Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

We celebrated our youngest daughter’s first birthday recently.  For months I have been keeping track of first birthday party ideas on Pinterest in an effort to be prepared. Ha!  I still went into panic mode days before her birthday party, searching everything I could in every manner possible.  Of course, I didn’t do more than half of what I had originally planned.  (I had such high hopes, but I still think we did well.)

I gave in to the decoration isle at our local shopping center.  I wasn’t planning to, but I was really surprised to see all of the options that are available now; such cute Minnie Mouse decorations and baby girl LOVES Minnie Mouse!  How could I resist?

We have recently moved into our home and have a lot of bare walls available for me to decorate.  I purchased several wall coverings / decorative scenes to take up as much space as possible.  The baby loved them.  I was a little disappointed that they were so thin.  I would have preferred them to be thicker.  I think this would have made them easier to apply to the wall.  I felt a little like I was tinting car windows, but I did it!  (Take note to how thin they are – you can see the colored tape we used behind it)

I didn’t want to hang the spirals & bows from the ceiling because our ceiling is so high I felt they would be wasted up there.  Last minute I decided to take advantage of the helium balloons I purchased for her on her birthday and use them to help bring the decorations down a little.  I LOVED the idea and I think the concept came out very well.  If I had to do it in a planned manner, I would use a solid color, standard balloon, all the same color.  I was thinking all light pink or white would look wonderful.

I think what really attracted me to the idea was that there would be no holes in the ceiling and I wouldn’t have to worry about tape marks either!   For decorations that are heavier, use more than one balloon to help keep them up.   If you opt for the single-color option I suggested in the paragraph above, no one will notice that you have more than balloon tied to each decoration.

While I did cheat and purchased a few Minnie Mouse decorations, we did add in a few homemade / DIY Birthday Party Decorations of our own. First, we have a chalk board in our kitchen.  My husband and oldest daughter traced Minnie Mouse onto the board beautifully!  She is still on my chalkboard (almost two weeks later – I can’t bring myself to erase it!)

Secondly, I couldn’t find a Minnie Mouse costume in our daughter’s size at an affordable price. Instead, I opted to purchase specialty ribbon and create a cute something myself.  I love the outfit, we plan to use it again for her on Halloween after I add in a handmade mouse ears. (Check back soon for a tutorial of her outfit)

Pick & Choose

While I would have LOVED to have completed everything on my Pinterest wish-list, you have to pick and choose your battles.  No mom can do it all.  Lord knows, I can’t – no matter how much I might try.  I think the best thing any mom can do when planning a birthday party is to find a handful of special touches/tasks that they want to create on their own and fill in the rest with pre-made supplies.  Unless you have weeks available to create in advance, that is the best any mom can hope for when planning a child’s birthday party.

Another suggestion I have is to prepare as much as you can ahead of time.  We decorated for a few days before her birthday dinner.  Because I thought we were doing a “simple” family dinner, I opted to have more food than was necessary.  This took up much of my time during the party.  I promised my husband I won’t do that again – even if it means I serve delivery pizza instead!

Do you have a great Birthday Party Pinterest Board?  We’d love to follow you!  Share your board in the comments below.  Be sure to tell us which idea on your board is your favorite!