It's a Garden Party One-derland

So life happened, and happened again (along with starting an intense full-time job, home remodel projects, my computer crashing last year, becoming pregnant with our 2nd child, and saying sayonara to said job), and here I am just now recovering some of my old photos and looking through them for the first time and decided, what better time to make a 1st birthday party post than 2 weeks before my daughter's 2nd birthday! (Ha!) "Better late than never," is my motto these days...

Since I am a huge floral boho fan, and I still had tons of our old wedding decor that was just sitting in the attic collecting dust, I decided to put some of it to work one more time before completely retiring it. I'm all about recycling, reusing, and repurposing items around the house!

Also, I figured this 1st birthday would probably be the only birthday I would have a say in as to what it would look like and what the theme would be. After this I'm sure she will have an opinion and mind of her own, so I took advantage of this birthday since the 1st birthday is really a celebration for adults anyway and a cheers to all of us surviving the 1st year!

Our theme for her birthday was Garden Party ONE-derland (which was the easiest way for me to tie in all the beautiful flowers and garden theme). It was also a fun way for me to use one of my favorite decorating colors, rose gold! I loved these rose gold "ONE" Balloons. (Also check out the cursive option "one" Balloons if that's more your style.)

Using my Silhouette Cameo machine, I made all sorts of fun signage including the signs for the cakes and cookies as well as this sign to our house for the party. I actually repurposed this sign from our wedding shower and just painted over it again with Black Chalkboard Paint and then used the Silhouette Cameo machine to make the letters.

Of course I made sure the flowers were blooming in front of our home (the ferns are a different story...). We actually just had our house painted white (it was red brick before) and the steps painted with a German Smear style. They literally got done painting the night before for the party, so I was relieved we wouldn't have a half-painted house for the party!

For her "Year of Firsts", I carried the garden party theme throughout by making a rose gold banner with floral letters (made with Silhouette Cameo machine) and hung more eucalyptus garland (from Hobby Lobby). I used fishing line and mini clothespins to hang the pictures of her many "first" memories and moments.

For a close up of the garden/floral letters I made... The options are endless of things to make and projects to create!

Sidenote and quick tangent, my Silhouette Cameo was a Mother's Day gift for me and is probably the BEST gift I've ever received as I have made countless mama t-shirts for my friends and myself, onesies for the kids, vinyl'd wine glasses and thermos bottles, birthday decor and signage, and so many other fun projects with it. The machine paid for itself the first month of me using it! This Silhouette Cameo Starter Set Bundle comes with all the tools you'll need, vinyl, t-shirt vinyl, transfer paper, and more! I couldn't recommend it more for all you crafty mamas!

Back to the party! The dessert table was where I focused most of my time and decor as it set the stage for the party theme. And what birthday party doesn't have cake?!

I pulled out our lighted eucalyptus garland from our Christmas stash as it created a nice frame and ambience for the table. The white wooden crates and cake stands came from HomeGoods, but I found a cute set of 3 Rustic Wooden Crates that I like even more and bonus, are less expensive too! I love using crates and Cake Stands to create height and interest to a table.

The silver mercury glass vases, blush pink painted mason jars, rose gold frames, and mini easels were items from our old wedding decor, but you could recreate a similar look with Blush Chalk Paint painted on the mason jars. Fill your mason jars with hydrangeas for a classic farmhouse look. Add some faux Eucalyptus Stems to a White Pitcher to add some height and color to the table.

I wish I could take credit for these gorgeous cookies, but cookie art is not my forté. Paisley's Sweet Treats is a very talented bakery that made these adorable cookies for her party. They tasted as good as they looked!

I couldn't decide between a few designs so had her make a couple different options!

I also had Emmy's Sweets make 3 semi-naked cakes (and a smash cake) along with these pretty cookies too because you can never have too many beautiful and delicious floral sugar cookies around the house!

Ok now my mouth is watering and craving some sugar cookies! I might as well keep rolling with the dessert table... For the flavors, I had chocolate, vanilla, and carrot cake as well as regular and gluten-free sugar cookies for my friends with celiac.

The pasty chef created 3 gorgeous semi-naked cakes which I then decorated with flowers from Trader Joe's. They have THE BEST florals and greenery and at a fraction of the cost of many flower shops. I had so much fun picking out a variety of blooms and of course had to include my go-to favorite eucalyptus!

I think in another world I would be a florist as I had so much fun selecting the flowers and arranging them on the cakes and in the vases! Loved how this semi-naked cake turned out with Pink Candy Melts dripping from the edges!

