A rainbow-themed first birthday party!

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Yesterday was a long-anticipated day for our family- our son’s first birthday party! Marking the end of our first year as parents, we felt, needed to be done right. So months ago I set out searching pinterest for  ideas. Pinterest and I quickly developed a love-hate relationship, as I could not say no to all any of the cute decor and food ideas, but I felt completely in over my head. Luckily, with my trusty excel spreadsheet (along with some very helpful friends and family members) we made it, and I couldn’t have hoped for it to come together any better. Of course, the people who were there to celebrate with us were really the ones who made the day special. But I loved the liveliness that the food and decorations brought.

If you can’t tell from the pictures, we had a rainbow theme going.
Here is the banner I made with little man’s monthly photos. This is what people saw when they first walked in. 
Favors! 
 
I made rainbow-colored tissue paper pom poms that were hung around the house. The idea for the pom poms came from this pin. 
The spread of food. All made by my mom and me. 
Rainbow fruit kebabs. The idea was from this pin.
Little man’s smash cake. I realized later that I took a picture with the “1” backwards. Whoops!
 
Birthday cake for everyone else. Looks like a plain white cake, but just you wait…
Cupcakes, made by a sweet friend, because I was nervous that the “guest” cake wouldn’t be enough for 40 people. It was…
All the desserts together. I also made fromage blanc (the white yogurt-like stuff in the bowl). That’ll be it’s own post someday soon. 
Smash cake time!
Unsure about this “cake” thing…
You might recognize the onesie little man is wearing from my post about it. I painted the design with freezer paper stenciling. The rainbow was super time intensive, but I’m really happy with how it looked!It was finally time for cake for everyone else…

My very first rainbow cake!! I was nervous about it, but I actually pulled it off! The effect was so vibrant and beautiful. I loved it. The recipe is from Whisk Kid, who’s now-famous rainbow cake recipe is on Martha Stewart! 

In case you’re concerned about the waste involved in making the tissue paper pom poms, I already posted them on freecycle and someone is picking them up on Monday for their daughter’s birthday party. I love that someone else will enjoy them! Also, if you’re wondering about the cost of that much tissue paper, I got most of it at the dollar store. I think we spent a total of $10 on tissue paper. Not too shabby. 

AND, in much more exciting news than tissue paper prices, little man took his first steps after the birthday party! His 10 month old friend came back over after her nap to keep the party going. She surprised us all and took her first steps! I guess little man decided he didn’t want to be shown up by his younger friend, so he followed suit soon after. He really is growing up!

10 thoughts on “A rainbow-themed first birthday party!”

  6. Julie

    Sure thing! I used fishing wire and masking tape to hang them to the ceiling. It worked *okay* but wasn't perfect. We set up all the decorations the night before, but many of the pom poms had fallen by the morning. They mostly stayed up for the party, though, and left no marks on the ceiling. So I guess it was a success. If you think of a better way of hanging them, let me know!

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  9. Julie

    I cut two little slits in each card and strung it all together with ribbon. I used an X-Acto knife to cut the slits and used the first one I did as my “pattern” just to make sure the slits were all at the same height.

    Thanks for visiting!

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  10. Pingback: The making of a rainbow cake | Seed Sowing Mama

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