the ONE YEAR bash

Initially, when I began thinking of Hudson's first birthday celebration, finger foods came to mind. Just a small gathering, casual, nothing that would require a lot of prep - considering I'd be 8 months pregnant at the time.

That quickly faded as my inability to not spoil my firstborn consumed me and I immediately became swarmed with ideas of colors, custom cakes, balloons, patterns for tablecloths, etc...

I'm not a big 'theme' momma, and knowing that Hudson will one day come to me wanting a sports/movie/whoknowswhat kinda theme I put together a celebration centered completely around the colors of the invitations I ordered from Tiny Prints:

We started preparing about three days in advance, buying groceries and finalizing all of the decorations. The day of, was a whirlwind of no less than 3 people in the kitchen, JR outside working on the yard, and two of the biggest helpers {my bests, Ashley & Lauren} of the day helping put together my dream party for our one year old angel baby.

Our Boo Bear, didn't quite know what to think as his guests started arriving...but the balloons all over the house were a huge hit with my one year old wonder.

We had tons of food set out - dips, fruit, chips, empanadas, sandwiches, pigs-in-a-blanket...you name a party food and we served it! A very big thank you to our momma's too, who helped prepare and set-up the three food tables. This was about the extent of my time in the kitchen...

Between the mom's and Aunt Lu, they had the kitchen covered. Wam-Bam.

I was on party patrol, making sure every detail was just right for my Bear.

It took me about two months worth of prep time, and I truly enjoyed the whole thing from start to finish. I found the most amazing cake bakery in town, Amy Cakes of Norman, and had them design a cake too, around the invites. Some of the best cake I've ever indulged in - thank you to Amy and Co. for the yummy treats! I found most all of the decorations at Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby - found some fabric I liked at WM and had tablecloths made for the food tables, and some helium filled ballons! voila!

We had no idea how Bear would react to the gifts, but he sat and opened each and every gift - sans meltdown :) He was so enthralled with the activity and the audience he had.

Of course once gifts were opened, it was cake time! I had been waiting all day for cake time, surprise surprise.

On everyone's way out, they were gifted with some party treats to go! I found these cute containers at Wal-Mart that we had filled with caramel and cheddar popcorn! I still have bags of it...

After months of planning, the party came together even better than I could have imagined it! We had our dearest of family and friends there to help us celebrate our baby boy's first year of life - and what a joy it was to have those closest to us, there.