Ansley's 1st Birthday Party!
A Birthday During a Pandemic
I never would have imagined that my baby girl’s first birthday would be during a pandemic. Although, I wasn’t someone who had my baby’s first birthday planned before she was born, I did know I wanted to celebrate and make her birthday one to remember. Your baby only turns ONE once!
(Not to mention, my 30th birthday was just 3 days before her 1st birthday. Since we couldn’t go all out for mine, I figured, we would at least give Ansley a party, which was of course a sweet celebration for me as well!)
With her birthday being right at the end up Summer, we decided months before that we loved the “One in a Melon” theme. It just seemed so fitting. Plus, Ansley has loved watermelon. It was perfect.
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The Party Planning
Although I love hosting parties, I always seemed to over stress myself in the past with all the details and planning. This one was different. Maybe because of the pandemic or maybe because once you have kids, you learn to just go with the flow. Regardless, I felt a sense of pressure being released and truly just wanted to have a special day, whether people showed up or not.
We kept it small by inviting close friends and family. I started the planning by making my invite list. From there, I ordered my invitations from ThePaperTrailCo on Etsy which were predesigned and customizable! They turned out perfect! (Also linked below)
One thing that helped me was creating a Pinterest board of all my birthday ideas, so they were all in one place. Whether it was table décor, a banner, balloon garland, a smash cake, or custom cookies, it was all in one spot for me to use as a reference guide.
Thank goodness for Amazon, Etsy, and another mom friend of mine having a party a few weeks before me with the same theme. Most of my ideas were from Pinterest, and I was able to find similar options on Amazon & Etsy that shipped fast. The day before the party, we ran to Party City for any last minute items like cups, plates, and streamers.
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Like most first time moms, I have loved keeping track of Ansley’s milestones month to month. It was only fitting that I made a poster of all her milestones for her first birthday! This Milestones template on Etsy was exactly what I needed. It was easy to edit and download. Once it was ready, I had it printed at Office Depot. I love how it turned out. It also gave guests something fun to check out at the party.
Since we are in a townhouse with limited space, we had to be strategic about how we decorated. We decided to designate one wall for the “One in a Melon” backdrop, balloon archway, Ansley’s highchair with the “one” banner, and her presents.
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Our fireplace mantle was perfect for draping the watermelon banner with all of her monthly pictures which was one of my absolute favorite parts! It was so sweet and sentimental to look back on how much she changed and grew over the last year.
The ONE letters were also such a fun addition to the decor and fit perfectly with our theme!
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The Bites & Booze
I alway love having a little mimosa bar at parties and baby showers. We set up an ice bucket with champagne and rose, juices, and rock candy sticks.
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For anyone who didn’t care for Champagne, we added an extra ice bucket for waters, truly’s, and beer.
Since we didn’t have an extra table for food, we placed it all on our island. This worked perfectly, since it was in a central spot. The kitchen table was open for guests to sit and eat, so they wouldn’t be hovering over the food while mingling. We also set up a table outside with a TV (hello football season!) for anyone who preferred to stay outside.
Due to the current circumstances of the pandemic, we wanted to make everything “COVID friendly”, so we had hand sanitizer and toothpicks to easily grab food to add to your plate. We had a chik-fil-a tray, sausage balls, veggie tray, cheese and crackers, mini ham and cheese melts, watermelon and of course some sweets!
The Sweets
I remember searching for some cute custom cookies for my baby shower and couldn’t ever find what I wanted. For Ansley’s party, I came across these precious custom cookies on Etsy that shipped directly to our house the day before the party. They were individually wrapped which were great for sanitary purposes and also served as super cute party favors, along with sour watermelon candies in a little goodie bag. The cookies were super cute and also tasted so delicious too! I personally loved that they came in a few different sizes, so the little kids at the party could have the smaller ones or the mamas could grab one for a sweet treat. I highly recommend ordering cookies from Hudson Sweets for any type of event!
Speaking of sweets, we ordered the best two cakes from Miss Mamie’s on Marietta Square. They made us a regular size cake for guests as well as a smash cake for Ansley. They did an absolutely incredible job. I sent them pictures of what I had in mind, and they nailed both of the cakes! It can be hard to find a good bakery that can make a cake (or two) look pretty and also taste delicious, but they absolutely did both! They even had a less sweet option for the smash cake, so that Ansley wasn’t consuming too much sugar ;). Plus, we got to pick from their unique selection of cake flavors. (We picked cookie dough for the inside of the big cake, and it was to die for!)
Cake Smash and Presents
We of course had to have the first Auburn game of the season on during the party, but that didn’t take too much attention away from little Miss Ansley. She did an awesome job diving her face right into her cake. She was so fascinated by the “seeds” and kept handing them to Austin and me. She only got a smidge of icing up her noes. Haha!
Our friends and family were so sweet and spoiled her with lots of new toys. Ansley had a blast opening her presents (in case you can’t tell by that crinkly smile)!
What a day to remember!
Not sure who had more fun, but it will be a day we won’t forget (especially with all these sweet pictures!)
Although it’s been a wild year, we’ve tried to still make the best out of situations and celebrate the important moments in life (and the small moments for that matter)! Otherwise, they will just pass on by in the blink of an eye!
What’s something you’ve celebrated this year? Let me know in the comments below!
xoxo,
Watson
