Bouncy Bouncy Fun!

For Zach's first birthday party, I wanted to do something that represented him and things and he enjoys. Since he can't 'talk' and tell me what he wanted to do for his birthday, I decided to think of things that he enjoys. One of his favorite toys is Tigger. When you push his foot, he starts bouncing up and down and singing. This toy has been a favorite of his from very early on, and still brings smiles and laughs to his face. So, we decided on a Tigger-themed birthday party.

Invitations
I found a fun idea for a Tigger-themed invitation online, so I recreated it on my own computer, changed the wording around a bit, printed them out at Fedex Office and mailed them off, with a picture of Zach.

Decorations
I started researching [going on Pinterest] to get some inspiration. I did not want to make the color scheme all orange and black because that just shouted Halloween to me. While browsing through Hobby Lobby one day (can I just say that I LOVE that I live near a Hobby Lobby now!) my sister came across this amazing fabric for a table runner. That fabric became the color scheme and baseboard for the decorations for the party: blue, orange, gray, white.

I wanted the decorations to be special and fun but not too budget busting. [I had all intentions of it to be a cost-effective party but things did not go as planned and were a tad more expensive than planned. Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who supported me and said, "He only turns one, once!]

The mantle focal point I had the idea to use the Tigger quote that everyone knows: "The most wonderful thing about Tigger is that I'm the only one!" Instead, I wanted to personalize it to Zach. So I went to my computer and typed up a poster- "The most wonderful thing about ZACH, is I'm the only one!" I also found another Tigger quote that I thought was so special and true- "Once in a while someone amazing comes along... and here I am!" I went to Fedex Office to have them printed them out larger and they were actually able to turn them into larger posters for me! I also framed a picture of Zach [it was going to be a picture of him with his Tigger, but the day I tried taking the pictures he was having a bad hair day and it was incredibly hard to get a very active baby to stay still for a picture. I decided to just use a cute one of him that I had when we went to the Daffodil Festival.] The mantle display was complete with a stuffed animal Tigger, and a Happy Birthday Zach banner made with orange, blue, and white paper and a cricut.

The backdrop for the tablescape was simply orange, blue and white streamers, twisted down the wall. They were going to be topped off with large bunches of balloons, but they balloons were not sticking to the wall. After many attempts, and it pushing 2:00am, my sister and I called it quits with the balloons. I had made a monthly picture banner of Zach that I had hanging elsewhere. I decided to bring that over to the streamer wall to have it be more attention-grabbing. I think it turned out super-cute as is!

 

Last, but not least, was the ribbon garland for Zach's high chair. I used six different orange and blue ribbons to create the fun garland that was great for his cake smash. 

Food
I probably had the most fun with the food. Thank you for pinterest, because you can find all sorts of fun ideas on there! For the food, I went with more of a Hundred Acre Wood/ Winne the Pooh theme. To start, there were:

Hundred Acre Wood Acorns [Nutter butter bites, kisses and mini chocolate chips]

 

Pooh Bear Beehive Cupcakes (my personal favorite!)
[Chocolate cupcakes in cute liners, yellow frosting piped to with a swirl to look like a beehive and sugar bees- found at Walmart]

Tigger Tails [pretzel rods dipped in orange candy melts, drizzled with chocolate]

Rabbit's Garden & Spinach Dip
[Carrots, cauliflower, bell peppers, broccoli, & cucumbers cutely displayed in terracotta pots with kale as a filler]

Christopher Robin's Turkey Sandwiches [needed a main lunch dish!]

 
Kanga and Roo's Fruit Skewers with Strawberry Fruit Dip
[because all of the food was mainly desserts and I needed more well-rounded meal!]

Piglet's Punch
[I was going to make a pink punch but I couldn't find all the ingredients at the store. I ended up just buying Raspberry Ginger Ale that was the perfect pink color- with fun orange/white paper straws!]

Tigger Cake with a Surprise Center & Cupcake for the Cake Smash

The Party
We were so blessed to have Zach's Nana and Grandpa, lots of cousins and some Aunts and Uncles come to his party! We had a great time, eating, opening presents, socializing and watching him enjoy his cupcake. Zach has so many people who love him and we are so thankful that some (not everyone) could be here to celebrate him turning one! His birthday party was a big success and he has enjoyed playing with all of his new toys!

Happy Birthday Zach!

*happy birthday!*

Our sweet baby boy turned ONE YEAR OLD a week ago. I have lots of blog posts to write about his birthday, his party and the fun things he has been up to this past month. I have been pretty nostalgic and reminiscing about what our lives were like a year ago and thinking about all the things that have happened in this past year. I went back {for better or worse) and read through his birth story and looked at all the pictures of this past year. His first day, first bath, first time rolling over, etc. It has been such a fun year! I am so incredibly thankful to the Lord for our sweet boy. He is truly one of the best presents that I have ever received in my entire life. He is irreplaceable. Zach brings so much joy into our lives. Yes, it has been a challenging year navigating parenthood and all that entails, but it is so worth it.

Our little family of three had a wonderful day celebrating Zach's birthday. I made Zach pancakes for breakfast, one of his favorites. I decided to get a little festive and added sprinkles and made his in the shape of the number 1. I think this may become a new tradition for Zach and any other future kiddos for their birthdays. He gobbled the whole thing right down! He had his regular morning routine of playing, napping, playing some more and then lunch. We woke Dad up and headed out to the Children's Museum. Our family has season passes to the museum and we thought it would be a fun way for Zach to celebrate his birthday, something completely dedicated to him having fun. Well, it turns out the Children's Museum is closed every Wednesday. Big flop and big bummer. We were trying to figure out what to do. Go to the zoo? Go to the park? The Georgia Aquarium is right next door and so Justin suggested that we take him there. Zach had never been to the aquarium before and we knew he would love it.

And he did LOVE it! When we were in line to hand our tickets over and enter, there are two large tanks of fish swimming back and forth. When Zach saw them he kept pointing and loudly talking in eager excitement. We could have stayed all day at those two tanks and he would have been completely happy. Zach was so mesmerized by everything he saw: all the fish, sharks, ginormous whale sharks, sting rays, beluga whales, sea horses, crabs, penguins, jellyfish, and so much more. It was so cute to see him so excited and  babbling and he pointed to the glass and tried to tell us what he saw.

After a couple hours at the aquarium, he stopped by Sprinkles cupcakes and picked up some cupcakes for his birthday celebration. We had dinner at home, put a candle in his cupcake and sang him happy birthday. He clapped when we said, "Yay! Happy Birthday!" It was so fun and such a memorable experience to watch him eat his first cupcake. He poked his finger in a few times and then the light bulb went on and you could see he knew it was good. It was both hands in, legs kicking, frosting and cake all over the place and lots of 'Mmmmm's'. He loved the cake and was a big mess. It was straight into the bathtub, and dad cleaning the kitchen for 40 mins!

It was such a fun and memorable day that we had together as a family celebrating our sweet boy turning one!

And.... lots of pictures :)

 

 

 first time seeing the fish

 

 look! fish!

 so much to see. 

 sea turtle. 

penguins.

 love this picture!

 jellyfish. i love all his pointing. 

 looking at the whale shark.

 love his little pose.

 

 probably his favorite part- walking/crawling through the vapor

 aquarium selfie. 

 

 singing happy birthday!

 

 

 look!

 

mission accomplished.