First of all... And, no, I can't say this enough... I can't BELIEVE my little guy is already ONE! It seems like just yesterday, I was swaddling him (arms out, of course) and tracking every time I nursed or changed a diaper (along with every detail, like, how long I nursed on each side, and what kind of diaper it was... TMI?).
Anyway... here he is during his belly sticker photo session (which is getting increasingly more challenging, the squirmier he gets!)...
And here he is with his Dr. Seuss birthday book... Which, by the way, is really long!
On his actual birthday, we opened a couple presents, like his gift from Aunt Linny (an adorable floor cushion she made just for him), his gift from Ali (fun bath toys), and his gift from Ryan and me (a Spiderman ball pit, which taught us that you're supposed to bite down a little on the nozzle when blowing up inflatable children's toys, haha)...
And we had a yummy spaghetti dinner, made by Ryan... Which is sure to become a birthday tradition!
His MeMe arrived in Nashville on his birthday, which was very exciting!
Whether we were okay with it or not, the year FLEW by. And now it was time to plan his first birthday party!
I knew we'd do a smallish thing at home, inviting close family and friends. And surely we needed a theme, right? Kids' parties have themes. Right?
After doing a little research on Pinterest, we settled on a monster theme... Simple yet fun... And great for a little one who doesn't yet have party theme preferences of his own.
For the food, we kept it simple... Ali and Linny were gracious to bring dips (Ali made a yummy spinach artichoke dip, and Linny made a delish buffalo chicken one). I threw together some cups of veggies sticks and Ranch dressing, and, with Ali's last-minute help, some turkey and cheese roll-ups and some "monster" pimento cheese sandwiches.
To make the sandwiches "monster"-like, Ali used a cookie cutter to cut the bread into silly shapes, and we stuck two olive "eyes" on the sandwiches with toothpicks.
We had some adult beverages (including Yazoo Gerst - yum!) for those over 21 in attendance. Don't beverages look so much fancier in a silver bin?
For the kiddos, we had bottled water (outfitted with a "monster" eye that I created from construction paper), and juice boxes. I had tried to attach googly eyes to solo cups (like I had seen on Pinterest), but it was a big fail. It wouldn't stay on, and it stuck out awkwardly, anyway.
For the kids, we had some "monster" party hats (which were actually from the Ugly Doll section at Party City), and favor bags (which I failed to get a picture of, but you can partially see in the cake-eating photos). I glued "monster" eyes and mouths (made from construction paper) on plain green favor bags from Party City and filled them with bubbles, silly glasses, Goldfish crackers and a party blower thing.
As far as decorations go, I owe a HUGE thank you to my mother in law and sister, as they decorated house with decorations we bought at Party City (plus a few left over tissue paper balls from Jett's baby shower). Most of the decorations were from the Ugly Doll section, but we felt they looked like silly monsters, so they worked perfectly.
Oh, and they have the cutest streamers - polka dots - at Party City! I couldn't resist, and I'm so glad I got some, since I feel it added a little something...
I had a hard time deciding what kind of cupcakes to make, but finally settled on the following recipes:
First of all, the icing was AWESOME. It'll be my go-to icing from now on. The cupcakes were good, but I think I went wrong somewhere, as they weren't as fluffy as I had hoped they'd be. Honestly, I don't think I allowed the butter to soften enough... Oh well... Live and learn, I suppose.
Oh, and I decorated the cupcakes with some edible googly eyes I found at Michaels, gummy worms, rainbow sprinkles, and some blue icing I bought at Kroger. I had all intentions of using some sort of all-natural food coloring to make some blue (or green) icing, but then I saw a container of icing that included all the attachments you needed to decorate cupcakes with and I was sold. I think it was by Betty Crocker and I'm sure it's sold at most supermarkets.
Jett seemed to think the cupcakes turned out just fine...
He started slowly, and then started to really get into it...
And then sorta crashed after eating all that sugar...
We had a great group of party people... So many cute little ones running around! The big kids were cool, too. :)
Oh, and I learned a very valuable lesson... Kids LOVE "helping" smaller kids open presents. Like, they really love it, and won't take no for an answer...
So, yeah... I think Jett had a great time, as did we. I'm so glad it all came together, because, to be honest, I was a little stressed out beforehand. I've definitely learned that when it comes to kids' parties (especially for kids who have birthdays so close to Christmas), planning is key. Next year, I hope to have his party planned well before we are holiday-ing.
:)
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