Luke's First Birthday

My little man turned one in August (I'm behind I know - better late than never right?).  I always try and throw a nice little party to celebrate my kids' first birthdays...and to celebrate Joe and I surviving that first year! ;)

My theme was simply 'One' - I did the same thing for Hannah's First Birthday - and I used the colors blue and green. Simple and easy.

We've been in our house a little over a year now, and we love having a space (the garage) to use for parties. We used to have parties at a local park, and it was a pain driving things back and forth.  The garage isn't the perfect backdrop but it works great and is perfect during nice weather. 

Simple banner made, of course, with my Silhouette.  Love the chevron paper! 

Sorry for the awful photo - the lighting in the garage is awful. 

I made a banner with photos of him month by month. I just mounted them on cardstock and used the same patterned paper as above to accent on the sides. We took his photo in a white onesie with monthly stickers in his 'Lucas' chair from Pottery Barn (LOVE those). There may have been a few tears shed while I made this - I had forgotten how fast they change!  

I saw this idea for a chalkboard type poster on Pinterest (search 'First Birthday Chalk Sign') and took it and made it my own. I picked up the huge frame at Hobby Lobby for 9.99 on clearance (again - I love my clearance finds!). One of the posts on Pinterest mentioned that you could print in black and white for just a couple dollars at Staples (it is called an Engineering Print).  I opted to do that instead of making some of it in color and paying an outrageous price to get it printed.  I think the board is 40x32.  I also could have drawn all that on there with regular chalk or a chalk pen, but let's just say I'm not that patient. ;)

I also used the frame for his one-year photos.  Isn't he cute?!

I had a lady in town make his the cake and smash cake. I would have normally tried to make it myself, but my high school class reunion was that weekend as well and things were a little hectic.

I made the party hat above with my patterned paper, a pom-pom and some ric-rac, but he refused to wear it (shocker) so I just sat it on the table.

He wasn't sure what to do with it at first.  

He wouldn't dive into the smash cake so I gave him a fork...

Even then he still wasn't sure...

He ate a little, but mostly just played with the fork. 

I don't think he really knew what was going on as we opened up his presents. Big Sis was there to guide him of course. ;)

Though he did seem excited about these cars. :)

I think everyone enjoyed themselves. The weather was gorgeous.

Can't believe my little guy is ONE! 

Here's a pic of him later on that night when he finally dove into the cake. What a goober!

I love party planning!  Have you hosted any great parties?!