Planning a first birthday party for your second child is a lot easier than planning a first birthday party for your first child! We have accumulated a few party-related things over the last few years (tables, tablecloths, various plates, etc.), which made it easy to just bring those items out instead of needing to buy them. We have also been through 3 birthday parties for Camryn, so we’re more experienced and we know what is necessary. For the first two birthdays, we like to invite only family so that no one is overwhelmed with the number of people. It worked well for Camryn, so we did the same for Collin.

Even though we are not giving Collin sugar until he is 2, we decided at the last minute to let Collin try his cake. He reluctantly touched it, took a bite, and we immediately cleaned everything up. He had a bite and that’s more than what we had planned on doing. No more sugar until next year!

THEME

Weston and I picked animals for each child’s nursery theme and those animals have kind of become their thing. Camryn had a flamingo nursery and a flamingo first birthday party. We chose an elephant theme for Collin’s “nursery,” so we wanted to do an elephant theme for his first birthday. Just as with Camryn’s party, it was a very loose elephant theme. More accurately, it was a blue and white theme with elephants. I’m sure future parties will be more elaborate, but I’m taking advantage of the simplicity while I can!

DECORATIONS

We called in the expert (Arches by Annie) again for the balloon garland. The time it saves me and not having the stress from trying to set it up myself is well worth it! Collin’s monthly photos were proudly displayed in the shape of a 1 on the wall. Another set was displayed in a frame above the food table. I also added a framed invitation and a few of our favorite framed photos.

FOOD

Our original plan was to just have cake, cookies, and goldfish. However, we decided that since we had only invited family and they would be staying for lunch anyway, we provided lunch for everyone. I ordered the chicken salad croissants and chicken tenders, but somehow failed to order a cake! The day before the party, we tried to find an all white pre-made cake at Winn Dixie. No luck. The next morning, Weston went to pick up the cookies and food platters, so he checked at Walmart for an all white pre-made cake. No luck there either, but I was desperate at this point. He sent pictures of a few cakes that were close to what I wanted and I chose one that was a little smaller with blue icing on top. The only problem was that it was surrounded by cupcakes that were pressed into the cake! I pulled the cupcakes off and used a knife to smooth the edges. You couldn’t really tell when I was finished, but it makes me laugh every time I think about it. Next time, I am ordering the cake before anything else!

Well, here’s Collin’s birthday party in condensed blog form! What do you think? Do you see a lot of the items we used for Camryn’s first birthday party?

The Creative Team:

Cookies: Summer Brown

Balloons: Arches by Annie

Camryn and Collin’s Outfits: Cecil & Lou with embroidery by Amanda Vinson