Claire's 1st Birthday: Part 2

Claire's 1st Birthday: Cupcakes and Care Bears

Claire's birthday party was SO much fun. Claire will never tell me that she loved the decorations (unless she looks back at the pictures at a much later date), but I had a blast decorating and prepping for this momentous birthday. I tried not to get too carried away, but this was my first birthday planning/decorating attempt. I don't have much experience with planning/preparing parties, so this was a good experience.

First birthdays are without a doubt more for the parents (mostly mommy in our case) and family than the baby/toddler. However, I had so much fun planning for and setting this party up. I almost wish I had invited more people to see it--although that would have defeated the purpose of a small, intimate, family only party. Here are some pics of the decor:
 

Cupcake buffet (pre-arrival of cupcakes)

My dad had knee surgery last week and the hydrangeas were actually a gift to him, but they went with the decor and were too lovely not to use. (I love hydrangeas). The Care Bears are actually toys from my childhood -- my mom has saved a ton of our old toys in the hopes that one day she can have all the grand kids over to her house to stay/play.

I justified the purchase of these paper lanterns (Hobby Lobby) for the party because I plan to use them in Claire's room. They were too cute and I am glad that I was able to talk myself into purchasing them.

Claire may have received one or two gifts. (She lives near both sets of Grandparents and is the first grand baby on either side of the family--spoiled much?!?!?) I splurged on a helium tank and even though it was definitely an unnecessary extravagance I had a lot of fun with the helium balloons--Claire really liked swatting at them too.

I have been taking a monthly picture of Claire since she was born. I hung the monthly pics up with some mini-paperclips, on a length of ribbon, and used some sparkly letters from Hobby Lobby to make this garland--it was one of my favorite decorations.

The "1" was an idea I got off of Pinterest--and I was pretty pleased with the result--definitely a cute idea if you have the time/energy to make it. (Just some foam board, hot glue, and cupcake liners)

We call Claire our little Claire Bear, so the theme of Care Bears and Cupcakes was pretty fitting. I also found this idea for Care Bear cupcakes on Pinterest (I am obsessed with Pinterest) and a local bakery happily obliged. I love how the cupcakes turned out, and they were delicious.

The big, one-year-old birthday girl. She was striking poses for the camera like crazy. I tried to recreate the Care Bears theme on her overalls with some felt. Here are some pics of our little Claire Bear in her cute birthday overalls:

Claire got excited about pulling the tissue paper out of some of the bags, but I ended up opening most of her presents -- she kept getting distracted by the toys and people. She did play with almost everything for at least five seconds each though.

The cute "Birthday Princess" tutu was a gift from Claire's Aunt Ashley.

Rocking chair courtesy of the Malones.

I think my favorite part of the party was cake time. Claire was not sure about her cake for about two milliseconds. Then she dug right in. She thought it was delicious and probably ate a good 3/4 of the cake. She personally got deliciously messy, but there wasn't much mess anywhere else. It was a lot of fun. Here are the pics of her digging into the cake (the smash cake was strawberry -- I made it at home):

I think everyone had a great time and I am so glad we got to celebrate our sweet little girl with our family. I have a lot of family/friends who are struggling with fertility and/or sick babies --it makes me so, so thankful for a happy, healthy baby. I thank God everyday for our precious blessing.