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!

Sharing is caring!