1st Birthday Party: A Year in a Flash

 

When planning Will's first birthday, I had a hard time finding a direction. It's been easy with Audrey the past few years because she has been able to request the type of party she wanted. I threw around plenty of ideas before discovering our "Year in a Flash" theme. I knew I wanted his birthday to focus on all of the memories we have made since we welcomed Will into our lives last April. Photographs (especially Instagram) played a big part in documenting the past year and I wanted those photos to play a major role. I already shared the DIY invitation that I made over on this post. I'm back today to share all of the details. Can we first talk about my adorable little man above? This picture sums up the day he had. He was so happy and excited to see his family and close friends there to celebrate his big day. How handsome is he in his little camera shirt?

 

Here is an overview of the cake table, which consisted of...

 

 

A camera cake.

 

 

A little balloon-shaped smash cake just for Will.

A memory jar. I just added some washi tape to a vase that I had on hand. Inside, I put some special mementos of his first year, such as, his birth announcement, baptismal candle, 1st month onesie, etc. I plan to keep this in Will's room so we can continue to add things to it.

 

Here is part one of Will's monthly photo banner...

 

 Part two of that same banner...

 

Favors for the guests included some one-shaped cookies with a small Instagram picture of Will attached. I totally snatched this idea from Liz (thanks chica).

 

 

Next to the cake table, I set up Will's highchair. I made the little banner out of scrapbook paper. I also made a name banner that I used to decorate the food table but somehow I forgot to get a picture of that.

 

On this table, I used branches to hold notecards so that our guests could write Will a special birthday message. I found blank cards at Michaels and stamped them with a camera stamp. I used blue twine to hang them from the tree.

 

 

 

 

A table covered in paper became the perfect place for the kids to eat and draw. It was, of course, not complete without a scattering of Instagram pictures.

 

 

I set up a very simple photo booth by hanging fabric. I also made some props by printing various things (hats, glasses, mustaches, lips, etc.) on cardstock and attaching them to wooden craft sticks.

 

 

Audrey had a blast posing.

 

Will did to, of course!

 

In keeping with the photo theme, each kid painted a wooden frame. These frames are from Michaels and we used acrylic craft paint to paint them. They turned out so cute! Will has some very crafty friends!

It was a great day. By far, one of my favorite memories from the day was the damage Will did to his smash cake. I think every bite made it into his mouth. At this point, we had to take it away or he would have eaten the entire thing!

 

 

I had so much fun planning my little guy's first birthday. I still can't believe he's one. This year has been a whirlwind but we have loved every moment having this super snugly, smiley, happy boy in our lives!