As you might now (or maybe you’ve been following along)…

Miss El turned ONE this month.

It took us a LONG time to figure out what kind of party to have for her in terms of theme and event.  We went back and forth between a big hall party (typical desi style) and an intimate gathering at home.  We finally went for the latter and I am so glad we did!  As much as a I love the idea of a big event it was much more relaxing and engaging to do our own little thing :)

When the theme of a WILDONE popped up on one of my endless Google and Pinterest searches I was so obsessed!  The words/phrase described Ellie to a T.  With Miss S I had decided on a theme (Shabby-Chic) months in advance.  I knew the colours for the party were pink, gold and off white.  I knew the sweets I wanted to serve, the DIY burlap banners I was going to make and even the search for a perfect vendor cake started when she was 9 months old.  I was a little late to DIYing for our little Lo, but I think the theme and the party came together perfectly in the end!

The colours were black, gold and green (with a little bit of pink thrown in for good measure).  It was very easy to decorate the house: lots of toy animals and foliage!

For the banner:

1. Asked the Hubz to draw the word WILDONE in block letters
2. My father-in-law exactoknifed them out
3. I got some faux foliage (similar foliage) from Dollar Tree, cut off the leaves (in varying sizes) and hot glued them to the letters.
4. I felt that it was missing something so I added little white flowers (from the same said foliage) and then pops of dark or light green paint to add some more depth.  I also used the left over branches on the ends.
5. Lastly I added the green daisies for a more feminine touch!

*This is something I saw online and then DIYed to make my one (here and here is some inspiration)

We knew that we HAD to do a cake smash (considering it didn’t really work at Miss S’s birthday).  So I decorated her high chair with black and gold streamers (to match the invitation colours) and added a vine of flowers.  To our sideboard we added a variety of stuffed animals and huge tropical leaves.  It was a perfect set up for a WILDONE’s first sugar!

For the cake we wanted something cute and not the fondant cake that seems to be so popular these days.  To be honest I am so confused by fondant!  I grew up eating soft moist birthday cakes that have whip cream fillings (no custards, no butter cream and no fruit please and thanks!) and a plethora of whip cream slathered all over it!  I know the more expensive cakes also have butter cream but because Miss S can’t eat that stuff (and I personally don’t like it) I was happy with whip cream :)  I actually found this at Fortino’s.  They do a variety of designs on cupcakes (with a count of 24 or 48) shaped into the number of your choice.  I told them I wanted a nature scene (greenery and a water front) and then I added the toy animals myself!

Off the Shoulder Top | Mens Polo | Birthday Crown (ours is old, but this one is so cute!)

These cute dresses are from Marshalls (almost identical) but here is a similar option.  This is our highchair and we LOVE it!

Whoa…that was picture heavy!

Outside of all this, we ordered/made Mediterranean food for lunch and had the cupcakes,  fruit and ice cream for dessert.  We also played 2 games.  I know it’s very popular to post to social media your baby’s monthly pictures and even though I didn’t really do that I did send these update photos to my family.  So one of our games was “Monthly mugshot match up” – and yep you had to guess which picture was taken in which month by solely looking at El’s face!  It was surprisingly hard and everyone got majority of them wrong!  The other game we played involved answering some trivia about El along with leaving her a sweet message.   I kept all the trivia sheets (with the special messages) for her to read when she’s older :)  I know kid’s birthday’s get a bad rep but gosh I love them!