O-N-E

ONE!!! 

Henry is ONE!
I honestly can't believe how fast time flew by. You always hear that from other parents but it really didn't sink in for me until I became a mom. It truly feels like yesterday I was in labor and getting ready to welcome the little man into the world. I will never ever forget that day. Becoming a mom is such an awesome experience and I have been trying to soak it in everyday since, but I still feel like his first year has gone too fast and I blinked and it's over. Each milestone is so much more fun than the last so you are always looking forward to the next cool thing they are going to learn to do. Roll over, sit up, eat purees and then table food, crawl, stand and even try to take a few steps. I can't believe how much he has grown from a tiny little snuggly lump into an energetic, never stops moving sweet little giggly guy. His personality is shining through more each day and I fall in love with him a little more by the minute (which I didn't know was possible). It's only fitting to make a big deal out of his first birthday, not just because he made it to one year old, but because WE made it to one year old. Together. Parenting has been hard at times but it really doesn't feel like it because it has been so much fun. Taylor and I joke all the time that we are proud of ourselves that our child is alive still and not just that, but thriving. He is hitting developmental milestones like a pro and growing like a weed. He has made this last year the best of our lives so a big party to celebrate that seemed very fitting. Since he O-FISH-ally turned one, we I decided to do a fish theme. He loves to watch fish at Bass Pro with Daddy on Saturdays and at Cabela's and it's a cute theme that I got to choose before he is too old to let me decide and wants something that he is super into at the time like a certain movie or toy. Fish is it then.

I started by scouring pinterest for ideas. I found so many cute ones it's unreal. Then I got my act together and started shopping. Woo! I started making fish and decor for the party first and then did the food last of course. Here are some of the things I made:

Felt Birthday hat (made out of cardstock, covered in felt with yarn topper)

 

 His high chair banner was just fun scrapbook paper with letters and numbers I cut out on my Cricut and hot glued onto ribbon. 

 

 I just tied some balloons to the back for a fun backdrop. 

 Then I made his invites:
I couldn't find any that I loved that were all fish with just custom writing, so I made my own. Way cheaper and cuter I think. I used fun wave and sand scrapbook paper, an ocean like font and some stickers. Easy.

 They were all a little different and I loved that. This one was my favorite and I saved it for his birthday shadow box I am making.

 Then I got a bunch of paper laterns and fans and added fins, lips, eyes, tenticals etc to make fish and jelly fish. They turned out super cute. These were all to hang from the entryway and other places.

 They jellyfish were by far my favorite.

 I wasn't a huge fan of this guy, I should have just stuck to the fan fish but oh well.

 Getting ready to hang the fishies.

 

We decorated with balloons, streamers and the fish (there is a tiny green guy hanging in the middle of the chandelier but he is hard to see at this angle. I also hid the letter H all around the house and put some sand and shell centerpeices out). 

 See the Jellyfish hanging. LOVED them!

 Here is the entry way with all of the fish. So cute!

 

Of course I had to decorate the chalkboard. 

 And I set out his three books I have made so far for him. His blog book of my pregnancy through his birth story. His "Before you were born" book and his book of all my maternity pics and his newborn pics.

Lets take a moment to adore my new built in bookshelves my husband completed the day before the party. I will share that project in another post SOON.

 Gift table.

 I had a bubble machine I wanted to keep bubbles blowing from the top of the bannister down through the fish but it was too agressive and blew too many bubbles and soap would have been EVERYWHERE so I put it on the front porch as people walked in and it kept running out of juice super fast so I just shut it off. Lame. 

He of course he needed a birthday outfit. I'm a huge fan of the old man chic look for little boys and it seemed fitting he be dressed his best for his big day. I bought myself a new sewing machine for myself with my Christmas money so I used this project to try it out. I cut out my number 1 with both fabrics and used iron on film to get it to stay in place instead of pins. Then I sewed the edges so it was like an applique. I made the little bow tie and hand stitched it on and then used a strait stitch to sew the ribbon suspenders on. Turned out pretty dang cute I think.

 Matches his hat pretty well too. If you couldn't tell, I went with a navy, turquoise, lime and gray theme. Ocean colors :) I even found some gray and lime velcro tennis shoes for him to wear with his jeans and onesie.

 

I have seen these infographic "chalkboards" on pinterest and etsy and loved the idea. It was fun to have his stats out for everyone to see. I used lime and turqoise and silver paint pens on a peice of black foam board. Super cheap and easy. Fun to do as well. 

 

I put it on my paint easel by the fireplace under his 12 mo picture banner. I took his pics from 1mo-12mo and printed them all out and used wave paper and ribbon to make a cute banner. It was so amazing to see the progression of his growth over time. 

 I painted a few wooden letters for his food table. I tried to add elements of color and such with things I would later put in his shadow box. This will go in it with his invite, birthday shirt and hat etc.

It looked so cute by the food.

 

Next I made a door hanger to invite people to come on in and not have to knock. Just free hand cut out the navy wave and used my Cricut for the letters and fun stickers. Easy. 

 

 

Next I wanted an awesome back drop for the cake and treat table. I had seen awesome ocean-scapes on pinterest too and decided to buy these fun fish and hang them on layered plastic table cloths of different colors.

 

It turned out AMAZING! My mom helped me tape the layers together with packing tape and then we hung it by rope from command hooks. It fell twice (TSUNAMI!!!!) but it managed to stay for the party. PTL. 

 

I used green streamers to make seaweed coming up from the bottom. 

 It kinda set the whole room blue from the light of the window behind it. Very cool

 For cake I didn't find ANYTHING I wanted. Big bummer so I just stuck to plain solid colors and it worked out just fine. I didn't want cheesy fish or anything so I just made a cute pennant banner for the big cake out of the coordinating scrapbook papers I had used throughout the rest of the party and I found that plastic "Happy Birthday" at walmart in the bakery section. Super Cute! The big cake was from Sam's club and was amazing. The smash cake was from my sister's bakery she worked at in high school and college. They couldn't do teal ombre but they managed to just do teal and it was such a cute cake. It fit perfectly into my vintage glass cake stand. The 1 candle I found at target for $1. Score.

 For treats I filled a fishbowl with blue white chocolate suckers I made with #1 sucker molds. Easy cute treat. For the kids I filled goody bags with goldfish crackers, a toy plastic fish and some bubbles. Theme fitting and good for littles since most of his pals are tiny humans too.

Another hidden H and some lemonade with fun paper straws in blues and greens. I used old mason jars to hold the forks and straws and put fish stickers on the front of the jar. The shark napkins walmart had.

 Menu: Submarine Sandwiches (catered from Goodcents), Fish and Chips (goldfish and potato chips), Shells pasta salad, Octopus' Garden and hummus,

 Seaweed Dip and Sand dollar chips (spinach artichoke dip and chips)

 For the kids I had cheesy shells and cheese and Silly squid (hot dogs)

I made labels for everything with the leftover scrap book paper. 

 

The party was so much fun to do, I was pretty stressed getting it all together last minute but it was honestly a blast and turned out so cute. Next post will be all the pics from the Party itself :)