1-year-old buggy birthday bash

The morning before my daughter's birthday party I had nothing ready. Sure, invites were sent out, but my "bug" theme was looking more like a non-theme, and I was beginning to peg it as my ghetto fabulous party. But alas, my mom showed up and saved the day.

Photos by Forever Bliss Photography

When I had went Dollar Tree shopping with my husband earlier in the week he rushed me the whole way through the store and asked why kids needed goodie bags anyway. Needless to say he just didn't get it. Luckily, my mom has 5 kids and dozens of birthday parties under her belt, so she knows how it goes and helped me get everything we needed. THANK YOU MOM!

My mom

Here's the invite for my party courtesy of April Showers. She's getting into party design and she designed some buggy decor to use at the party as well as Lil' J's party banner. THANKS APRIL!

So, the Dollar Tree was selling bug catchers and we picked up a bunch of those to use as goodie bags. We filled them with water guns, animal crackers, little snake toys for boys and butterfly hair clippies for the girls. We also added balloons, playdough and bubbles.

We got napkins, tablecloths and plates at the dollar store too.

We ordered 25 plain cupcakes from the grocery store, and my sisters and I decorated the cupcakes ourselves. My sisters were a LIFE SAFER! It's crazy how growing up we seemed so far apart in age, but now we can all hold adultish conversations and enjoy each others company. It was kinda nice to be a big sister boss them around again like the good old days. haha.

We made the cupcakes look like pink ladybugs, bumble bees, frogs (which eat bugs), and flowers. They were a lifesaver too because I wouldn't have been able to decorate them all in time.

I did make Lil' J's big ladybug cake. I tried to make a double layer but for some reason I couldn't get the layers to stack right. I need to practice baking more or something. Or maybe I was suppose to chop off part of the cake so it could sit flat. I dunno. It didn't matter because she didn't come close to eating most of it.

One of Lil' J's BFFs

Table decor by Aprils Showers

The party itself got off to a slightly awkward start because Lil' J was napping when we left. I told my husband to bring her in a little while and that my family and I would go set up the decorations. Well, she showed up about a half hour into her party. Luckily we had lots and lots of food to keep people entertained.

Photography by Forever Bliss

That stressed me out a little, and people joked about the party girl being fashionably late, but in the end everything worked out. She arrived and we all made our way to the splash pad, which Lil' J loved. At first I think she was like "what the heck is this?" But then she warmed up to the idea and played in the water. We also had a playground next to our pavilion so she got to swing in the swings. Another one of her favorite things aside from water.

My photographer, Tara and her hubby

I didn't have to work about taking pictures, I was able to just enjoy the party thanks to Tara who handled all of the photographs. THANKS TARA! 

When everyone seemed to have had a good time in the water and I noticed people heading back to our pavilion I figured it was about time for dessert. Everyone gathered around and got ready to sing. We put the candle in the cake and we attempted to light it, but it was windy so it wouldn't stay lit.

My poor husband went through what seemed like half a box of matches when finally he got it lit, but when he blew out the match he also blew out the candle. After a few more tries we decided it was ok that she  didn't have a lit candle since she couldn't blow it out anyway. 

We sang and clapped, and she stared at her cake wondering what the heck it was, but once she got a tiny taste she was all about it.

This was her first taste of cake but she seemed to like it. Actually, she liked all the food we had, especially the grapes. Like her mama, that's her favorite food right now.

I made sure everyone got a cupcake and a goodie bag, and we took some more pictures of friends. We had a great turnout of so many friends and I was so happy to see everyone there. Having my mom, sisters and dad in town made me realize how nice it is to have family on hand. I missed them the moment they left.

My dad and three sisters

My mom took her presents to the car and we opened most of them at home. Except the one from my dad, so he could see her open up her box of cute clothes. She got adorable things from a Mr. Potato, to a homemade wooden box of puzzle toys, to books and purses and swimsuits, she loves it all.

After everyone left we went back in the splash pad and she had so much more fun than the first time. She begged me to put her down and crawled and splashed around. She grabbed at the water and laughed and snorted. It's probably one of her happiest moments to date.

I survived my first birthday party! If I've learned anything it's to start earlier to avoid last minute stressing. I think I'll start planning her second party in November!

Here's some more photos from the party...

Baby friends!

Not hers, but I couldn't keep her out of it. We may have to get her one.

More friends!

More baby friends!

Now we're off to Utah for EVO 2011 and a little vacation. Happy 4th of July!