my son just turned one year old at the beginning of the month, which is so crazy to me! i was so excited to host a birthday party for him, and it was the first event we were going to host at our new house, which made it even more exciting.
i love planning, so i started dreaming and thinking about his birthday party months prior haha. and i’d recommend doing so if you’d like to order things online (especially if they’re going to be customized).
as i walk you through the planning process, i’ll add pics of the day. 🙂
one year ago
but first, let’s look at what hudson was like while still inside my belly. i can’t believe this was over a year ago! thanks to kathryn judith photography for the amazing maternity pics!! these were take about 4 weeks before he arrived.
theme
originally i wanted the theme to be something he loves and is into at the moment, but if you know one year old’s, they love anything they can hit or smash or chew on, so i decided to choose a color scheme instead. i chose kind of a boho look (green, rust, beige, etc.) and loosely followed that.
invites
my husband and i chatted about who we wanted to invite. and honestly, if we lived in a bigger house, i would’ve invited many more people, but we stuck with immediate family, some extended family, and a couple close friends. i went on etsy and found the cutest invite template that is editable, and got to work on the time, date, and details for the event. here is how the invite turned out. i’m obsessed. 10/10 recommend etsy’s editable invites for any occasion.
gift ideas
before i could send the invites out, i decided to make him an online birthday list people could look at to see what things he needs/could use. i’ve heard of other people doing this and it being very helpful so i thought i’d give it a try. i did it through giftster.com and i’d definitely recommend! it was easy to use and you could add links for any websites and even rank the gifts according to how much they’re wanted/needed.
my husband and i ordered him a wooden name sign to complete his bedroom as a gift from us. i ordered the smallest size in the most simple wood (unpainted) and it turned out amazing! they have many colors, sizes, and fonts to choose from (we just went the cheapest route). check it out here!
decorative elements
etsy was my best friend, along with the target dollar section. i found the most perfect shirt, crown, high chair banner (in route but didn’t arrive in time for the event sadly…), photo banner, & cake topper on there! (see links) and a lot of these were customizable which was perfect! i purposefully didn’t order anything that was about “my first birthday” or “birthday boy,” since those are so niche and can only be worn/used that one day! instead, i ordered things about being one year old (since technically he’ll be one year old for the whole year haha crazy how that works & can continue to use/use for next baby).
i also got some fresh flowers the day before. i love having fresh flowers on the kitchen table so this was an excuse to get some fresh, cute ones to decorate with.
throughout the first year of my son’s life, i had a subscription to chat books month books (they’re amazing) and was getting monthly books to capture my son’s life, so i had these displayed too. check them out here!
food & drinks
simple but yummy. that was the goal. and i definitely think we achieved that. we decided on sloppy joes, charcuterie boards, homemade baked beans (thanks mom for making!!), chips, and customized cookies done by our friend Sydney (you’re the best!!). for the drinks, we had bottled water, lemonade, and the yummiest sherbet punch. check out the sherbet punch recipe here; you need to try it today. and i’m not joking.
smash cake
this deserves it’s own section because many people make a big deal out of a one year old’s smash cake. i thought it’d be super fun to make hudson’s smash cake myself from scratch so that’s what i did! check out the recipe here. it wasn’t too challenging and it was super tasty!!
day of timeline
12:30pm arrival
1pm eating & socializing on the deck and in the yard
2pm (or whenever people were done) presents!
2:30pm cake smash & dessert
2:45pm outdoor games & hanging out
it was very chill and simple, but it was the perfect way to celebrate our big boy! 🙂
tia marie
tia marie 