I can't believe it. My baby girl is officially 1! Like, what? How the heck are you one?!! This little girl went from being my sweet little baby to a straight up 5 year old overnight. She started walking about 2 weeks before her birthday (took her actual first steps on August 9th at 7:16pm & yes I have the exact time thanks to my iPhone - lmk if you caught that on my stories!) and is now RUNNING around the house. Literally running. I'm shook. lol But in all seriousness, Olivia is truly a dream baby. She has the sweetest personality, is always smiling and makes sure to keep us on our toes at all times. Olivia has made the past year so remarkable on so many levels and brought a level of love into our hearts + home that we never knew existed. I feel so honored and proud to be her Mama. Okay, okay enough of the mushy stuff, your here for the party..
So when I first approached David (my Husband) about what I had in mind for Olivia's first birthday party back in let's say May-ish, he wasn't quite on board. But, like every smart wife knows.. ya just gotta plant the seed and let it grow baby. And, boy did it bloom. It wasn't long before David came back to me with ideas of own about balloons (trust me, he wanted waaay more than what we had), a backdrop, talks of lanterns and so on. Once I knew I had him on board, we were able to narrow it down to the necessities of what we actually needed to pull this party off without it becoming over the top obnoxious.
I wanted to create a relaxed vibe with a space where the babes could crawl around with one another & play with toys, while the adults mingled, snacked & sipped on rosé... all with, of course an adorable mommy (or daddy) and me photo op moment! We're blessed to have a fairly large backyard (for LA, that is) with enough grass to where I could overlap a bunch of rugs + blankets to create a baby crawling section. We were also expecting kiddos up to 5 years old, so I wanted to be sure there was something fun for them as well. We ended up purchasing an inflatable kiddie pool and filled it with multicolor plastic balls to create a ball pit. It was an inexpensive way to create another element to the party, and also something that we would use again at home with Olivia.
Lastly was the photo op moment. I was dead set on getting matching peacock chairs for an adorable Mommy & Me moment. Funny thing is, Olivia and I didn't even get a pic! lol We tried towards the end of the party but she just wanted to play so I let her run free and was happy to see other parents taking advantage of the chairs throughout the day. We will definitely have plenty of other opportunities to use them in the future!
The day couldn't have been more perfect. We planned the party around Olivia's nap schedule to ensure she was well rested and would enjoy her special day. We asked everyone to arrive around 2:30pm - 3pm-ish and let them know it would last until whenever. Olivia promptly woke up at 3pm and my Mom and I went in to get her ready. The anticipation of seeing Olivia's reaction of the party/guests was killing us and we were having so much fun getting her dressed, while simultaneously doing her hair. As soon as she came into the dining room, she saw her little boyfriend, Aiden, tons of balloons, people everywhere, heard the music and I think right then and there she was in party mode. She was sooo happy all day long and literally every time I looked around for her, she had a smile on her face while playing with her little friends. It was the sweetest thing to see as a mama.
I couldn't have been more pleased with how everything turned out. Thank you to my sweet Husband for helping set everything up outside the morning of, my Mom for party prepping with me days before, getting all the food + last minute decor to ensure everything turned out perfect and to my Mother-in-law for helping out with the decor as well. I love you all and appreciate your support in making Olivia's 1st Birthday such a Memorial Day!
MOMMY & ME PHOTO OP AREA:
STAND | BACKGROUND PAPER | SAND BAGS | LARGE + TODDLER PEACOCK CHAIR provided by CHARISH - TOTALLLLY open to renting these out! Please feel free to email me if interested.
MOROCCAN LOUNGE AREA:
RUGS, THROW BLANKETS + THROW PILLOWS ALL FROM HOMEGOODS + TJ MAXX. SIMILAR STYLE RUGS HERE & HERE | ROUND JUTE RUG | LC by Lauren Conrad BLUSH FLOOR CUSHIONS | ROUND WOVEN SEAT CUSHIONS | WHITE MOROCCAN POUF | NATURAL WOVEN BASKETS | FOAM BUILDING BLOCKS | SIMILAR WOVEN POUF | SIMILAR POUF OPTIONS HERE, HERE and HERE
BALL PIT:
Side note, we only ordered 600 of the plastic balls and it just barely covered the bottom of the pool. So, I would recommend doubling or maybe even tripling that order. I also added about 20 sensory balls to the mix and the babies really enjoyed playing with those, so def recommend them!
CHARCUTERIE TABLE:
The stunning floral arrangement which ended up being our center piece to the charcuterie table was a gift from my Mom and her Fiancé, delivered right to our door step and hand crafted by the ever so talented The Unlikely Florist.
All of the wooden decorative discs and serving trays are from HomeGoods. I found some similar ones here for a decent price, but would suggest hunting around at Ross, Marshalls or any craft stores to see if you can find some for less expensive.
Thank you to OHI! for providing your delicious superfood bars alongside my baby crackers! If you guys haven't heard of OHI!, well then now's the time to jump on the band wagon. These yummy bars are made with the highest quality whole food ingredients that are non-GMO, gluten, grain, dairy and soy free. No gums, fillers, synthetic vitamins or additives. No artificial anything. I literally have at least one in my purse at all times now. Go ahead and grab a few next time your at your local grocery store - they'll be in the refrigerator section. And, you can thank me later. :)
A HUGH THANK YOU to Crumbles Patisserie for making the cake of my dreams! I described my vision of what I wanted for Olivia's birthday cake to look like and it turned out so much better than I could have imagined! I loved it so much that I think I've created a new tradition and will be getting Olivia's cake from their shop every year.
Summer Water Rose Champagne provided by Winc. Use code: simplytabitha to get $22 off your order of 4 bottles or more + complimentary shipping. (Thank you Winc!)
Okay, I think I covered everything! If there's anything I missed or if you have any other questions, please feel free to leave your questions here or DM me over on the 'gram. Hope you'll enjoyed reading all the details of such a special day for us.
Xx,
Tabitha
Congrats!! am really happy for you. At such moments parents feel proud they gift their children. Congrats again i still remeber when i was gifting my dissertation committee they were very heppy for me.