Birthday Party: One Year Old in a Flash

What an exciting year it has been!  I never dreamed parenting would be so fulfilling, trying, or fun.  It has changed my life in so many positive ways.  I am so grateful for the chance to be a mom to this beautiful, healthy baby.  She is so loved. 

We celebrated Jayna's birth and this past year with a picture themed party.  I have Stacy at Elle Belle Creative to thank for the awesome idea. 

We invited friends and family to come for fun, photos, and food.  I knew I would want need to get someone (let's be honest, I am no photographer!)  to come take pictures so I hired Christal Anderson and she did a great job.  I was able to really enjoy the party and not worry about snapping photos.  And they turned out way better than any I would have taken so it was totally worth the money.  She arrived early and we got some of just the three of us and then she manned the "photo booth" as well as took candid shots throughout the party.

The trunk Jayna is sitting on is her time capsule.  We suggested that in the place of a gift, people bring a newspaper clipping, predictions about the future, letters, or photos to put in a time capsule that she will open on her 18th birthday.  I love this idea and am going to do it for all of our future kiddos.  I already have a suitcase I want to use for Calvin (yes I have already named our unborn, unconceived son).  I saw it at the thrift store and thought it would be perfect.  Am I crazy?  It was a good deal and I love it.  Anyways, Jayna got lots of fun stuff in her capsule: lots of letters, including a 5 pager from her Great Grandma whom she is named after, a cd of popular music from the past year, a movie and a book, and some other stuff!  I don't want to spoil it for her in case someday she reads this, but you get the gist.  

The photo booth was fun for both young and old alike.  I simply hung up a gray twin size flat sheet for the backdrop and made a few photo props.  You can find a tutorial for my giant bow ties here.

The chub-a-wub loved her giant cupcake as you can tell by how much she ate!  

There was a cupcake bar for the rest of us with frosting, nuts, sprinkles, and gummy bears.  

And for favors each of the kids received a baby box camera.  I bought the PDF for these from Etsy seller Mel Stringer.  They were a bit time consuming to put together, but fun once finished!

This babe is ready to take on the world!  She is such a sweet and silly girl.  We can't wait to see what the future brings!

I'm linking up to the Birthday Challenge at the CSI Project!