Violet's 1st Birthday

Our magical baby wasn't born into the world that we had always imagined for her.

But one thing she made sure of was that wasn't going to stop her from;

smiling

laughing

and making everyday magical and special for all of us From the day Violet was born everyone said she was special. And I've always called her my magical girl. She's always had this way of brightening up a room and making all your worries go away. She has this old soul that just puts your whole mood at ease. And I think that came at a time for us when we all needed it most.

This past year has been challenging in many ways but what Violet has taught us all is to slow down and enjoy the little moments everyday. To find joy and happiness in the small stuff.

That is why I knew her 1st birthday party theme had to be;

she is MAGIC that ONE! Because Miss. Violet is truly magical.

No matter what COVID had in store for us for rules and restrictions there was no way I was letting that stop me from making Violet's 1st birthday just as special as she is. So, that meant planning basically from the day she was born (yes I know I'm crazy) for a day that I could wait forever to come, because I was not ready for my last baby to turn 1! But planning was so much fun and I loved working with some amazing local businesses and doing some DIY projects to make my vision come to life. I am so excited to share more of Violet's special day with all of you! It was so fun being creative and decorating for our girl - even if only a few people got to see and enjoy it with us. Seeing Violet's reaction to it all made it all so worth it. Let me tell you there is no such thing as too many balloons especially for a 1 year old's birthday party. Decorations This time around I made sure we had a proper structure to build the balloon arch of our girls dreams. Usually we are scrambling trying to figure out where to hang this adorable balloon arch we've created. Instead I got 9ft tall and 10ft wide balloon arch kit from Amazon. It worked perfectly and what I love is now we can reuse it for all our parties in the future. It was so much easier to put together the balloon arch having a structure. I also purchased all of the balloons for her arch from Amazon. It came with the most beautiful pastel coloured balloons & the strip and glue dots to make the garland (which I would have used if we didn't have the structure). Starr.Decor created the cutest little balloon column for our girl that matched the balloon arch perfectly! Violet loved that it was on the smaller scale so she could stand up beside it and play :) It was so cute! And then to top off the balloons Lily picked out Violet's special birthday balloon from Party City. Every birthday I get the kids a bundle of balloons for the year they are turning (so this year Violet got 1, Lily got 4 balloons and Mason got 2). I love this tradition and it was fun to have Lily join in on it with me this year. She picked out a special unicorn balloon that went perfectly with the theme. I also got some amazing decor from Lemonade Party Box a local businesses who has endless amounts of beautiful party supplies in the best themes you could image! If you are looking for something different that what you find in the typical party store you have to checkout her page! We included the following items from her shop in Violet's party;

Unicorn Tassel Garland Kit Meri Meri Ice-cream Cart Centerpiece Mini Glitter Crown Pin Colourful Pom Pom Banner What I loved most about all of these items is they are things that I can easily reuse again for future parties.

Outfit

No party is complete without a special outfit for the birthday girl! Typically I go with a more customized onesie look but I wanted to do something different and dressier for Violet. I fell in love with this dress from Blueberri a local Canadian company. This Pink Butterfly Sleeve Dress looked so beautiful on our Violet. It was the perfect mix of dressy and comfortable. Throughout the day Violet rocked two different head pieces because momma couldn't settle on just one! LOL She had her special Mini Glitter Crown Pin from Lemonade Party Box and a beautiful rainbow snap clip from Two Gems Design Co.

Food This is probably my least favourite part of parties is planning the food. Thankfully we didn't have a big party so I didn't have to stress about feeding a bunch of people. I usually leave the food up to my husband to figure out but there were a few key things that momma knows best about;

1 of which is the cake and desserts. And there is really only one person I truly trust when it comes to my kiddos first birthday's and it is Chelsea from The Real Cake Bar. She made Mason's cake smash cake for us so I knew she was the right person to call when I needed one for Violet. I love that I can give Chelsea full creative control but that she will make my vision come to life in a unique and fun way! She nailed our rainbow theme for Violet and made the most beautiful cake smash cake for her! She also nailed my vision for Ice Cream Cake Cones for our Ice Cream Cart.

But for real winner for the food amongst everyone (Except for Violet of course the cake was her favourite!) was the platter from Just Graze. I have never seen anything more beautiful and delicious than this tray! Everyone at the party was in awe of it and couldn't wait to dive in and try it.

I love that we were able to support so many local businesses while planning Violet's birthday party. I find that you get a more customized and unique outcome to your party because a lot of the items are one or few of a kind compared to local big box party stores. And there is something so special about all these amazing people who care so much coming together to help make your child's birthday extra special. When I looked around the room and seen how much love and support went into making Violet's first birthday special it truly overwhelmed me with so much love and happiness. Violet's missed out on a lot of things things year like going to play places, programming and meeting a lot of people. However, she did not miss out on having the spectacular first birthday that she truly deserved and as a mom, I couldn't have asked for anything more for my daughter.