Cait's First Birthday

My little Caitlyn turned one last week and we had such a great time celebrating her!

I am finally getting around to posting some of the details.  Here we go...

 Originally the theme of Cait's party was going to be "pink and brown giraffe".  I mean, we are talking since I sewed her a blanket with giraffe print BEFORE she was born I have been planning this theme!  Two weeks before the party I decided I was bored with that idea and I switched it up but I did keep a few cute giraffe details.  One of my favorites is this cute "floppy friend" crocheted giraffe I got off etsy.  Cait loves it and it's so adorable when she totes it around!

 I had so much fun putting together the sweets table at my sister's party, I knew this was a must for this one as well.  I am no Amy Atlas but I did my best!  I didn't iron the tablecloths or anything but I did stand on a chair on the table to pin those lanterns up there...and I think that was at around 1 in the morning. 

 I found these cute favor boxes at Party City in California.  My daughters tied the ribbons on the boxes the morning of the party.  I am kind of a control freak so it is always a pleasant surprise when I hand a task over and it turns out "how I want it" without me barking orders!!

Like those tags?  I ordered them from Bridgett of Perideau Designs through Etsy.  She was awesome to work with and I really love her simple, charming designs!

Wondering what that cute tag is tied to?

 Giraffe Stuffies!  The favors I made for Cait's two baby friends.

 And one year old party girls always need bibs to keep themselves clean:)

 Look at Cait and her fun friends Emilie and Azraia playing with their new giraffes!

 Every month of Cait's life, on her "day", I have taken a photo of her in a diaper sitting next to this hippo.  I strung those 12 photos up along a ribbon.

And because I believe there can never be too many photos, I also stapled some of my favorite pictures of Cait to a few ribbons.  These are still hanging in my house today.

I'll get around to taking them down eventually...

The mantel.  I used my fun fabric to hide the TV.  Those letters are foam, They came in those colors and I got them at the dollar store!  I heart my teeny flag bunting.  So sweet!  It's going in Cait's room when i get around to it.

I bought a box of canning jars and used them as glasses for the party.  My daughters filled them with lemons, oranges and ice.  I never got around to the cute name-tag-straws I had envisioned in my head....

I just have to add...that fab paper under the glasses was made with my fun fabric.  I just walked into the copy store, "copied" my fabric, paid for a few color copies and that was IT!  So easy!  So clever.  Has this been done before?  If it has, I have never gotten the memo but none the less, I have figured it out for myself now!

Here's a close up of Cait's cute party hat.  I was glue-gunning this baby together as the guests were arriving!  Whew, so glad I got it done, I have made a hat for each of my children for their first birthday.  I kinda consider it a little tradition.  Would have been a shame to miss that on the last kid!

 There's the little dolly wearing her special hat!

 I have more details to come and there are also a few pics of the cakes over on the sweets blog.

I have decided that I am going to start scaling back on the birthday parties.  Keep it simple yet fabulous.  What elements do you feel are most essential?