Transporation Birthday Party

I cannot believe it has been over a year since Declan was born and we brought him home from the hospital! This first year has been filled with so many wonderful memories and we were so excited for the opportunity to celebrate our little man and his first year of life.

I love parties so I could not wait for the chance to plan the first of Declan's many birthday celebrations. I had several ideas floating around, but most have been tabled for later birthdays because I decided a carnival, stache bash, and whatnot would be more fun when he and his guests were was a bit older and could be more inteactive with the event. So for his first birthday, I decided on transportation as the theme. What says little boy more than trains, planes, and automobiles?

The first thing I wanted to get nailed down was decor for the party. I wish I had the funds some of the parties on Pinterest seem to have, but alas my budget is not that large so I had to simplify some of my plans. :) For the backdrop behind one of the food tables, I decided to keep it simple and have just a birthday banner to decorate the wall. Fortunately, Keith (my cousin) and her shop, Feathered Nest Boutique, were able to make my plan come to life with an adorable 'Happy Birthday' pennant banner with appliqued lettering and different vehicles. She also made him a super cute birthday outfit to match! I also tried to pull from items we already had on hand (like Declan's wooden train he got for Christmas and the cute suitcase set I bought on Zulily) and purchased a few other wooden vehicles to serve as decorations and our gifts to the birthday boy.

   

 With decorations thought out, I had to come up with a plan for the invite and party favors. I managed to get really lucky here and won a custom invitation design from Cardtopia Company and they created the cutest birthday inviation for Declan! Once they completed the design, I was able to order cupcake toppers (I used them as stickers for sealing invite envelopes and on fruit cups at the party.) and water bottle labels that matched. I also won a $25 credit to KK's Favors and was able to use it toward custom party favors complete with a train whistle and airplane themed cup to give out to the kiddos.



It looks a little weird since I took off our contact info, but you can just imagine it. :)

Everything else just pretty much came together as needed. We lined the front walkway with balloons by using golf tees to hold them to the ground. I used Starbucks Frappucino bottles we collected as "milk bottles" for the tea and lemonade we served (the dispensers were the ones I purchased for our wedding). I made labels for the bottles using brown Kraft Paper and attached them with red, green, and blue baker's twine. Guests had access to a Sharpie so they could label their bottle. I also purchased blue striped and red striped paper straws on Amazon and they were way more affordable there than anywhere else. The cakes came from the Albertville Bakery and they were awesome, even though they did have to be frozen for two weeks when we had to reschedule the party from its original date. 

I took golf tees and tied the balloons to them before pushing them into the ground.

 Happy birthday, little man! I hope you had as much fun as your Dad and I did this first year and that you loved celebrating it with everyone (you did seem to really love the cake). I had a blast planning this for you and getting to celebrate at the party with you. Can't wait to see what the next year brings! Love, Mommy

Declan and his smash cake.

Declan's chair from Nanny and Pappy.