Sunday, July 29, 2012

Party People

So, are you ready for the longest post ever?  I hope so, because this is going to be a doozy!  The party is over and I can now breathe a huge sigh of relief.  I know that I always make a much bigger deal out of things than they need to be and you'd think I'd learn and stop the madness, but sadly I never do.  I did it again for Kiki's party and I could just kick myself now.  I decided in my mind that I went all out for her first birthday and now I never again have to do another party for her for the rest of her life...just kidding.   

I took a lot of pictures, but they really didn't turn out too well.  The lighting wasn't favorable and many of the shots I intended on getting didn't happen because I was preoccupied with other things.  Oh, well. Here's how it all went down...

The Food

We decided to keep it simple with our food for the party.  I forgot to get a picture of it, but we went with Haystacks (or as I called them as a kid, barnyards).  For those of you who have no idea what haystacks are, to put it simply it's like a do-it-yourself taco salad.  Ours included a buffet of chips (fritos and tortilla), black beans, rice, crumbles (vegetarian ground beef), lettuce, tomatoes, olives, onions, cheese, fresh salsa, guacamole, sour cream and ranch dressing.  We love haystacks in our house because you can make them just how you like them.  They were yummy and I ate probably the biggest haystack ever. 

I really went overboard on the party sweets.  I don't know what I was thinking, but everything looked so good and I couldn't choose just one thing.  So we had Mandarin Orange Cake, Chocolate Cupcakes with vanilla or chocolate icing, Maria's AMAZING sugar cookies, rock candy and lollipops.   




The Punch

I got the recipe for the punch I made from Pinterest and it was very yummy.  If you are looking for an easy, yet tasty punch, this is it.  All you need is one can of frozen pina colada concentrate (thawed), one can of frozen orange pineapple juice concentrate (thawed), 4 liters of sprite or 7-up, 1 bag of frozen raspberries, and a bag of pebble ice.  It really was great.


The Decor 

I know I've said it throughout the last few weeks, but I had a blast making the decor.  Crafting is my love language.  Kind of my way of showing the girls how special I think they are, so every little project had a lot of love behind it.  Here's where the pictures were a little dark, but you can get the gist, I hope. 

The Sweets Table 
 The Drink Station...I forgot to get a picture of this before the party, but we used the little mason jars.  I just loved them.  
The Presents
A little banner 
Really horrible picture, but you can see the doily garland and the favor table.
The favors up close.  They weren't much...just mason jars filled with a lollipop, stickers, markers and fruit snacks.  
The kiddos enjoying the spread.

The Guests

What makes a party, but the people, and we had a great group.  I thought we were keeping it small and cozy by only inviting 3 families, but that turned out to be 18 people!  I was so glad that everyone could make it.  Kiki felt very special.  



The Birthday Girl

The birthday girl had so much fun.  She loved eating a cupcake and opening presents.  She's so full of personality and I just loved seeing her eyes light up.  



 First taste of cupcake!
 I think she liked it. 
 Her hair was caked, with...cake.
Getting ready for a bath time intermission.
All clean and ready for more fun
She LOVES her sissy's horsey 
Opening presents!  
Everyone wanted in on the action
All tuckered out after the party!

So, that was the party in a nutshell.  It was tons of fun and I'm so glad we got to celebrate our little sweetie.  She doesn't turn one until Friday, so I have a few days to mentally prep myself for that.  Where does the time go?! 

1 comment:

Anca said...

You did AMAZING, Stephanie! Just gorgeous. Good job.