You know how they say that a first birthday party isn’t really for the baby, it’s for the parents? Yeah, that’s one true statement. We had Canaan’s first birthday party a couple weeks ago. It featured about the least “kid-like” food ever and most of the time was spent with the adults playing cornhole, ping-pong or chatting by the firepit. But you know what, the kids had a great time too! Want to throw your own Wild One a fun party? Here’s what we did. Go ahead, steal our ideas… We actually kind of love it. Including this cake smash bowtie & suspenders outfit.
Invites
We sent these invites about 3-4 weeks before the party (I’m a sucker for a good rhyme). As we approached the big day, I looked around at our overflowing toy bin, the toys I had stored away for the next stage, the pile of books in his closet (because we have 3x more than will fit on his book shelves) and the complete wardrobe of clothes he has in the next couple sizes (most of which he will probably never even wear…oops). We have so much!
And then I thought about how I feel before I go to a child’s birthday party. Running around to Target or a toy store (usually the morning of) trying to find something (ANYTHING) that this kid might (maybe) like because I don’t want to show up empty handed. I’m going to assume the majority of those gifts get stashed in a closet somewhere or (if I’ve really hit the nail on the head and picked something both the parent and the child actually like) maybe it gets 2 months of play and enjoyment.
It seems like there could be something better I could spend my money on for them (especially since my kid’s current favorite toys are the recycling bin and the outlet protectors we accidentally leave on the floor and never remember to put back in the outlets after we plug in our computers. Oops). So along with the invite, we sent a little note asking for guests to just bring themselves. Ideally, guests would be free from the thought and financial burden of having to gift us anything. But I know some people LOVE gift giving, and of course, if they really, really wanted to bring a gift, we won’t turn that away. But the best use of their hard-earned money would be a contribution to his college fund. Of course, we welcome all gifts – I don’t want to deprive any of our gifts-love-language friends and family of the joy of gifting something special to someone they love. But at the same time I wanted to save people the headache if they were like me and always fell into the same last-minute, Target-aisle running, grab any toy that looks age appropriate trap. Here is what we sent:
[pdf-embedder url=”http://buildingourrez.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/wild-one-template.pdf” title=”wild one fillable invite template”]
Feel free to download and use the invite template along with the “boy” or “gal” version of the no gifts / college fund poem card printable! If you like and want to use the fonts we used, you may need to download them to customize the fillable PDF. Here they are:
- SUNDAY font is free.
- Amatic SC is an open license Google font:
- Bellamy font is for sale on Creative Market:
Powered by Creative Market
Activities
For Canaan’s first birthday party, we kept the activities pretty simple. Since we asked for no gifts on the invite, we didn’t want to make a big deal of opening gifts at the party (we did that afterwards when everyone except the grandparents peaced out), but we did want to celebrate our little man. We sang happy birthday while he smashed his cake (and the plate…oops…mom fail) and had time capsule box (shoebox wrapped in wrapping paper) set-up for people to leave notes for 18-year old Canaan.
Those were the only real “activities”. Other than that, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and set up ping-pong and cornhole outside and lit a fire in our firepit.
Food
S’more bites (can be prepped the day before).
Crush graham crackers in your food processor or in a ziplock bag. Melt 1 c. chocolate chips in the microwave (stir every 30 seconds until melted). Dip each marshmallow in the chocolate, then sprinkle with the graham cracker crumbs and place on a sheet of wax paper to dry before storing or serving.
4 types of cheesecake cups: Nutella & Coconut, Strawberries & White Chocolate, Mexican Mocha, Salted Caramel (can be prepped 1-2 days ahead of time). You can find the little 5 ounce cheesecake cups we used here.
Mixed berries & Austin’s homemade greek yogurt.
Chocolate banana cake with peanut butter frosting (cake can be baked the day before and frosted the morning of the party).
Smash cake: a smaller, half sugar version of the larger cake with “frosting” of just peanut butter and yogurt.
Southwestern egg bake with salsa & cilantro sour cream (prep the egg bake the day before. Mix the cilantro sour cream a day or two ahead of time).
4 types of sandwiches: goat cheese, honey & pecan; herbed egg salad; smoked pimento cheese & bacon; peanut butter & honey for the kiddos (fillings for all sandwiches can be prepped ahead of time, then just assemble and cut sandwiches an hour or so before the party).
