Annalise's Gold & Pink Floral 1st Birthday
For years and years I have criticized the craze of going all out for a child's first birthday. I mean, come on, they don't even realize what is going on, nor will they appreciate it, or remember it. I swore I never would. I made Bryce promise me to please not let me do that someday. And then, I had sweet Annalise Joy. And I couldn't help myself. I really didn't want to go crazy and I'm still convinced I didn't go too crazy. But I guess see for yourself. Some of the stuff I had already, some I bought and made this time around. I don't think I spent TOO much money either, I mean, compared to all those other crazy people (this is me trying to justify my behavior).
Shout out to my brother and sister-in-law (Alex & Ivy Photography) for making all my Pinterest dreams come true!
"ONE" Floral Hoop
I purchased the hula hoop from Walmart. Remarkably I couldn't find a normal hula hoop in the whole store. I had looked at the dollar store but they were too small for my purpose. I ended up buying a light-up hula hoop because that was really the most normal one there, and a can of gold spray paint did the trick in making it look classy.
The greenery was also from Walmart, and was much cheaper than any of the other craft stores. I got a pair of wire cutters and cut the stems off and hot glued them on.
Pink and white flowers? You guessed it! Walmart. I cut them off their stems and hot glued them on as well. I also then cut a piece of felt to size and glued it behind the flowers to make sure they all stayed on.
"ONE" balloon was from Hobby Lobby in their party section and blew up super easy with a straw and was only a few bucks and came with strings to tie it up with.
"ONE" Cake
I highly considered making my own cake topper until I found this one on Amazon for $7. Time was not on my side so I went for it.
I made a 10 inch cake and used my biscuit cutters to cut out 3 small rounds that I layered with frosting and stacked. It was supposed to be a naked cake but I really had problems frosting it for some reason so it ended up not being naked, sadly.
The cake stand was my sister-in-laws that she had painted gold previously that has been used at numerous parties, I recommend getting yourself one, it comes in handy.
The cupcakes I made with Russian Piping Tips. These are my newest favorite cupcake decorating technique. You can buy the tips here. They are the absolute EASIEST tips to use. Literally ANYONE can decorate with these, and they will make you look like a cake master.
The flowers I got from Albertsons, my one stop flower stop. They have a florist that is so knowledgeable. I showed her an idea on Pinterest of what I had in mind and she did the rest. The flowers shown here are silver penny eucalyptus, babies breath, mini pink and white carnations, and the regular sized pink carnations. I love the way it all turned out.
Cake Pops
I wasn't planning on making cake pops, but by time I got her mini cakes cut out I had so much cake leftover I couldn't stand throwing it out, and I do love me some cake pops. I make my cake pops by mixing cake with some frosting until I can roll it into balls. Throw them into the freezer for a bit so that they make more perfectly formed balls and them dip them in melted white chocolate (pro-tip: add a spoonful of shortening to make your white chocolate thinner and easier to dip with). I also mixed the tiniest amount of pink food coloring in the white chocolate to give it a subtle pink color. I stuck them in a piece of Styrofoam to let them dry upright so they end up smooth and sprinkled some white pearls.
I got the piece of foam from Walmart in their craft section and painted it gold with the extra spray paint from the hula hoop. I couldn't believe how it turned out so glittery! Bryce joked it ended up looking like a UFO...I kind of have to agree.
Oh, and I got the plates at Hobby Lobby too! I thought they worked so perfectly.
Drink Table
The moment I saw this photo display on Pinterest, I knew I had to have it at her party. The wood is from my father-in-law who had a random piece of it in his garage, so sorry I can't help you find the same piece.
The letters and numbers I cut out with the Cricut and glued on with hot glue. I tried mono adhesive but they kept falling off.
I adhered the pictures with this tape, which is actually double sided carpet tape which I bought for my rug, but it actually worked amazingly for this!
The greenery is the same greenery I bought for the hula hoop, from Walmart, and I attached with hot glue.
The little flowers were from the dollar section at Michaels Craft Warehouse.
The gold cups were from Amazon, which you can find here.
The ice bucket is compliments of my dear sister-in-law, Ivy, and I'm not sure where she got it.
I made raspberry lemonade with lemon slices in it, which looked so cute!
The table cloth is actually a giant strip of fabric that I had laying around.
Entry Table
This felt board has been one of my favorites! You can get it here. I did get the large letters when they were on sale at Hobby Lobby one day, and I thought it added a cute dimension.
The pom-pom is from a bridal shower I threw several years ago. It's super easy to make. Take a million pink cupcake liners and pin them with fabric pins into a foam ball and hot glue on a dollar store candelabra, and there you have it!
Welcome Sign
I made my welcome sign with Canva.com, which is my absolutely favorite. It helps you make beautiful things in a snap. I printed it from Costco which only cost a few bucks.
About Annalise
I saw this idea on Pinterest and more or less copied it. I love the way it turned out. Again I made it on Canva and printed at Costco.
1 Day--> 1 Year Sign
I got this adorable chalkboard again, from my sister-in-law. I got chalk pens from Amazon a few weeks ago and used them, I was super happy with how it turned out. You can get some really great vibrant chalk pens like it here. And, the chalk actually washed off, which I was skeptical of.
Floral Letter "A"
I got this letter "A" years ago from from a friend and have been wanting to decorate forever so I took up the opportunity of all my felting and floral crafts to finally decorate it. I found a picture example on Pinterest and just freelanced it to make it look as close as I could to the example. Did I mention that I'm not original at all? I'm an insanely good copycat though. My mom always told me that copying was a compliment. So there you have it, there are a lot of people out there I'm complimenting!
Cake Smash
Is she not the CUTEST thing EVER!? Ok, I digress. I combined like 4 different ideas for my cake smash background. My dad had a bunch of pallets and he helped me connect 4 of them, which I painted white.
The floral felt hoops I saw on Etsy were $125! No thanks. I think I can make those. I had a bunch of felt already from my grandma and then I just googled searched a bunch of free felt flower tutorials. Man knows no fury like a woman and her glue gun! It took a while but it was definitely worth it. The hoops I got at Michael's Craft Warehouse and I painted them gold. You can also get them from Amazon here. I think I got the 10 and 8 inches.
Lastly, I wanted a pretty white blanket for her to sit on and I looked for what seemed like forever until I settled on this one from Amazon. It has tassels on the end and I see so much potential for lots of other things in the future with it as well.
Outfit
I looked for a long time trying to find the most perfect 1st birthday dress and when I saw this one on the Carter's website I knew it was the one. It's absolutely perfect and I couldn't have dreamed of a cuter cake smash.
I considered making her headband because it didn't seem like THAT much work, but ended up just buying this one from Amazon and I was really happy with it. More impressively, she kept it on her head all night!
You can't see her shoes in this photo, but we get her moccasins from Starry Knight Design, my favorite store! They are Montana locals and do all their own work. We have two pairs so far and they have held up amazingly. The white ones I got are located here. Oh, and did I mention they are like half the price of all the other moccasin boutiques out there like Freshly Picked? And you're supporting small businesses, which makes me happy.
And the rest of the photos!!
We had so much fun at her first birthday. She had the best cake smash and actually loved her cake, hated the way the frosting felt though. I'm so grateful for all our family who came to love on her. And thank you Bryce for letting me go crazy anyways. All my Pinterest dreams finally did come true. We love you sweet Annalise Joy. I can't believe I got lucky enough to be your mommy.
- Ashley
