Hot Air Balloon First Birthday Party

Planning Arabella’s first birthday was so much fun for me. I figured I only have a couple of years where I can choose the theme [before she starts demanding Doc McStuffins or Sofia the First birthday parties] so I took full advantage of the fact that I could do basically anything I wanted.  It took me a long time to settle on a theme, I really tried to think of something that would demonstrate her strength and spirit, without being too cliche (ie Superhero theme) I finally settled on a hot air balloon theme.  My ideas always seem so great until I start looking for decorations, which were pretty much nonexistent for this idea, therefore I ended up making most of the decor. I was very hestitant when Anthony recommended we use our garage for the party. It was a complete disaster and I could not envision anything looking good in that space.  However, after we spent an entire weekend moving all of the crap stuff out to the shed, the space worked wonderfully!  (You can click on the photos to enlarge)

At basically every party I’ve ever planned, the food tends to be the focal point.  I usually try to build the theme around the food table. I really wish I had got better photos but I was running around like a crazy person the day of days leading up to the party. I used paper lanterns to make hot air balloons. Using bakers twine, I attached small boxes, wrapped in paper to create baskets for the balloons. These hung over the food table.

For treats I made Trix Krispies (Like Rice Krispies, but with Trix cereal instead) to add a fun pop of color.  They were deeeeelish! I also made some Banana Split Bites, inspired my MOMables. I made strawberry cups that looked like tiny hot air balloons and served watermelon on popsicle sticks.

For the drink station, we made some punch with raspberry sherbet, it was so yummy! For the non-punch drinkers, we had lemonade and raspberry lemonade.  We froze water balloons to keep the drinks cold; it was a bonus that it went with the theme and looked really neat!

My parents had bought me this shelf for my birthday and I was so excited to use it for the party. It made a great holder for the drink glasses (milk jars,) silverware and napkins.

My favorite food piece: the cake! Gahh, it was to die for. I’m so lucky to have had SweetHart Cakes make all of our families cakes over the last couple years.  Amy does an amazing job and she definitely didn’t skip any details when it came to making this cake. I almost didn’t want to eat it.

This piece is still sitting in our freezer, I refuse to let my husband throw it out. Although, I’m not quite sure what my plans are for it. But how do you throw it away? How?!

I created a Time Capsule for Arabella, each guest was asked to write a note to her that she will open on her 18th birthday. I asked them to make predictions of what she will be when she gets older. I was thrilled when I found this stationary at Target, it fits the theme perfectly! I cannot wait for Arabella to open these one day.

I really wanted to make one of these “chalkboard” signs, but I was really skeptical if I was talented enough. In order to make it look more neat and clean, I printed off what I wanted the words to look like and eyeballed them to try and duplicate them on the board. Rather than use a chalkboard, I bought a black poster board and used metallic markers.  A chalkboard would make the project more temporary and I wanted to have more of a keepsake.  What a great way for us to look back!

I took photos of Arabella every month next to the same stuffed animal and  I wanted to make certain to display them, somehow.  Placing them in a frame was simple and effective! Gosh, she has changed so much!

I made these two signs.  I really wanted them to be completely handmade but I ran out of time to use the wood pallets Anthony had picked up for me.  I ended up buying the two boards (the top one at Hobby Lobby and the bottom one at Wal-Mart) and they worked perfectly. They came out much better than I expected, as I did them so last minute, the bottom one I made the morning of the party! Talk about working under pressure.

Anthony helped me with the centerpieces.  I knew I wanted to use the glass jars and the paper lanterns to create hot air balloon candy dishes but I had no clue how to keep the lantern up the air. Using wire from some hangers, Anthony came up with this design. It worked great…I knew I married him for a reason.

One of my favorite details was the hot air balloons we placed outdoors. Anthony found these giant balloons and netting online and we used our flower barrels as the baskets.  They were so simple, but so cute!

The party was a huge success! Now I’m thinking up ideas for next year…hmmmmm.

xo, Jess