And then she turned One.
Gracee Rae’s first birthday party set the bar high for the many birthdays ahead of her, but that was our goal! Our sweet baby girl has blessed our socks off over the past year and without the help of our family and friends we may have not survived, so I wanted this party to celebrate both.
We wanted the room to sparkle. We found a space that could hold our entire clan of family and friends, but it wasn’t any old party hall it was a beautiful classic room called The Gallery, with glittery chandeliers in the heart of downtown at The Courthouse Square. It was the perfect setting! And I figured I better take advantage of this opportunity to select her birthday venue before she requests places that consist of ball pits, bounce houses, and lack of glamour.
When it came to food and decor I filled and then conquered my Pinterest boards. Below are some of the projects we tackled (click the links to view the Pinterest Pins or vendor websites):
- DIY Photo Booth – Thanks to my daddy/Gracee’s grandpa for the pvc pipe construction of the 8ft tall by 6ft wide backdrop, that I covered with 6 (2 of each color) tinsel doorway streamers and taped them to the top pvc bar, layering the colors to make a pink/silver/gold glitter effect.
- Strawberry Cream Puff Kabobs – We had an eclectic table of sweets that included the classic birthday cupcakes from Hello Cupcake, doughnuts from Original House of Doughnuts (my Nana used to always treat me to these in Lakewood, when I would play hooky from school), and the centerpiece would be these delicious kabobs. I replaced more doughnuts on the kabobs for cream puffs and they were delicious. The only thing is that I planned to stick them into a styrofoam sphere so they could create a starburst effect, but the cream puffs were not as strong as the doughnut to hold up the strawberries. They looked just as cute laying on the plate.
- Table Centerpieces – The tables were the perfect place to display Gracee’s monthly photos over her first year. I got 11-5x7in frames from the Dollar Tree and contacted my go-to florist Stephanie. She is AMAZING! If you are ever looking for someone to spruce up a room or a wedding contact her at the Safeway on Bridgeport. The photos paired with Stephanie’s perfect arrangements and some added glitter stars contributed to making the room sparkle.
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Accents – There were stars twinkling throughout the room. From Gracee’s adorable outfit from BearLove Boutique on Etsy, to the stars in the flowers, some twinkling star balloons, the candy bar table, and the cheese stars. Yes, cheese stars. Thanks to my mommy/Gracee’s grandma who made the meat platter quite the creation by slicing the cheese into little stars.
The day was perfect! After all the preparation, I felt as though this may be a little too much for just a little birthday party. Although, this wasn’t just a birthday party, this was celebrating the little one who has changed our whole world and just a party could never be enough to celebrate the joy she brings to us daily. But we sure did try. 🙂
