So, Olivia and Evie turned one back in February. We ended up not having their 1st birthday party until March and I’m just now getting it up to share with you. Life of a busy Mom of 3, huh? All 3 of my kids were born in February, so I started planning their parties a few months in advance. Hayden decided to make it easy on me and wanted his party at Chuck E. Cheese. For the girls, I wanted something really fun. There are so many cute twin themes out there for 1st birthdays, but when I saw all of the cute cupcake products you can order from Oriental Trading, I knew that would be our theme! After all, they are my little cupcakes!
I hired Michelle Evans Photography to photograph the party. I’m not sure why I never thought of this before! I didn’t have to worry about taking pictures myself and a huge bonus – I was actually IN the photos! I will definitely be doing this with parties going forward! Below are just some of my favorite photos from the party.
Decorations
Each month, I took a picture of Olivia and Evie. I never was sure what I would do with those pictures until I came across on Pinterest to make a 1st Birthday banner. This was super easy. I printed up the photos and with some string and a hole punch, I had this fun banner.
A friend over on Etsy makes these adorable customized banners and I knew I had to order one for the party. I chose the colors of pink and purple since that was the theme we were going for! You can check out all of her banners on Growing Up Sprout!
Something else that I wanted to get as a personalized keepsake were these custom colored chalkboard posters from MJNDoodles over on Etsy. These were a huge hit with the guests as they looked at them and I love having this as a memory. I was sent these in a digital file and then printed them on foam board at Costco.
I picked up some balloons from Party City for the highchairs and that was pretty much the extent of decorations. I loved all of the simple touches.
Food
Again, I was going for easy when I thought of food for the party. Walmart sells a 6-foot Sub Sandwich for only $28 and it feeds 28-30 people. You can totally customize it with what meat and cheese you want. It was pretty good and fed our entire crowd! I also served up some fruit kabobs and chips.
My good friend Beth is a cake genius. For dessert, she made Cherry Chip, Chocolate and Orange Creme Cupcakes. These were delicious and you can bet there were none leftover.
How cute is that cupcake stand? I actually ordered a plain styrofoam cupcake stand from Oriental Trading and then headed to Jo-Ann’s for fabric. I hot glued it to the stand and it was ready for cupcakes! It was probably one of my easiest DIY projects I have done.
I also ordered the bright purple swirl pops from Oriental Trading. Only $10.99 for 24 and they are a perfect favor – you can even get them personalized!
Beth also made adorable cupcake smash cakes for the girls. They were huge and the girls loved them!
We loved our plates and napkins that we ordered from Oriental Trading also. We got an assortment of pink and purple plates in addition to the 1st Birthday Cupcake dessert plates! It’s so much easier ordering everything and having it delivered right to your door!
Party Time
We had a bounce house set up outside for my son and some other older kids. I was so glad that we had Michelle there to capture everyone at the party.
We had such a fantastic time at Olivia and Evie’s 1st birthday party! A huge thanks to Oriental Trading for providing adorable party supplies for the party.
What was the theme of your child’s 1st birthday party?
Beautiful pictures of the party. For my daughter’s first bday party we had a singer/guitar player come and entertain the kids, and skyped with her grandparents in Australia.
Awesome party!! I am loving all the decorations and that ginormous cupcake!
I absolutely LOVED the decorations!! The cupcake cakes looked AMAZING! My friend has twins and she would really like some of these ideas!! What a beautiful birthday!
What a lovely party. It looks like everyone had a great time and the food {cupcakes especially} looked delish. Thank you for sharing this.
I LOVE everything about this party. Adorable girls.
The girls look so happy with their cakes! Red saw them and yelled CAKES! at the screen… 😉
I love all the party food. It looks like it was an excellent birthday party.
Love the sucker cupcakes! What a perfect idea for the little ones !
Dawn’s 1st Birthday party theme a long time ago was zoo animals! She loved animal pics! Funny how I remember that so clearly and it was 35 years ago! OMG – thanks for bringing back some really fun memories! I think having a professional take your pics is really a fantastic idea.
What a great party and those tutu are to die for!
I love the decorations. Smiling thinking about my kids turning 1. Good times!!
Those cupcakes look so good! Great pictures of your sweet babies! Looks like it was such a fun time!
I love the decorations for this party! What a fun theme!
What a fantastic first birthday party! I also did fruit kabobs for my son’s first birthday. HUGE hit. And I love the posters!
What a GREAT idea to hire a photography! Their own giant cupcakes are just too precious, love those!
I completely understand the busy mom thing! Beautiful pics…and glad you were IN them instead of taking them
How fun is this! Those cupcakes are HUGE! I’m loving them. And those chalkboard posters look amazing, and add a great personal touch.
Wow, what a great party, Mom. Really nice job and I just loved all of the decorations and cupcakes. My oldest son turns 33 next month and I honestly can’t remember if we had a theme. I remember the party but not the theme. I would have to get the pictures out.
Looks like an awesome birthday party! Love the giant cupcakes.
You have a beautiful family. I like the idea of the first year photo banner, very creative and unique.
This party looks beautiful, you did a great job! Love the giant cupcakes!
Those decorations are the cutest! I’m loving the giant cupcake cakes 🙂
What wonderful pictures and such a great party! I didn’t realize Walmart had a great deal on a party sub like that, we’ll be checking that out at some point this summer!
What a super fun party! The cupcake smash cakes are an awesome idea. I love the simple them. We did Elmo and easily found all the decorations online and at Walmart.
This looks like a great party! I would enjoy it!
Such a cute birthday! I love the banners/flags and those cupcakes!
What a gorgeous family photo. I love the look on your sons face 🙂
I love all of the decor! My daughter’s 1st birthday theme was ladybugs and my son’s was a football tailgate party!
Oh the twins look so happy. Happy 1st birthday to the cuties. Love the decorations and the food!
It’s all such a cute set-up, and the girls look positively delighted about it all. I love seeing their little teeth.
I can’t believe it’s first birthday time already. Your girls are growing up so fast. I absolutely love that photo banner and great job on the cupcake stand.
My son’s first birthday was airplanes, my oldest daughters first birthday was ladybugs, and my youngest daughters first birthday was bumblebees. Love your party pictures. The girls look so happy!
Those cakes are so cute! And I love the banner. 🙂
We did Dr. Seuss for my 3 year old’s first birthday. Owen is 8 months now, so I’ll start planning it soon. No idea what I want to do. I’ll probably let Charlie help pick. We used Oriental Trading for his ninja party this year. It really is so easy to just order it and then it arrives, no kids going through the store!
What a cute twins party! Having all the kids birthday parties in the same month can be stressful! It looks like you did a great job!
the decorations and food look great. we hired a photographer to take pictures every couple of months the first year of the kids. we also had a birthday every month the first year. this seemed like it was a lot of fun for everyone.