Zoe's 1st Birthday - A Red & Aqua Birthday Party

Zoe turned one on February 16th.  If you are a parent, I know I don't have to tell you how fast that first year went by.  Man, what is it about having kids that makes time move at warp speed??

We went all out for girlie's first party.  We began planning the party about 6 months ahead of time.  Her Daddy was in charge of location, and I was in charge with decorations, of course!  We rented out a local restaurant that is, thankfully, closed on Saturdays, and treated our guests to lunch.  

I'd decided early on that I wanted a red and aqua theme because that's what I did for the nursery.  (I've joked with people that Zoe is destined for a life of red or Valentine-themed birthday parties.  I'm pretty sure she'll grow up hating the color, red.)  I started a board to collect some ideas, and got busy pinning.  

Since the bulk of our funds would be spent at the venue, I tried to make what decorations I could, and scrimp where I could.  I got some great stuff from the Target Dollar Spot since they were full of Valentine's Day stuff.  I also got some additional Valentine's Day party stuff from Party City.  Here's a rundown of what I ended up making.  I made the ribbon topiaries, the smash cake stand that you can't really see in this photo, the smash cake bunting, the wall bunting, the highchair skirt & Zoe's birthday pants.  Charles made the main cupcake stand using some stuff I got from Hobby Lobby.  I'll be doing a post on the smash cake stand, cake bunting and cupcake stand soon.

My neighbor, who is an excellent baker, made the cupcakes and the awesome 3-layer smash cake.  She did an wonderful job, and I couldn't have been happier with the way they turned out!  The color difference here is due to  the bad lighting in the section where we set up the dessert table.  Everything was spot on and matchy-matchy!

    Here's the birthday girl, amazed by her cake.

Here's the highchair skirt.

A close-up of a ribbon topiary.

 A close-up of the birthday pants.

Sources:
Birthday hat and bib are from Dainty Couture at Etsy.

Red metal cupcake stands are from Target's Valentine's Day collection.

Highchair skirt was made from this tutorial.

Ribbon topiaries were made from this tutorial.

Pattern for birthday pants is from Viola Lee at Etsy.

Invitations are from That Party Chick at Etsy.