Charley’s First Birthday Party!
A few months before Charley’s second birthday sounds like the PERFECT time to tell y’all more about her first birthday party, I’m so on top of things, I know!
If you know me know you know I live for party planning. I grew up in a family that regularly catered large events. My Dad was in the kitchen, and my mom did flowers and decor. I look back fondly at those times even though I’m sure I wasn’t so grateful for the experiences while they were happening! It was hard work but it taught me so much! I developed a huge appreciation for the behind the scenes work, from the big picture aesthetic design to the tiny little details like when and where to use a toothpick with a frill! All of that lead me to loving throwing parties but only for fun, never wanted to do it professional .
Well, it all starts with finding out Charley was going to be born in June! A June birthday in Mississippi means, no football schedules to deal with, no school, the heat hasn’t quite fired on all cylinders yet and it’s the tail end of crawfish season! So we knew we wanted to have a crawfish boil at our house for this baby’s first birthday, and I knew it was going to be a tad bit over the top, but thats who I am and thats oaky!
Fast forward to December when I was struck with inspiration buy these amazing napkins by Sugar and Cloth! The sweet pastels with the pop of red and the little gold detail, I knew it would be perfect for Charleys crawfish boil birthday party!
Selecting a color pallet is always one of the first things I do when planning a party. If you get that done you just pull from there and you are good to go! Since I had my handy little napkin I could take my color pallet with me everywhere!
Using this pallet I was able to add the colors in various patterns and applications! The colors all came together in the ballon arch, the crepe paper tent decorations and the napkins. Those three items brought the whole outdoor space together so I didn’t have to be so nit picky with finding the colors in the plate or making sure the were all there, because let me tell you, those colors were everywhere!
For paper goods I just used a combinations of colors from the napkins I mentioned earlier. Not all are available but here are several that would look great! I love layering a easy disposable paper cloth on top of your traditional white table linen, it adds some color without having to deal with storing all kinds of table linens
One of my favorite details from the party was her monthly picture chart! We took apart one of our frames from HighlandHardware then had the photos printed out in a square format (we used Artifact Uprising, but there are several options available online). Then with a little chalk pen and washi tape, we were in business!
Flowers by my amazing Momma
Cake by Kristen Mullen
Adorable birthday crown by Hi Yall! Art
Balloon Garland:
The best advice I can give you is to invest in a machine that blows them up, watch some videos and purchase a kit from Etsy! They will send the ballon tape, a tool to help you tie them, and can customize the colors and vary the sizes so you can get a really nice full look.
The crawfish and the giant Charley head and the crawfish were big hits, we didn’t try and boil the crawfish this time, instead we used a reputable local vendor and picked it up in a cooler! Here are some of my favorite things to have on hand for a crawfish boil.
Reusable paper towels are a bit of a splurges, but being able to use one or two instead of half a roll is worth it to me!
The cardboard trays are perfect for a situation where you have to eat crawfish in your lap.
These towelettes might come off little fancy but I’m telling you, pop these bad boys in in the cooler and offer them to your guest after a few pounds of spice crawfish and, you will be their favorite person.
I love these simple pop up garbage bags, they look nice, hold a lot and you just tie them up and throw them in your trash can when the day is done they come in two sizes.
Thank y’all for coming down memory lane with me, this was one of the best days ever and I wish we could do it every weekend! I hope you found some inspiration for your next get together!
