Celebrating Jack's first birthday brought me so much joy. I love my sweet boy and I love to craft...combine the two and you have an amazing party! Since he was two months old I had been planning for this day (Dave accused me of planning Jack's wedding...that's how much work, thought, and love went into the party).
I literally picked the theme when he was two months old...I am very traditional and Jack was given The Very Hungry Caterpillar (quintessential childhood story) as a baby gift, complete with caterpillar plush toy. The theme was set! Pinterest was my new best friend as I looked around and gathered inspiration for crafts I could make, food I could prepare, and party activities we could enjoy.
When you entered our house, you were greeted by a mesh wreath I made for the front door. In the center of the wreath I used the caterpillar plush toy that Jack was given as a baby present. It was a fun way to incorporate the toy into the party and made for a warm welcome for our guests! Inside, a caterpillar was hanging above Jack's monthly pictures. The caterpillar was made out of red and green paper lanterns. I hung the lanterns at varying heights so that it looked like he was crawling. Below the caterpillar I covered a large painting we have in our house and used the phrase from the book, "He wasn't a little caterpillar anymore" to display the monthly pictures I took of Jack. I loved looking at the pictures and seeing how much our little caterpillar has grown! And on the table below the caterpillar and monthly pictures was the party favors! Jack's little friends got bug jars filled with "caterpillar food" (M&Ms), ladybug bubbles, a magnifying glass, a lollipop, a strawberry grow pot, and a bug net. Everyone at the party got homemade caterpillar sugar cookies!
All of the food from the book was represented for our guests to enjoy...the caterpillar sure ate a lot of sweets! The food tags used the phrases from the book "On Monday he ate one apple...On Tuesday he ate two pears" etc. For the table runner I used a strip of astroturf so it would look like grass and above the table I made the sun shining down using plastic table cloths. In the center of the table I put a copy of the book and throughout the party I had all of Jack's guests write in his book and leave him a birthday message. I thought the table was just perfect!
I wanted to make Jack's first birthday cake...I just think there is something special about making that first cake (and the first taste of sugar!!). I have been using an awesome website to make Jack's homemade baby food and found a recipe for a "healthy" birthday cake. It was a two layer carrot cake (which just so happens to be Dave's favorite) with greek yogurt icing. It turned out great!! Jack loved it (he nearly ate half the cake!) and it looked exactly how I wanted it to. It wasn't perfect but it was made with such love!!
We had the most perfect day for Jack's party...the weather was amazing. Being in North Carolina, you never know what you are going to get. Because of the clear skies and warm temperatures we were able to use our backyard for most of the party. I moved Jack's riding toys outside and set up a craft table for the older kids to enjoy (they made caterpillars out of egg cartons and did apple prints). We had bubbles and sidewalk chalk for everyone to play with and even had a caterpillar tunnel for the kids to crawl through (a birthday present from Lollie and Pops, thank you!).
Our sweet friends and family showered Jack with wonderful gifts. He is one loved little boy! Our friends' gifts were place on the hearth and on the mantle above, I framed the invitation that I designed for the party. I looked for a pre-done invitation but couldn't find one that I loved so I used some of the images from the book and made one myself. It was just what I wanted! I had paper wheels hanging above the mirror and a caterpillar figurine that I painted on the other end of the mantle. I also had Jack's party hat on display (I should have had it on his highchair because I totally forgot to put it on him for his cake smash!!). I had the most fun making his party hat from tulle and scrapbook paper! The other sweet touches that I used to decorate were a handprint caterpillar that my mom and I made using Jack's little one year old hand and a birthday banner made out of apple shaped paper and dot letters.
It was the most perfect day to celebrate out sweet boy. We are so blessed to be loved by so many people and so thankful that our Jack has y'all in his life. We made it through the first year...here's to many many more birthday celebrations!
