A first birthday is such a momentous event in someone's life, and yet you are too young to realise it at the time. In fact, the first year holds so many momentous events that you are too young to remember. Thankfully we document these amazing milestones in journals or with photographs or video. For the first child. By the time number two comes along you are so busy trying to keep both children happy, food on the table as well as a clean house (let's just pretend I didn't even say that) and perhaps try and manage to look like a human being for at least some part of the day. I will admit that I have missed out on recording some (many) of Lucy's milestones. When was it that she sat up? When did she take her first step? When did the third tooth come through? Milly on the other hand has a fairly good documentation of at least the first three years of her life.
With that in mind I was determined to make sure that Lucy didn't miss out on a "first birthday to remember" and set about creating a beautiful party for her, months before she was to turn one. I had memories of tears (mine) at Milly's first birthday, knowing that my baby girl was already one and thought that I would have the same experience with Lucy. I think I spent so much time trying to ensure that I had everything perfect for the day that I didn't allow myself the time to think about my baby turning ONE!
When Milly turned one I planned her fairy princess garden party and did nearly everything myself except for some backdrop painting which I was lucky enough to have created for me by a very talented friend. When I look back at it now I cringe at the stuff I did, the food I made, and more than anything, the plates I served it on. Six years and starting a printables and paperie business has certainly helped me change not only my ideas by my ideals.
This time around I decided to engage some other professionals to help me with some of the other things that I either couldn't do, or found challenging. I needed more of a stress free (let's be honest - it's never stress free) time leading up to the party so I listed everything I wanted and outsourced the things that would be too taxing.
I made all the printables but had the help of the lovely Jocelyn from
Memories are Sweet to create Lucy's name in gold glitter for the bunting and cupcakes. Jocelyn did an amazing job. I was so excited to receive my parcel of tiny letters in the mail.
I then talked to Rochelle from
A la Roche Party & Printables about how we could create a tiny topper for Lucy's special cake. She made the most gorgeous gold glitter topper to match the printables font and it looked so special. While she was at it she also made one for Milly. Mil was very excited to see hers in the mail even though it will be another few months before it will get used.
When it came to the food I knew I would be able to handle the baking of most of it, however there are two things that I am not so great at. The first is the birthday cake. I've made a couple and they have not been works of art. I have also tried the style that I was after and having your rose swirls slide off your cake is never good. I'm very fortunate to know a wonderful cake decorator by the name of Lilliene, from
Elle's Cakes, who created gorgeous cakes for both of my girls last year. I had many discussions with Lil about the colour, icing type and design prior to Lucy's big day and we were so happy with the gorgeous cake that we picked up on the eve of her party. I also knew that I wanted to decorate some cookies for the big day, but as my wonderful friend and colleague, Cat says, mine always taste like chalk. So, I talked to Deb from
Debba's Cakes about making me some naked cookies that I could then bling up myself. I will admit that this was so much fun. I didn't have the hassle of making the cookies (and the disappointment of taking them out of the oven) but I still had all the fun of decorating them!
When I first put Lucy's birthday banner on Facebook I got a lovely message from one of our loyal likers, Wendy from
Your Style - dessert and Lolly Buffet Tableware Hire, offering to work with me to help create the perfect tablescape for the littlies. Wendy and Sheridan provided us with little tables, chairs and tablecloths, as well as the stunning tulle tablecloth (that I honestly did not want to let go of), some cute little suitcases and the beautiful white dishes that the sixlets were in. Your Style's products helped finish the table perfectly.
Our beautiful cake stands (gold) were made to order by my talented husband from
Pine Mountain Timber Company. Poor Matt had quite a job to do before this party, with creating my stands and then helping get everything else to come together perfectly. I almost had him paint all of the furniture white. I think I may have been pushing my luck there.
One thing that I wanted for Lucy was a special outfit and I was hoping to find something that matched her printables in some way. I contacted Sue from
Frilly Milly to discuss my needs. Sue has been another great supporter of ours from the beginning and helped us early on to meet more of our wonderful likers. I really didn't expect the service that I got from Sue, even though I know how good she is! Not only did she track down the EXACT matching fabric to my rose printables, but then she designed a dress especially for our little Lucy. I am so grateful for this and Lucy just looked adorable.
I cannot finish this post without thanking two of my friends for their input into Lucy's party. Firstly Tonilee provided entertainment for the children through the means of face painting, even creating the perfect design for the same child (mine of course) on more than one occasion. The kids had so much fun getting their faces painted and Tonilee really did an amazing job.
Finally, the gorgeous images you see here on our page are courtesy of Toni from
Toni Snell Photographer. Not only does Toni take stunning images, but we are also lucky to call her our best friend. Toni came early on the day to take some shots of the table set up and then took some special shots of our family as we cut the cake and Lucy and her Daddy afterwards. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful friend who also happens to be so talented.
Lucy's very first birthday was such a special day for us all. She had a wonderful day, stayed up longer than she ever has and began to walk around like she owned the place (and she hasn't stopped). We are grateful to everyone who helped to make it special, especially our two little girls who make our world complete.
You can see more photos of Lucy's first birthday on our
Facebook page.