Caprese pasta salad (can be made the day before).
Boil 1 box whole wheat pasta until al dente. Drain and rinse the pasta to cool it and wash off some of the starch. Halve or quarter 8 oz cherry / grape tomatoes, chop an 8 oz block of mozzarella into ½-1 in cubes and add the tomatoes, mozzarella and some of your favorite pesto until you like the sauce ratio.
Popcorn bar: You can use microwave popcorn if you like. We popped ours in our beloved air popper so that it would be plain and guests could add and all sorts of toppings: a mister of olive oil, chocolate chips, sprinkles, sea salt and cracked pepper, Italian herb, parmesan cheese.
Drink Menu
Iced Coffee bar (all syrups and cold brew can be made 1-2 days ahead of time)
Cold brew iced coffee, salted caramel sauce, lavender-honey syrup, simple syrup, peppermint syrup, brown sugar & spice syrup, milk and coconut milk. You can find the glass bottles we use for syrups here.
Mocktail Bar
Tonic water, iced tea, fresh squeezed orange juice, lime-mint “mojito” juice, fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice (squeeze oranges, grapefruits and limes a couple days ahead of time and store the juices in the fridge until it’s party time).
Toppings: jalapenos, ginger, rosemary, mint (grate ginger and chop herbs and jalapenos the day before. Store in a container in the fridge).
Decor
Treats for the tribe banner (tutorial coming soon).
One wild year banner (tutorial coming soon).
Fabric banner (tutorial coming soon).
Mini-fabric banner on his high chair.
“From the garden” sign. Canaan loves to be outside and one of his all time favorite things is helping water our garden and pick the herbs and veggies. We used so many herbs and veggies from our garden in the food for the party, so we wanted to let label it to let everyone know that Canaan “helped” with each of those specific food items. We placed these little signs next to everything that involved “Canaan’s” veggies and herbs. Little personalizations like this are a great way to give a nod to your kiddo’s personality/interests without going overboard on a crazy theme.
Time capsule station – wrap a shoe box in wrapping paper and include a sign with directions, a stack of papers, pens, markers or whatever art supplies you like. We asked guests to leave a note for Canaan to open when he turns 18. *cue all the feels*
Of course I put so much into the food every time I throw a party/baby shower/bridal shower, I rarely have time to think about the decor. This is where it pays to have crazy talented friends. One of my besties is basically a professional party decorator. When I say I created none of the decor for this party, I’m not exaggerating. She made it all look so intentional and was at my house 3 days in a row before the party helping with everything from decor-making to cooking to wrangling her kiddo and mine while I worked – that’s a true friend.
Party Prep Tips
My focus at parties is always, always on the food. I love creating a menu that makes mouths water and bringing family and friends together over a meal. Here are my tips for a stress-free day-of even with a complex menu:
- Create your menu around most things being able to be prepped a day or two ahead of time and then just heated up or served straight from the fridge. I promise, that will make your life 10x easier on the day of the party.
- Pull out your serving bowls/platters/utensils, make a post-in note for each food item and layout your table the day beforehand. This will help you easily know where everything should go and make sure you have enough serving items. Then you can have a friend bring something the morning of the party if you need to borrow a bowl or serving spoon.
- If you have a dishwasher, make sure it is run a few hours before the party and delegate someone else to clean it out a before the party starts. Then as you have extra dishes when you’re prepping, you can stash them in the dishwasher (even if they’re not dishwashable) until after the party to keep your kitchen looking clean.
- I always try to have little name plates labeling each food item. It saves a LOT of side conversations of people asking what things are. I cut white index cards in half. Then fold each piece in half to create a little label that sits on the table, write one for each food item.
I already mentioned my amazing friend who basically did all my decor for me. One of my other talented friends has the most beautiful handwriting and calligraphy, so I tasked her with writing labels for the food. And she turned our DIY drink bar into literal art. We had some of my family in town and staying with us for the birthday, so I gave them cleaning tasks.
Moral of the story: let people help you. You can plan the party, but don’t be afraid to delegate to wiling friends / family. It will make your life 10,000 times easier, and they will get to be an essential part of creating a special day!
Cake: dominated.
