Maddie’s 1st Birthday Party!

WOW. Be prepared for a MILLION pictures. I’ve never been good at eliminating. Just skim if you’d like. :)

I thought I had planned Maddie’s party perfectly around her naptimes. But she decided to throw us for a loop and not fall asleep until 20 MINUTES before her guests arrived. Ugh. Go figure! We had to wake her up to join the party, so she was a little groggy in the beginning. But she looked pretty darn cute in her #1 shirt and pink tutu.

When Madeline was little, we called her our “baby bird” because she would open her mouth as wide as she could and patiently wait for us to give her food. Sooo…I knew she had to have some sort of bird-themed birthday party. I’m in love with owls lately, so that ended up being our theme.

Here’s the invite….Look WHOOOO’S turning 1!!!

This friendly owl greeted our guests at the front door:

My FAVORTIE part of the decor was this photo clothesline of Madeline’s 1st year. Thank goodness we were diligent about taking those monthly photos! It was SO fun to be able to see how Maddie had changed from month to month. Even Madeline LOVED looking at these photos! I couldn’t bear to take it down right after the party…I’m pretty sure it adorned our family room for a good 3 weeks!

Here’s a close-up of the clothesline:

Aren’t these little owls ADORABLE?! They were a labor of love though. I had originally planned to make 5 of them to dangle from the chandelier, but they took a whoppin’ TWO HOURS a piece (which is why I called it quits after 3). They were just made by cutting millions of tiny feathers out of felt and gluing them one by one onto 4 inch Styrofoam balls. Very easy but VERY time-consuming.

A few months ago, I decided to invest in pretty much every color of paper lantern. They’re so cheap and add such a fun pop of color to any party!! I love having them!

The cake table:

Pennants….My favorite!!

We had owl vinyl decals on the sliding glass door and the mirrors:

The food table (minus the food):

More pennants on Maddie’s high chair:

Love that sweet baby!!!

After our friends all arrived, I had the kids do a quick craft. I knew I wanted them to make some sort of owl, but I didn’t just want a figurine or something—I wanted the craft to actually serve a purpose. So I had them decorate personalized treat bags that they would later use to collect candy from the piñata. It ended up being a great solution!

I had all the pieces pre-cut, and the kids just assembled their owls….I think they turned out so cute!!

While the kids were working on the craft, the adults took a quiz to see how well they knew Maddie. I made it HARD, but everyone did surprisingly well. In fact, Brent even put me to SHAME by pointing out that I had written down an incorrect answer for the time that Maddie was born. To double check my answer, I had consulted my blog, but apparently, I had typed her birth time wrong back when I was a zombie of a mom with a newborn! To solve the debate, Brent referred to the text that Grant had sent the day Maddie was born. Haha! I even checked her birth certificate, and it turns out he was RIGHT. Mom of the year, right?!?

After the quiz, I read the kids two of our all-time favorite owl books (“Peek-a-Who” and “Little Hoot”). Then, while I put lunch on the table, they colored pictures of Maddie! Did you know you can turn your photos into coloring pages on Crayola KidZone? So cool!!

Here are a few of them:

For lunch, we ate BBQ Ranch Chicken Quesadillas, fruit skewers with honey-lime-cinnamon dip, and black bean avocado salsa + chips.

The big kiddos eating lunch:

After lunch, Maddie got to open all of her fun gifts:

Finally, it was cake time! (Isn’t that the best part of a 1-year-old’s party anyway?!) This was Maddie’s owl “smash cake.” She had this huge thing ALL to herself! Almonds for the feathers, pineapple rings for the eyes, and a dried apricot for the beak.

The ganache-topped owl cupcakes were for everyone else to eat:

Golden Oreo eyes, Junior Mint pupils, and dried apricots cut into triangles for beaks:

Shan and Kenny (why don’t I have pictures of anyone else?!):

Miss Brooke Miss Olivia

Madeline was so disturbed by the candle that we put in front of her. Haha!

After a little encouragement, she finally started digging it.

Sharing cake with Mom and Dad! Thanks Maddie!

Oh my gosh…I LOVE messy cake pictures! The messier, the better!

This is my favorite picture of all!! I can’t stop laughing whenever I look at it!! What a MESS. I think she was in a sugar coma!

When Olivia turned 1, my brother-in-law had the idea to put her in a trash bag so we could carry her up to the tub. Of course we had to carry on the tradition with Maddie! See Olivia’s picture HERE.

After Maddie got cleaned up, the kids did the owl piñata…

Showing off their big bags of candy:

As a party favor, our friends headed out the door with some chocolate-covered Oreo pops (that looked like owls, of course). The little tags said:

“Thanks for making my party a HOOT! Love, Madeline”

We love you baby girl, and hope you felt special on your big day!!