Designed To Dwell: It Happened, “In a Flash” Birthday Party

Well, the day I have been dreading for twelve months has finally come and gone. We officially celebrated Evalyse’s first birthday on Sunday, although her real birthday was yesterday. It is so hard to believe a year has gone by already. Although I’m excited to get to watch her grow up, I’m not quite ready for it just yet. I have been spending a lot of time holding her & watching her play, since the realization is beginning to hit me that she won’t be a baby much longer.

After looking around online, I decided an “In a Flash” photo themed party would be appropriate, since this first year has gone by so fast. I decided I would decorate with her monthly baby pictures, have party guests put together a picture scrapbook for Evie, & we would take silly photo booth pictures.

Here are some of the details of the party…

Okay, so I made an invitation, with the intention of e-mailing it out, but that never happened! I do plan on printing it to put in her baby book & scrapbook though!

For lunch, I served salad, chicken tortilla soup, & bread in the kitchen. I decided to style the glasses, plates, & utensils on this table in the morning room. I cut up & painted a cardboard box to make the “You’re 1” sign. Then, I used sticky tack to adhere pictures of Evalyse with all of our family members on it.

To save money & resources, I decided to use iced tea glasses for drinks instead of buying plastic cups. I bought the plates & napkins from Hobby Lobby. Eliana helped me wrap the napkins around the forks & spoons. Then, I taped a small piece of scrap paper around them to hold them together.

Instead of a cake, I decided to make pink & green cupcakes & place them in the shape of the number 1.

I wanted Evie to have a special cupcake but didn’t have enough pink or green icing to cover one whole cupcake. After realizing this with the green, I ended up plopping the leftover pink icing on top of the green. I’m calling it an abstract flower cupcake! I do think it actually looks pretty cute! Then I sat it on top of a glass candle holder to make it even more special!

After lunch, we played around with the photo booth a little bit. To make the polaroid looking frame, I cut out a piece of cardboard to the shape & painted it white. Then we hung it from the ceiling using thumb tacks & fishing wire. I grabbed a basket & tossed in all the props I could find around the house.

The birthday girl didn’t really want to cooperate, but we got a quick picture anyway!

So, this is what happens when you let a nine year old pick out your props!

I grabbed a cheap scrapbook from Hobby Lobby & had everyone write a message to Evalyse in it.

When I take the photos off the “You’re 1” sign, I’ll stick them in here next to each person’s note.

I made this bib using a plain white & pink bib from Hobby Lobby & an “I am 1” iron-on. I didn’t want it to get dirty, so she didn’t even really wear it to eat!