I probably could’ve made one more appetizer type situation but honestly I was too busy. haha
- Drinks. Make the initial option kid friendly (it is a kid’s party after all) but have the options for adults to take it up a notch. For this fall themed first birthday party I made hot chocolate and apple cider with Bailey’s and Jack Daniels on the side.
- Rent things! It’s way cheaper and makes more sense to rent some things. For instance these drink dispensers pictured would’ve been expensive but were only $15 to rent. You see what I mean? They made a big difference with the appeal of the drink station and didn’t cost a lot. I also totally recommend going to Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, Target etc for decor items. Do this first before deciding what to rent. The copper bin on the bottom of the drink station was only $15 dollars at Marshall’s and can be used for endless parties. So, that was a good purchase.
- Dessert. Obviously a smash cake is very popular thing to do and for good reason! (typical size for smash cake is 6″) It’s exciting and fun to hopefully see the kid destroy their first bit of sugar. From what I gather it’s not common that a kid does destroy the cake though. Charlie poked it and that was it. I couldn’t believe it, I thought he’d go nuts! If I were doing his party again I would make the smash cake myself. I’m going to work on a smash cake recipe and will update this post when it’s live on the blog. For the adult dessert, buy a bigger cake that’s similar to the smash cake and other options as well. We did mini pumpkin pies, mini caramel apple pies, cake pops and personalized cookies. The pies are nice because they’re a hand pie (again means less dishes/cleanup) and everyone likes pie.
- Plan the party during your child’s wake window so they’ll be awake and happy! Charlie wakes up from his nap at 11:00am so I scheduled it from 11:30-1:30 to make sure he was awake and ready to party.
- Personal touches are great too! Like this picture hoop I made. DIY, cost maybe $20 to make and is cuter than some other picture arrangement’s I’ve seen. Spray paint a hula hoop, use a hot glue gun to secure pieces of ribbon, double sided tape to tape pictures to ribbon and to attach greenery. Done.
I think that’s it? Any questions that I didn’t cover? Any other tips you might add to this if you’ve thrown a first birthday party? Drop a comment!
