This blog is well over do but I am so excited to share all the details with you from Mason's 1st birthday party.
I had so much fun planning every little detail and working with some amazing local businesses to make my vision come true. I couldn't have done it without the help of a lot of people! If I can give you any piece of advice before diving into your party planning is remember you are one person! You cannot take on the world or party planning alone. It is a lot of work especially if you have little ones running around. The best thing I did was enlist some help this time around and not set my expectations high. Then when you exceed them you will be even more proud of yourself.
Step 1: Pick a theme Pinterest can be a great source of inspiration for this. But let me start by saying, it is for inspiration. You don't need to do or have every little thing you see on Pinterest. I know its hard but reign yourself in! Once you nail down the theme all the fun begins. For us it was an easy choice to go with the Wild One theme as Mason truly is our wild little man.
Step 2: PLAN PLAN PLAN I like to start my planning early. I started prepping for Mason's birthday probably around the time he was 6 months old. A lot of local companies can get busy. Especially during the summer months so booking their services ahead of time is essential especially if you want to work with someone specific. The earlier you start planning the more time you have to work on those little details. I also find it helpful when purchasing items because I can spread out purchases over a few months and often times find things that I probably wouldn't have if I didn't start looking early. These are the main things that you will need to start planning:
invitation (location, time, date, RSVP date)
food and beverages
decorations
entertainment
party favours
thank you cards
photography services
Once I had the invitation design in my head I enlisted the help of Dezign Creatives to make it come to life. And she nailed it! Desiree did such an amazing job making my vision come to life. She even had the invitations printed and mailed to me which was a huge help in taking part of the tasks off of my list. By sending the invitations out early it gave people lots of time to RSVP and put it in the calendars. I sent the invites out about 1.5-2 months ahead of time.
Food and beverages I went simple because I knew that I wasn't going to have a lot of time to cook and prepare ahead of time. I enlisted my husbands help and with it still being summer BBQ was the way to go. We had hot dogs and hamburgers which pleased everyone. I also enlisted the help of some family members to whip up their signature dishes (pasta salads, nacho dips etc.) which helped add some extra flavour to the party. For drinks we stuck with pop and water to keep it simple. For preparing your food my biggest tip is prepare as much the day before as possible. I cut up all fruits, vegetables, cheese etc. and put it in containers so all I have to do is lye it out on platters the day of.
But where I like to go all out is the desert. I wanted to make sure that Mason had a special cake just for him. For both Lily and Mason's 1st birthdays I had the cake smash at their party. I enlisted the help of Chelsey from CAKEbar to make his cake smash extra special and delicious. She also created some cake pops that went perfectly with our theme. I kept it simple and added some desert squares, cupcakes & sugar cookie cutouts in animal shapes for extra desserts. Lily and I had fun making them together which added to the excitement.
Decorating is my favourite part. The biggest thing I find helpful is doing all the decorating the night the before. I get everything laid out during the day and then once the kiddos are in bed I get to work decorating. It also makes for a nice surprise when the birthday boy or girl wakes up and see's everything transformed. I purchased a Wild One backdrop from Amazon and then created my own balloon garland to go around it. Honestly, it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be and cheaper than purchasing one! I got the balloon garland and glue dots from Amazon and they worked amazing. I also had lots left over to use another time. The rest of the decorations I had made by Heart Strings Personalized Gifts which included; cupcake toppers, cake topper, high chair banner and milestone banner. These would have taken me so much time to create on my own and it saved me a lot of time and energy having someone else do this part for me.
I decided to forgo any entertainment for Mason's party.With the weather being nice the kids were able to play outside with our toys and I set up our bouncy castle for some extra fun. We keep the party to two hours so that it wasn't overwhelming for Mason and I knew there wouldn't be lots of time for extra entertainment.
Party favours I went simple and cheap! Saving money is key when party planning and I also find a lot of the time people either don't take the party favours or they go to waste. I had some leftover favour boxes from Lily's baptism so I used those and filled them with Animal Crackers which went perfectly with our theme. I had Ady and Owen make thank you tags that went along with our theme to fancy them up a bit. She also created the sign pictured beside the party favours.
I find thank you cards are a hit and miss these days. Some people really appreciate them some people think they are a waste. I don't send them out for everything but for 1st birthday parties I do. I find it really helpful to get these organized ahead of time. I had Ady and Owen make a custom thank you card which had Mason's Photograph on the front done by Ashley Schmidt Photography and then on the back it was his 1 year milestone update. These were a huge hit and everyone said what a great keepsake it was. I also didn't have to write anything on the cards just seal and address them. I had all these ready to go before it was even party day and then mailed a few days after his party.
Probably one if not the most important thing for me to plan ahead is our photography services. I decided to do a 1st Birthday Photo shoot for Mason prior to his birthday mainly because Ashley Schmidt Photography offered a great deal which worked within our budget! I was so happy we did because these are my favourite photos I have of Mason and it was great to capture such a milestone in his life. For his party, we hired Nadine Watson photography. The last thing I want to worry about is taking pictures during the party. I want to be in the photos and enjoying every moment of it with my family. So this part is very important to me. Nadine photographed Lily's 1st birthday party for us as well so it was nice to have a familiar face.
Step 3: ENJOY YOURSELF! Let go and have fun! Forget about the decoration that won't stay up, the project you didn't have time to finish or the food that didn't turn out. There is always going to be something that didn't work the way you may have envisioned it. But that is not what the party is about. There is so much pressure to throw the "perfect Instagram worthy party". I even fall into that rabbit hole sometimes. Try to remember that this is about celebrating that beautiful child you created. That you survived the 1st year of parenting. The party is about so much more than aesthetics. Make sure you enjoy yourself and are apart of every moment with your birthday babe.
I want to end this by thanking EVERYONE who helped make Mason's Birthday Party a Wild Celebration. I honestly couldn't have done it without all of your help.
I have tagged everyone above and hope that you will check out their pages if you are in need of party services as these people are truly amazing to work with and I can guarantee that they will help make your vision come to life! Having a team of people you can trust is key and these people truly are one of a kind.
