The Party

Happy Birthday our Sweet Savannah! 

Today is her actual birthday and yesterday was her birthday party.  Wow, you just don't realize how much work, thought and stress goes into your child's 1st birthday party.  I started searching the internet about 2 months ago for ideas for her party.  And I found so many! Too many! I wanted a "theme" but not a cartoon theme because she doesn't have a favorite yet and I wanted to wait till she did so it would be extra fun for her.  So I came across this "Pretty in Pink" theme and I simply fell in love....

          imsure you can see how I fell in love with this.   I knew I wouldn't be able to do everything to this level. I mean let's be honest; this mama is on a budget.  But I still thought that I could recreate a lot of this within my budget.  And now that the party is said and done, I think I did just that.  So I had my theme, then it was onto food.  I knew I wanted a dessert bar and I wanted to make everything myself.  No ordered in pizza, or subs and no hamburgers and hot dogs. We have plenty of years ahead of us for all of that.  I wanted to make the menu special and something adults could enjoy. So my mom and I started looking through cookbooks and came up with a pretty tasty menu.

Go Mom GO!

Now, my plan was to take a bunch of pictures of all the deliciously looking food we made, once it was on the platters and table.  But I waited until the last minute (so everything was fresh) to set it out and with everyone arriving I forgot to take the pictures.  I was so bummed.  It looked beautiful, we bought all these white platters and cake stands to set the food on, so it really turned out just the way I wanted it to.  I can't believe I forgot to take the pictures.  I really wanted to share it with everyone who wasn't there.  BUT I did get a few that I recreated afterwards.  So here we go,  enjoy! 

Welcome!

(yes this picture is here twice, Im having computer issues 

and can't delete it without messing every thing up)

This was a test shot, but ended up being the only picture of her

smash cake in the cake holder that my grandmother bought.  My mom and I made the cake, a two layer cake with homemade vanilla frosting tinted pink. Then I topped it with sprinkles.  I really wanted to try to do the design in the above picture (with the baby) but I didn't have the time (or patience).  I was very happy with it though.

The favors.
Filled with jelly beans, lollipops and a homemade heart shaped sugar cookie decorated with S's or 1's.  I loved these.  However, I intended on putting a #1 cookie along with an S cookie. That didn't happen because the S's didn't turn out and the 1's looked like something else that would only be appropriate for a bachelorette party. So heart shaped it was that I decorated myself.


My favorite part!  Instead of having cake for everyone we made chocolate and yellow cupcakes that I hand piped with vanilla and strawberry frosting. I piped the frosting using a ziplock baggy and cut one of corners.  It worked perfectly.  A few sprinkles and some topped with a cherry.  I ordered the toppers from Etsy; 15 bucks for 12 of them, not too bad. They were absolutely worth it.

Almond Sandwich cookie, my mom found this recipe in a magazine.  They were super easy and with the pink frosting, they were a perfect fit!
No pics of the "food" food. But that turned out great too.  Im so glad that my mom and I made everything ourselves and put our personal touch on it all.  It was stressful but so much fun, I would do it all over again.

Now, it was cake time!

After gifts we went outside and let Savannah and Anthony play on her new swing set for a little while.  Everyone started to leave so my mom and sister stayed and helped clean up.  We finished the lovely champagne punch and talked for a while.  Savannah was absolutely wonderful! She's not used to being around so many people and she did great, no crying no fussing she was just good.  She was completely content and happy until she went to bed.  We couldn't ask for anything more.

So overall, the party was a hit! My ONLY regret was not getting pictures of my food and desserts before they were eaten.  Live and learn.  I think I was able to recreate a lot from the "pretty in pink" party that inspired me above.  

I still can't believe our little girl is ONE!