Marli's 1st Birthday party!

In wanting to make my youngest daughter's first Birthday party special and unique...and of course blog worthy, I channeled my creative side and organized my time wisely.

I started with a pretty clear vision of what I wanted the party "theme" to be.....vintage spring, garden party, airy, pastels, simple.

In order to bring this vision to light, I decided to incorporate some DIY (do it yourself) touches. Which in turn, would be more affordable and also allow for my oldest daughters to help out a bit with the details of their baby sister's party.

Here are some inspiration pictures that helped me get ideas:

This cake by Martha Stewart became my focal point for the party. It's called Lollipop Garden. Love it!



I really liked the idea of using bird nests somehow, bringing the outdoors in. And since we have a few dozen that my oldest daughter has collected, why not combine the cake idea, the glass cake pedestal, and the bird nest as one. HOW??... you may ask. You'll have to wait to see what I came up with.

After Sarah made gorgeous tissue paper flowers for Chloe's christening and Ashley hoped to also make them for Ella's christening, I had to try to make some myself. This was the look I was going for.....but you'll have to wait to see what I came up with.

What first comes to mind when you think of springtime play? For me, we're knee deep in softball season....so baseball and softball come to mind for me. But I also think of all the children's classics such as hopscotch, bubble blowing, pinwheel twirling, and baseball card trading. I kept this in mind when putting together unique goodie bags for children 6 months to 14 years old. A challenge that had me questioning how I was going to put together 15 goodie bags and accomdate every child.. 



My middle daughter, Mia, up to bat at her first softball game this spring


Here's how my vision came to light:

The Cake!!!!

My friend duplicated Martha Stewart's cake but 2-tiered because we had a number of guests. I love how it came out!! I created a cake pedestal by using a short square flower vase placed upside down with a large glass platter on top of it. I put a real birds nest inside the vase to give that out-doorsy feel. Putting this display (minus the cakes) together cost me nothing because I used items that I already had on hand. I was quite happy with the results. I also had my friend make a mini version of the cake for Marli to have fun with.

I also had originally purchased gourmet lollipops from Etsy seller, The Groovy Baker, and realized that they would be too big to use on the cake. So, I used them in another way.....for centerpieces.

I bought mini white tin buckets from Target ($1.00 each), 1 package of cylinder shaped floral foam from Michael's ($2.99/two), and a discounted package of Easter M&Ms (because I bought them the day after Easter).

Here's how the cake and the centerpieces came together....

The flowers are next....

I made 3 very large tissue paper flowers in pastel colors and fastened them to the ceiling fan above the diningroom table.

Then I made 12 smaller flowers and fastened 3 together to make flower balls and hung them in the greenhouse window in the diningroom. The tissue paper was purchased at Target and Walmart ($1.99-$2.99), floral wire at Michael's ($2.99), and the kitchen twine from Stop & Shop ($1.99).

The goodie bag dilema was solved by purchasing dainty Sweet Bunny Muslin Favor Bags from Etsy seller, Season Delights for the wee ones ($3.99/six) and pale yellow goodie boxes for the older kids from Walmart ($1.99). I stuffed the wee ones bags with little sunglasses, bubbles, milk straws, a pinwheel, a board book (all from the $1 section at Target) and a crocheted flower clip from Etsy seller, Nogginsnbobbins ($3.99). The older kids got baseball cards, Big League Chew, pencils, milkstraws, bubbles, silly bands, and a pinwheel (all from the $1 section at Target). For an added personal touch, I got a plain white picture frame mat at Michael's ($1.99) and pastel colored markers, for guests to write a personal Birthday message to Marli.

I think Marli enjoyed her party! To make someone's day special doesn't have to mean spending alot of money.....a little creativity and research goes a long way. I'd love to hear how you all channeled YOUR creative side in order to make someone's day a great one!

                        Kirsten