Madison's First Birthday

I know all these pictures on on FB, but I wanted to go into detail on our blog - and also give credit where credit is due since nothing was really my original idea. :) Also, there are some new pics, towards the end of the post, too!

WARNING: This is a loooooonnnnnngggg one!

After MUCH consideration, I finally chose the ice cream theme for M's party. I spent a lot of time on-line looking at party blogs and googling "ice-cream themed party ideas." Josh would say that I probably spent TOO much time on-line. Once I saw the idea for her smash cake here...that sealed the deal for me. I loved that cake idea!

Madison's turned out much smaller...and much less pink. :) It was a funfetti cake, and Madison definitely enjoyed it!

So, after her 11 month pictures were taken, I mentioned to our photographer that I wanted to use one of the pics for her invitation. He graciously volunteered to create the invite for us! Yay! Thank you, Doug!!!

(Much better than my quarter sheet design that I was going to print on cardstock at Kinko's.)

Of course she wouldn't stand still for a picture to show off her birthday outfit. I got her personalized onsie from Etsy. Her skirt is from Grandma Tracy, and her cupcake bow is from "Aunt" Tara.

I found the idea for her party ice cream cone hat here. It was actually fairly easy to make...except for that darn tissue paper rosette. That thing takes a lot of patience, and it was only after ripping two that I realized I was supposed to be making it from crepe paper...Oh well...I got it figured out (thanks to help from a how-to YouTube tutorial!). I got her headband at the dollar store, so pretty cheap, too! Of course she didn't want to wear it.

She is in her -after cake outfit- in this picture with Mama.

The cake pop/cake ball ice cream cones came next. I combined ideas found here and here. Originally, I was going to make cupcakes in cake cones, but after more on-line searching, I found this idea and I liked that it was something a bit different. (I am now addicted to cake balls/cake pops and am looking forward to another party for a reason to make these!)

I did a trial batch a few weeks ago with my friend, Lindsay. (She also helped me a couple days before the party!! Thank you!) I got 12 out of one boxed cake mix. At the party I had funfetti, strawberry, and chocolate cake (all mixed with cream cheese frosting). I had them available at the party, and also bagged them individually as favors for guests to take home. I found the fun personalized stickers on Etsy. LOVE that site. The stickers say, "Thanks for making my 1st birthday so sweet! Love, Madison."

There were three 3-year olds that attended her party (they were wonderfully adorable and behaved...shout out to Maya, Eva, and Luke!)...their favor bags had a wrapped cake ball ice cream cone, crayons with ice-cream coloring sheets, ice cream stickers, and bubbles in an ice cream container. Sorry...forgot to have Uncle Brandon take pictures.

Also no pictures of tissue paper poms...but I made 6 of those and hung them from the ceilings. These are super easy to make, and if anyone wants some for future parties, I'd be happy to help!

Oh, and centerpieces for the tables were 3 carnation tops (pink and white) stuck in a waffle bowl with scattered Brach's Neapolitan candies. The carnations were the one thing that was my very own idea, too!!! No pictures, but I'm sure you can visualize what I did. :)

Oh, and I made her birthday sign and monthly picture display pretty easily too. All it took was some scissors, double sided tape, colored paper, and ribbon! I had to make two picture displays because it was too difficult to just pick one picture from each of her monthly sessions!

I made most of her stuff between the hours of 9pm and 11pm. Josh probably wanted to strangle me a few times since this was ALL I talked about the few weeks leading up to it. *Actually, the night before our party I wasn't allowed to talk about it after 9pm until the next day! Haha!*

However, it was all totally worth it! We all had a FANTASTIC time at her party. I couldn't have done it without the help of family to set up and clean up, so THANK YOU to Grandma Tracy and Jeff, Grandpa Dave, Uncle Brandon, Autie Debbie and the Rice Family Cousins, and "Uncle" Ryan, too!!!

Oh (to make this post even longer!), a couple days before her birthday, Madison received her FIRST PACKAGES in the mail! One was a present from "Aunt" Tara. THANK YOU!

She enjoyed ripping the paper off of course.

She really loved her birthday cake toy. Whenever it plays the birthday song she dances!

Her second gift in the mail was from our good friends who live in MN, Allison and Mark. Her little LeapFrog Picnic basket was a total hit as well! THANK YOU!

Great Grandma and Grandpa couldn't come to her party, but they came for a visit that morning!

And to end this marathon long post - one of my favorite pictures of M lovin' her cake!

I can't believe my BABY is ONE. This last year has been the most wonderfully indescribable year of our lives, and we can't wait to see what happens as our BABY M continues to grow.