1st Birthday Party

Sam's 1st birthday party was this past Saturday and I ended up having it at a local park right off of the lake.  It was very hot outside but the breeze coming in from the water helped a ton!  We had hot dogs and hamburgers and so enjoyed getting to see all of our friends and family again.  Sam even got to meet some cousins for the first time!  I spent a lot of time planning this party and it was perfect.  I don't think I would have changed one single thing.

First, there was the cake.  We had strawberry and lemon cupcakes and Sam's smash cake was lemon with red and black polka dots and a fondant ladybug on top.  I got cupcake toppers from Etsy and cut those out and glued them to lollipop sticks.

For Sam's dress I found something at Kohl's that was PERFECT!  I know I had originally posted a poll about which dress from Etsy to order, but when I found this dress for $8, I couldn't pass it up.  To match it I also found a ladybug barrette on Etsy on sale for $1.  The bloomers I actually bought when Sam was only about 2-3 months old because they were just so cute and I couldn't resist them.  She had never worn them before her party and they matched her dress perfectly :-)

My baby loves, and I mean LOVES, balloons.  Especially the big, shiny, mylar kind (definitely not the cheap kind).  Because of this, the one thing I truly cared about having around for this party was some awesome balloons.  You would be amazed how difficult it is to find decent ladybug balloons somewhere in town.  I eventually ended up ordering a set off of Amazon.com for $15.  It included 5 red latex balloons with black dots, 5 black latex balloons with white dots, 2 round ladybug mylar balloons and 1 huge 30inch sparkly ladybug mylar balloon.  I then had to take them to Party City and have them inflated.  Not so bad and they ended up being super cute and she was fixated on them throughout the entire party. 

Also, as kind of a keepsake, I purchased a signature mat and put Sam's picture in the middle.  I will eventually have this framed and put in her room.

Sam with her daddy and pointing to her balloons

Again, trying to reach those darn balloons

The whole set up before guests arrived.

When it came time for Sam to eat her tiny little cake is when it truly got interesting.  We had a very small #1 candle on the cake and wanted to light it briefly and have it blown out.  So while I tried to get a picture of her and her cake with a lit candle, her Memaw and Pepaw were holding her arms to keep her from grabbing the flame.  When Memaw blew the candle out Sam started to scream!  What party is complete without the unhappy baby picture?  We got her to calm down by giving her a spoonful of cake and it didn't take long before she figured it out and went to town.  She ended up getting so much cake and icing in her ear, her hair and on her face that we ended up taking her down the boat ramp in the lake to rinse her off.  The wet wipes and paper towels just weren't cutting it.

We had so much fun and I know that she really did too.  How could she not love all of that attention?  By the time we got home she was wiped out but when she woke up from her nap she sure did love playing with all of those toys.  Thank you to all of our friends and family that helped with the party, drove all the way out to see us and wished Sam a happy birthday.  You were all so important in helping to make this day special for Sam.

Sam and I

Happy Family