Sunday, March 11, 2012

Squeaky D's Rainbow Birthday of Awesome!

I have been trying to write about Squeaky D's First Birthday for almost four months now. First I nearly lost all of the photos that were taken that day. Very very few photos were taken, but to lose them all in a technical glitch? I don't want to think about it. But I did recover some photos, thankfully, and I've decided to let them mostly speak for themselves. Yes? Yes.

I made the Royal Birthday Baby a quick birthday crown.

I know babies don't really care about their first birthdays. And that is totally cool. But I really wanted to invite over all the people who love him and give everyone a really spectacular day. Since Squeaky D's favourite thing at the time was colours (uh, isn't it every baby's?) I decided to keep it a really simple Rainbow theme and just have fantastic food and a colourful experience for everyone. A big thanks to D's Auntie Kaylin who came over a few hours in advance and helped out big time!

An old parachute hung from the ceiling and a rainbow umbrella.
I was kind of nervous to have a bunch of kids in my house. There, I said it. It scares me! I used to work with kids, so it is strange that I am nervous about it. It isn't because I don't know songs or games to play! There weren't even that many coming, really, it was an adult-heavy event. I decided I would build the children a fort in our second bedroom, fill it with all the toys and a ton of rainbow balloons, and encourage them to make their own good time? It worked. Perfectly.
White and rainbow holiday lights lit the parachute from behind.
The view of the birthday fort from above... several days later!
I kept the grab bags really simple. Every one, even the adults, got a paper bag that I decorated with old scrap-booking leftovers. The children's bags had homemade rainbow playdough, bubbles, a colourful pen, tattoos, and a jar full of rainbow jelly beans, a chocolate, and a disco ball holiday ornament.
Sad goodie bags that were left behind.

Jars full of Jelly Beans for everyone!
 I really didn't get a lot of shots of the food or drinks. I did rainbow fruits and rainbow (as much as possible!) vegetables. I had the usual meat and cheese and hummus and dips and some mini-tacos that went way too fast. I did gluten free and dairy free chocolate cupcakes that were so delicious, iced them with coconut-milk frosting and topped with sprinkles in rainbow colours. Desmond's cupcake was the only one with more than one colour. 
Not a huge fan. He didn't take one bite!

One of each colour. 
I put up a Rainbow Photo wall but only one guest had her photo taken there - and she slept right through it! Squeaky D's good friend Attia brought her Mama, Sarah from A Random Sampling, but was too tuckered out to stay up for photos.
Sarah and Attia
I hand-dyed the orange streamers myself. No joke, a month after Halloween and no orange streamers to be found. And I went to five different stores. So I made my own. Ha!
Our little family is one year old.
At the end of the day, The Squeaker had a fantastic time. He spent most of the day chasing around the other kids and laughing his face off. That's all I really wanted. Oh yeah, and delicious food. 

BIRTHDAY SMOOCHES ZOMG
Happy Birthday, Squeaky D! I love you.


6 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness I love you guys and am sad we missed it but can't wait to see you SO SOON!!!!

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  2. Your little D is adorable! And such neat ideas for a kid's party!

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  3. It was an awesome party! My favourite baby party to date! Thanks for including us. :)

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  4. That boy is so loved...and so adorable:)
    Now come immediately to my house & bring that parachute! I wanna tent it indoors! So fun!

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  5. Thanks everyone! Riley, I am hyper-pumped to see you and your family!

    Alicia: That parachute is AWESOME. It makes the rounds between our friends and travels from party to party. Nobody owns it, it just kind of belongs to everyone... so we made sure to dry clean it before we used it. Hahahaha! Seriously though, if you get a chance to buy one, do it!! So cool.

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  6. This.is.brilliant!!!
    I just managed to stumble upon your blog - and wow, you have given some great ideas for my son's second birthday party!

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