A One Year Old in a Flash!

Back in January our little bundle of poopy mess joy turned one. I had been planning for this day for, well, probably the entire first year of his life. After much research and creativity I came up with his 'theme' and got started on those darn invitations. I really did enjoy being the one to make them, but do you have any idea how long it takes to make 30+ invitations with a little one crawling around? Needless to say I knew it would be a challenge so I started early and worked on them during his naps (thank goodness for two naps!). It took me several weeks to get them all done and I totally blame it on my perfectionist ways. The invitations set everything. It let everyone know just how special I wanted to make his first birthday. Yeah, yeah, I'm completely aware that he will never remember it, but I wanted to capture the memories for him, box them up and share them with him when he turned 18. So that's what we did.

Working on the invitations and inserts...VERY time consuming with that cheap paper cutter

"One Year Old in a FLASH!" was his theme. Let me tell you, that filmstrip took some serious time and effort and is by far my most favorite part of the invite for that very reason. I've got a special place in my heart for photography. It's a hobby of mine that I wish I had more time to perfect. Knowing that (and the number of photos I took during his first year) I felt it necessary to have his first birthday centered around capturing special moments we had with him. We also wanted our guests to feel a part of it as well. The insert I made was explaining that on Josiah's 18th birthday he would open a time capsule that was created for him on his first birthday by the people that love him. I'm not gonna lie, as his mom I'm pretty excited to see what people decided to create or write to make him feel so special and encouraged (I've already had a few sneak peaks and, boy are they awesome!).

Time Capsule station complete with instructions, paper, pens, and the needed time capsule container

We asked family from far away to mail in items to be added and for friends to bring something with them when they attended the party. We left out some 'just in case' items for guests to write notes of encouragements, prayers, and/or blessings for Josiah. I thought it very fitting to have a mailbox hold all these items for him until his 18th birthday. It's a plus that it's easy to store, unbreakable, and not see-through...still working on getting that thing shoved in a closet somewhere for safe keeping.

Party sign

First year by month banner

Baby boy in his birthday suit!

Found this lady on Etsy. She did a wonderful job on his onesie

I kept decorations simple and found other ways to save money:
-I made the invitations myself
-homemade tissue pom poms and banner for decor
-homemade cupcakes and frosting
-served fruit, veggies, and something salty (held the party between lunch and his afternoon nap so that cut down on food costs)
-made the easiest punch known to man (sherbet and sprite/7-up)
-party favors for the kiddos where found at Target near the party decoration section (there's a photo of what the party favor was if you keep scrolling)
-Dollar store toys and bubbles for the kids and we were also extremely blessed to have some friends lend us their bounce house to keep the kids entertained...it turned out to be a beautiful January day in Texas for it!

Here are some additional photos of his special day:

Cake!

note on the party favor bags

some very awesome friends sporting the party favors

Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt quilt my mom made for her little grandson

Josiah's 1st birthday was a complete success! I was able to snap a few good memories for my little man, spend a special day with my family, and do it all on a small budget. 

Simple is sometimes ten times better!
-Kassidy

P.S. If you want any other details on how I created some of the items for the party, feel free to ask. I would be happy to help!