One last cake picture, because a girl can have her cake and eat it too, right?! I repurposed these signs and easels from our wedding. I just spray painted the frames with Rose Gold Spray Paint and used Rose Gold Craft Vinyl for the cake signs.

For our beverage station, we had Adult Sangria, fruit infused water, and lemonade for the kiddos. We have used these elegant Pottery Barn Glass Drink Dispensers for many occasions and get togethers and also have the Galvanized Stands for a fun rustic look..

For the guest of honor's cake eating throne, I found an old wooden high chair on Facebook Marketplace for $20 and painted it white.

The tutu I made for her 1 Year Photo Session (photos and tutorial at the end of post) doubled as the decor for her cake smash high chair at the party as I just stretched it to fit onto the sides of the chair. I added this "ONE" banner I made (again with my Silhouette Cameo machine). Adding a few Rose Gold Balloons completed this setup. Note: Next time shake up confetti balloons before taking pictures so you can actually see the confetti. :)

As you can tell, she seemed to enjoy her cake and even shared some with Dada! If you wondering where the other half of the cake went, we had a few late coming guests that preferred vanilla cake, so since the other vanilla cake was already eaten, we dove into her smash cake. (She'll never know or remember!)

I originally had intentions of making a similar Balloon Arch and put my Electric Balloon Air Pump to use, but sometimes I get a little over ambitious, as was the case with my arch as I ran out of time.

I also wanted to have a fun little display of her monthly photos so I repurposed and repainted this old wooden geometric shelf along with these $1 Store frames I repainted to display her monthly photos. I tied them into the theme with the "Blooming Through the Year" sign.

For the munchies, I went with a lot of my go-to staples that I knew I could make ahead of time quickly and easily as well as a few store-bought items. Of course I had to include kid-friendly items as well since after all, this was a 1st birthday and kiddos would be some of the main guests! The menu included fruit and veggie trays, sliced watermelon, 7 layer taco dip, tortilla wraps (find the recipe HERE or buy them at Costco), chips & salsa, mango salsa, Kappa chicken salad with croissants, pasta salad, chex mix, and homemade chocolate croissants! More recipes coming soon!

I ran out of time to take decent shots of the food before the guests started arriving (I never plan enough time!) but I took a few quick photos.

If you're looking for a fantastic birthday present for a child 1-5 years old, this KidKraft Ultimate Kitchen Set was a sure hit with our little one, from her Great Grams. We wrapped it in a $1 store pink tablecloth with a large pink pow. A year later, it still is her favorite and most used gift and has many more wonderful years left in it!

I still can't believe this was a year ago! Time sure does fly with little ones!

Since I also do photography, of course I had to set up a little mini photo studio in my kitchen to capture her official cake smash session.

I used the same ribbon, tulle, and fabric that I used for making her tutu to make the backdrop. I reused the banners, crate, decor, and flowers from her birthday party.

Let's just say it is much harder to be the photographer when you are also "mama"... Even though it looks like I got some great shots, it took WAY more work than I've ever had to do before for a cake smash session as most of the time was spent peeling her from my leg and sitting her back in the photo area as for some reason she just didn't want to stay in place and eat her cake! After trying out a variety of tricks up my sleeve and coercion, we finally got her to stay and try the cake, which she ended up liking! Here are a few of my favorite photos from her cake smash session.

And just for fun, I had to include a few more pictures of her 1st Birthday Photo Session I took on our beach trip. Unfortunately she had a very bad cold and was in no mood for photos, but after creating her shirt on the Silhouette Cameo machine the night before we left for the beach, making her tutu on the way to the beach, and bringing her Whale Bubble Machine all the way to the beach, I gave her 0 options for backing out at this point. I was already committed so had to get at least 1 shot. So on the last night of our trip, I managed to take a few photos of our little 1st birthday princess.

To make the tutu (or photo backdrop), just buy a few rolls of ribbon along with some pieces of coordinating fabric and Tulle. For the tutu, cut the fabric and Tulle at 18-24" long, then cut them into 2" wide strips. For the backdrop, the longer the better. For the tutu, buy an Elastic Crocheted Headband and tie the ribbon, tulle, and fabric strips in a knot through the holes of the headband. Alternate fabrics, tulle, and ribbon as you work your way around the headband. I made 3 layers of fabric and ribbon to make it extra full.

And that's a wrap! Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed Everley's 1st birthday party and photos! We sure had fun! Check out more party ideas, themes, inspiration, kids' games, and more on the Souly for the Party page!