Today was Kendall's 1st birthday party at our house! Because there is so much I want to remember and so many pictures to share, I'm breaking it up into 2 separate postings ...
The preparations for Kendall's 1st birthday party started months ago ... the list was long, but this was her 1st birthday afterall, so it was extra special for us! I have to say that some of the preparations were easy ... some were difficult ... and some we will NEVER do again ... ha! Ash wants me to write this down, so that I won't forget how tired I am and how I truly feel about it right now, so that I won't be trying all of this at next year's birthday party ... ha!
Okay, so I've already admitted to dreaming about & envisioning lots of the "firsts" for Kendall ... her 1st birthday party being one of those BIG ones! I'd been planning, researching and completed lots of recon in finding everything that we would need for the party ... and yet, a few days before ... and then, the day before ... and then, the day of ... the party, I was still running around trying to complete my long list of to-do's ... why is that? It seems it always works out that way, regardless of my best intentions. Part of it is the challenge of RSVP's (or "Regrets only") and we had invited a lot of families to this party ... and then, some things can't be done until the actual party day, or even a hour or so before the party starts ... and some things end up taking longer than you'd originally anticipated ... it's always something, it seems! This time I spent a few days in Abilene for the birth of our newest nephew, Tucker, and then as soon as we got home Tuesday night, Kendall started running a low-grade temperature & just wanted me to hold her constantly ... we were hoping it was due to teething, but after 2 days of that & a little rash popped up on her body, to the doctor we went for her 1st time of being sick ... she's got an ear infection ... but we were just thrilled she would be feeling better soon & that she wasn't contagious). In the end, we had a few helpers come to my rescue and everything was ready to go when our party guests arrived!
Here's a few of the party prep that we tackled ...
Cake vs. Cupcakes ... we decided on cupcakes and my sister, Estee, was hired for the job! My sister is very creative & talented, has taken cake decorating classes, and has done a few kids parties, so I was really happy that she was helping me out for this occasion! I made 75 cupcakes (50 golden vanilla and 25 chocolate) on Friday ... and although, it was a lot & took a while, I got it done while Kendall napped that afternoon. We picked up E from the airport at 9pm and began working on the finishing touches ... icing them, topping them all with "sand" (light brown sugar), the beach balls (that E made at her home & flew here with them!), and the little umbrellas. Here are the finished cup cakes ...
Thank You Favors ... we had party favors for all the kidos, but I wanted some kind of thank you favors for everyone. We went through lots of ideas and decided on sugar cookies. (Now, I have to admit, when my sister mentioned sugar cookies, my first thought was "how many dough rolls of sugar cookies should I purchase?" ... and she was quick to tell me that those were not the type of cookies we'd be making ... ha! We were going to make them from scratch (especially since we couldn't have them rising too much for the icing & decorating we'd be doing) ... so that's what we did.) I bought all the ingredients ... and after E arrived Friday night, we got started ... mixing everything in my fancy Kitchen Aid mixer, rolling out the dough, chilling the dough, cutting out the cookies, baking them, and cooling them ... and then, making the royal icing & icing all the cookies. It was all hands on deck for this project as well ... E, Ash & I all worked on this project & the cupcakes for hours ... I eventually went to bed at 3:30am (I was to take the early shift with Kendall in the morning) and they finished up the first layer of icing at 6:00am! Later that morning (after only 3 hours of sleep) E piped all the K's on each cookie ... that would be 120 cookies! Then we had to let them all dry, bagged them and finished them off with ribbon and the "splish splash thank you tag" and displayed them in a wheelbarrow. Our thank you favors ...
Party Favors ... I found these fun beach-ball-like water bottles with crazy straws for all the kids ... and finished them off with ribbon & our splish splash thank you tag ... and displayed them in a fun wagon. (It was really difficult for me to find something that would fun, yet affordable for up to 45 kids that are so many ages ... babies through 14 year olds ... but I thought they turned out cute and everyone seemed to like them!)
Party decorations ... we used lots of fun colors, mostly pink, lime green & teal, and fun swimming/beach items on the tables and outside ... beach towels, arm floaties, beach balls, swimming rings, sand pails & shovels, sand toys, sunglasses, water guns, pictures of Kendall and balloons ...
I had several helpers that I owe HUGE Thank You's to ... without them, this party prep would not have been completed on time!
my sister, E ... for flying in for this special weekend, for all her hard work in making all the beach balls for the cupcakes, the cookies & icing everything for hours (I hope you can feel your fingers & right hand again soon!), taking tons of pictures at the party and staying up nearly all night making sure that everything was done! It was a lot of work for her and we greatly appreciate it!
my parents, Grams & Pops ... they arrived a few hours early on Saturday to help out with last minute things, including cleaning, watching Kendall & bathing her before the party, setting up tables & table cloths, blowing up all the inflatable items and doing anything else that still needed to be done.
my friend, Christi ... she arrived a couple of hours early on Saturday and brought us lunch ... and played with Kendall and bagged/tied ribbon/tagged cookies with me & E!
and Kendall's Daddy ... my sweet husband ... who stayed up until 6am working on decorating cookies with my sister ... then got up after 3 hours of sleep, to referee a soccer game, then coach his last soccer game of the season, then came back home at 1p to prep all the food for the party and help me with all the last minute things!
It was a lot of work ... but worth it to us to have so many wonderful families come over to celebrate Kendall's big 1st birthday party with us!
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