Abigail’s First Birthday Party

Abigail’s birthday was August 16th, and it fell on the week after Brooklyn started school. I knew we would probably all be tired, and things might be a little crazy while we were trying to adjust to a new routine, so I wanted to keep Abigail’s party pretty simple. I think with each girl’s first birthday, their parties have been less and less involved ;) While scouring the internet for “theme” ideas, I ran across some Twinkle Twinkle Little Star invitations on Etsy. A few of them had the perfect wording for our little NICU grad :) I was excited to find something cute and meaningful to celebrate our sweet little girl!

I also loved the navy, pink, and gold color combo, so this invitation was definitely a win!

The birthday girl was actually still down for her nap for the first few minutes of her party…haha. She woke up just in time to eat lunch with everyone :)

We kept the party small for two reasons: 1. It seems like babies get really overwhelmed by a lot of people and attention. 2. Less people = less to do to get ready for the party :) We invited our parents, siblings, and grandparents, and almost everyone was able to come!

The big kid table! It’s crazy that Luke and Barrett are big enough to sit with the older cousins now. They are almost 2!

I know this is so typical for a 3rd child, but I completely forgot to take a picture of the dining room with all the food set up. It’s hard to tell from this picture, but we had baked Hawaiian sandwiches, chips/pretzels, fruit, and broccoli salad. Simple but tasty!

I decided to keep the food and desserts all in the dining room so that it would be the only room I needed to decorate ;)

After everyone ate lunch, we watched a slideshow of pictures of Abigail from the last year. It’s weird to think about that being the last “first birthday slideshow” I’ll ever make. I think everyone enjoyed it, especially Abigail who sat front and center to watch it too!

We were all cracking up at how interested she was!

After the slideshow was over, we let the birthday girl open presents! She had lots of helpers, so all she really had to do was sit there and look cute :)

Brooklyn and Savannah were opening gifts so fast that it was hard for me to keep track of everything. Abigail is used to the chaos, so she didn’t seem to mind!

Gifts included: new 9 month outfits, an elephant stacking toy, bibs, sippy cups, homemade soap, a parking garage toy with cars, and money for college. Hopefully I’m not forgetting anything…

As long as Abigail had something to chew on, she was perfectly happy.

After opening gifts, it was time for cake! (Excuse the paint sample on the wall…we were getting ready to have our house repainted).

There’s a boy who lives about 5 minutes from our house who has his own bakery business that he runs out of his parents’ house. He’s 14 years old and makes cakes and cookies that look professional. He even has his own Facebook page where he sells everything! I’ve never bought a cake for any of our girls’ previous parties, but I decided to give it a shot this time. I thought he did a great job!

Aren’t those the cutest moon and star cookies ever??

I bought a star punch at Hobby Lobby and used it to make garland strands that hung from the chandelier in the dining room. I also used it for this high chair banner. It was simple and easy!

By this point in the party, I think Abigail was getting a little overstimulated. She never cried, but she was definitely a little more stoic than normal. It was hard to get her to crack a smile!

Without further ado…

“What is this stuff?”

“Hmm…interesting…”

Nom nom nom!

Abigail loved it! It was funny…she was very dainty about it. She really didn’t make much of a mess at all. She ate a BUNCH of frosting, and once I tore a bite of cake off for her, she figured out there was something underneath the frosting too ;)

It was a big cake for such a little girl!

This was the closest thing to a smile we got the whole time :) She enjoyed it…she was just very solemn about it!

She probably sat there eating for 10 minutes before we decided she’d had enough…haha. Didn’t want to put her in a sugar coma!

We had a great morning celebrating our special 1-year-old! It was low-key and relaxed, and we were so glad that our families could be there to celebrate with us. We love this little girl so much!