ellie’s first birthday!

all the anticipation, all the anxiety, all the planning, all the crafting, all the energy, and all the time that went into planning ellie’s first birthday was finally here!

oh my goodness. i really don’t know why i do this to myself. i love party planning and yet absolutely hate it at the same time. hahaha! planning and executing it causes me so much strife yet the creative part, the vision, the beauty of it all brings me so much joy!

it all stemmed from my monthly photos of ellie. well, if we really want to rewind it, it truly originated from her room decor! her room started out with the idea of monochrome black and white with pops of pink and green. i had felt flower garlands handmade for her room to give it a feminine edge and soften the color of the space. from there, her monthly pics incorporated the felt flowers and voila! her party theme was born! i decided upon the influences of rifle paper co. because 1. i have alllllllllways been a fan of this company’s signature look  and 2. their brand fit perfectly in with ellie’s flower themed birthday party!

so, i created, made, bought, gathered, prepared, and finalized all the details of her party {mind you…i started physically planning at least 3-4 months out but i probably mentally planned for it all 8 months out…haha!}.

her party invites were rifle paper co {see them here on instagram} and i was able to incorporate quite a few items such as the wrapping paper, cards, card stock, place cards, etc. to really tie it all together. i was also super excited to have had signs {one welcome sign and one sign in sign for her birthday book} made for her party from erin german, a local calligrapher with who i had taken a class with to learn calligraphy myself!

so, with that said…i had a pretty welcome sign for all our guests {over 70 folks} and a sign in table for her birthday book. i had a book personalized for her birthday {from pottery barn kids}, added in rifle paper in the front so all our guests could write a birthday wish for her to eventually read when she gets older!

hc and i made a photo booth for our guests to have a little fun! we did this for olive’s party and i wanted to do it again for ellie’s. we had a wonderful bar table, complete with towels, bottle openers, ice, chilled garnishes, liquor, soda water, beer, pop, juice boxes, pellegrino, wine, champagne…you name it! everything you needed to create yourself a tasty cocktail.

i also set up the food table with all the essentials, cute little signs to identify the food & ingredient, enough plates, napkins, extra plasticware, and food nets to keep pesky bugs off the goodies!

each table had linens and centerpieces made up of flowers, rifle framed paper and cards, pails had calligraphy to identify the plasticware, and salt and pepper. i wanted each table to have it’s own purpose and function to make it easy for our guests when they sat down to eat.

we also had a piñata filled and ready to go. i even made favor bags for each kiddo for when the piñata broke, they would have something to hold all their gathered treats! unfortunately, we totally forgot about it! eep! we were so busy running around! it was the thought that counts, right?!

we even had a water slide bouncy house for all the kiddos! best thing ever if you are having a kids party!

last but not least…the dessert bar! my favorite, favorite part of the party! who doesn’t love desserts?! i think it was the prettiest part of the soiree! this area truly incorporated the flower theme in and out!

i have to thank my sister, kim, for gifting us with her talents and the flowers. she arranged all the vases and supplied all the gorgeous blossoms. without the flowers…my party theme would not have been complete. i am so grateful for her support! the decor looked absolutely stunning with all her amazing arrangements.

when the guests arrived, they signed ellie’s book, grabbed their drinks, maybe took a photo, and mingled. ellie was sooooo good with everyone. the sweet little babe was passed around all afternoon and she didn’t mind one bit! an hour or so after the party began, the food was finally served and of course, after that, we did the ubiquitous smash cake! as with olive’s smash cake moment, ellie was like, “hmmmmm, i’m not sure” but then she got into it. she was a sight to see, digging into that cake! it literally was too sweet! ha!

once all the markers were hit, i finally grabbed a drink and began to unwind. gosh, hosting a party with that many people is pretty darn stressful! i now could relax and truly mingle without having to ‘do’ something for the party and it was glorious!

slowly the guests departed {not without a candy favor!} and the party started to dwindle as the evening rolled in. overall, it was a fantastic afternoon. everything was perfect, fun, pretty, and most importantly…we celebrated ellie, the star of the party.

oh ellie, although this mama went a bit nuts throwing this party for you, but hopefully you will look back only to know and realize how much we love you and how much you mean to us. you are such a precious gift and we are so blessed to call you ours.

happy one year my beautiful child. we love you to infinity and beyond.

via tandeminlove.com

[welcome to ellie’s first birthday party!]

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[sign in table…i created a personalized birthday book and filled the front pages with rifle paper for guests to write their birthday wishes for ellie!]

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[table centerpieces ~ rifle paper and cards framed, flowers, salt and pepper for our guests, and bundled flatware wrapped with rifle paper]

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[working on my calligraphy…i wrapped plasticware in a napkin and tied it with rifle paper]

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[sisters]

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[olivia and hc]

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[gorgeous flowers by my sister kim]

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[matt, kt, karen, johann, and tony]

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[piñata favor bags…calligraphy by me]

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[part of our bar table…we had cocktail garnishes, pop, pellegrino, juice boxes, wine, and pretty much any drink you needed!]

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[my party staple…paper straws]

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[jay, hc, dave, carrie, and lori]

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[getting the food table ready]

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[practicing my calligraphy! i created food signs for each dish we were serving]

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[irina and her sweet family]

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[e for ellie]

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[bethany, darren, and their cute, cute kids]

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[mike, kaitlin, julie, chuck, mary, dianna, and todd]

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[jeri and john are about to have their third baby!]

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[john and laura]

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[dessert bar]

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[i love these paper flowers!]

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[ellie’s smash cake]

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[french macarons]

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[grace and edwin]

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[rifle paper co diy 12 month banner for miss ellie]

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[twelve months of ellie]

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[flower donut tower]

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[ellie with her auntie missy]

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[smash cake time!]

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[not so sure of the cake…and i totally didn’t realize her crown was tangled. wahhhh]

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[you can’t tell from this pic but this balloon is ginormous]

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[scott and dana]

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[gorgeous arrangements by my sister kim]

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[love these girls!]

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[water slide bouncy house]

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[the silly nephews]

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[salt water taffy]

xoxo

6 thoughts on “ellie’s first birthday!

  1. I love this!!! Where are the large wall flowers from and how did you make the monthly banner? Would love to know your secrets!!! Thanks!

    • hi shannon! thank you! the wall flowers are from a shop called sophia and rose collective! i took a monthly photo of my girl and then printed it out in square format. i purchased the rifle paper co. table numbers and cut out the photos and attached them to the cardboard number signs and then attached it all onto twine!

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