Thursday, October 24, 2013

The One with the Party...

Now that it's been well over a month since they turned 1, I figured I should write about Cole & Faith's First Birthday party. I already posted some pictures on Facebook, but I thought it would be nice to have it documented on here too. 

Rachel, from Sisterlee Photography, took their 1 year pictures a few days before their birthday and I love how they turned out! 





The party theme was "Milk & Cookies". I figured it was pretty gender neutral and who doesn't love milk and cookies?! 
 Everything I made was mostly made from a few yards of duck cloth, muslin, and burlap that I bought from Hobby Lobby. I either cut up to  make garland or sewed it to make banners. A huge thank you to my mother-in-law who let me borrow a lot of items she has collected over the years. She let me borrow some canisters, lots of platters for the food, table cloth, paper lanterns, and we wouldn't of survived the heat without her umbrellas. Both of Matt's grandmas are great bakers and made all the yummy cookies. We had Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin, M&M's, Peanut Butter Kisses, along with my favorite, almond tarts, and chocolate-peanut butter balls.

The backdrop was the most time consuming part of all the decorations. I bought a cheap, king size sheet from Walmart, cut it in half and sewed the ends together to make it even longer. Then I took muslin and sewed ruffles every few feet. For the banner, I cut pennants out of muslin and used my Silhouette to make stencils so I could paint "Happy Birthday" in the font I wanted.

I had fun with my new Silhouette machine by cutting chalkboard contact paper I found for super cheap and made labels for the cookie jars and the kids' milk bottles. 

We saved Starbucks frapaccino bottles all summer long and used them for the milk glasses. My mom so graciously spent her night tying bakers twine around each one and attached little "1" tags that I cut out & stamped.

Matt's mom was also a huge help by making most of the food. Her pulled pork and pasta salad are my all time favorite.

 I loved the individual fruit cups my mom made. Something I've always wanted to do is a chalkboard runner. I got lucky and found chalkboard fabric that worked perfectly!


 The milk station included regular and chocolate milk, along with straws that changed the flavor of the milk.


I had so much fun making their 1 year boards. I still can't bring myself to throw them away.

They hung in the gazebo on either side of their monthly pictures...
I'm so glad I did this every month, but I am equally glad that they are over. It was so much work!

The gazebo also housed sugar cookie decorating and play-doh for the kids.
 



 Sweet & Saucy made their adorable smash cakes and I made the "one" toppers using some leftover muslin and paper straws.

Both grandparents out did them selves in the gift department. Besides tons of super cute clothes, Grandpa & Grandma Anema got them a custom wagon that even has a canopy, cup holders and an ice chest. (I don't know who was more excited, Matt or the kids ;)

And Grandpa & Grandma Rollema got them the cutest Tee-Pee! The love playing peek-a-boo in it :)

 

They were also spoiled by everyone else with many cute clothes and toys that have continued to keep them occupied daily. Thank you everyone!

We ended the festivities by enjoy awesome cookie ice cream sandwiches that Mindy Hibma made for me(which I was looking forward to most:) 


And the kids had fun finding the right string to pull to release all the goodies out of the cookies & milk pinata :)





I can't begin to describe the joy that these two have brought me this past year. There is nothing more that I'd rather be than their mommy and I thank God every day for that gift. Sometime I sit back and can't believe they are mine. That I get to spend every day taking care of them. I want time to freeze and speed up all at the same time because I love the age they are now, but I can't wait for all the fun we get to experience with them as they continue to grow up. 
Not all of their birthday parties will be like this, but this could be the only first birthday I ever throw and I enjoyed every single minute of planning it, decorating for it, and celebrating it :) 


I can't end their 12 month post without their LAST monthly picture :)





  



2 comments:

  1. Such an amazing party!!! So much thought went into every single detail!!!

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  2. Cute Party!!! And I agree with you....monthly pictures are so nice to have but what a pain in the booty!!

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