Aiden's 1st Birthday: Recap!

There is so much I want to say about this party... it was fun, it was amazing, Aiden really had a blast...

The morning of Aiden's birthday (and the party) we got up and I made him a birthday breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. My mom came over to watch him so that me and the hubster could go to the church and start prepping for the party. We had a few awesome hands on deck - our children's director and a good friend who is a party planner actually took charge and what an amazing job she did! Aiden's God parents, his auntie, and his other grandma all came early to help with set up.

Cupcakes - my fondant toppers got lost in the mail! This was probably the worst thing that happened but I printed out pictures of the Wonder Pets, taped a tooth pick to each one and stuck them in the cupcakes. Then sprinkled each with a few M&Ms and viola! It still looked really cute though I did miss the fondant toppers.

Snacks - we spent a lot of the morning preparing ants on a log and fruit kabobs. We also had animal crackers with nutella as dip. Can you say yummy?!

Food - was super easy. I picked up sandwich platters from Subway and some great people contributed chicken wings and potato salad as sides. The kids got 100% juice boxes and the adults got water bottles.

Decor - was amazing! A friend of mine sketched a huge picture of the Wonder Pets and painted it. It looked awesome! Then we had balloon towers, inflatable animals, all kinds of amazing stuff.

Guests - we had about 25 kids, their parents, family and some close friends. I was so happy because two of my aunts who live in Arizona were actually in town and decided to come along with my Godparents from California. It was so wonderful to have them there.  It was kind of a big party and I really felt blessed because so many people love Aiden and came to celebrate with us. His next few birthdays will be much more low key but this was #1, we had to go big! The kids all seemed to have a great time - they had a ball pit, face painting, a Wonder Pets episode on the big screen and some fun goodie bags with their Wonder Pets t-shirts. 

My favorite parts of the day were 1) when Aiden arrived to his party. He immediately started pointing at everything and smiling and blabbing excitedly. 2) when we sang "Happy Birthday" and Aiden devoured his cake. It was his first time having cake and he loved it.

And here are some pics -- My wonderful friend came and played photographer for the party and she did an amazing job!!

Mama and Dada blew out the candle.. he laughed!

The cake table - cupcakes for all the guests and an applesauce "smash" cake on top for the birthday boy

He pointed at everything! My boy in his bday ensemble

There was a slide show with pictures of Aiden's 1st year on the big screen

Food table

Fruit Kabobs - they were a hit!

He made all the hard work worth it... he loves Wonder Pets

The water bottle labels were a last minute inspiration. I made them super quick and it was great!

My family :) We are so blessed with our Aiden

He didn't do much "smashing" to his smash cake.. but he did enjoy eating it! It was made with applesauce instead of sugar and all natural frosting. It was yummy - thanks to his God-mama!

 Ohhh yea and about the presents - we asked guests to consider giving a donation to a new after school program that our church is launching in the Fall. That worked out great! We are going to submit the money this Sunday and I am so glad people responded well to this. I want to start a tradition on Aiden's birthdays where he somehow gives back to a good cause instead of just receiving gifts. He did also get a bunch of great gifts - we have very kind, generous family and friends. Thank you all so much!

I am glad this party is over - Aiden had a blast and so did we!