Noa's Party

We did it! The cupcakes turned out beautiful and super yummy, the decorations were the sweetest touches and the rest of the food (BBQ pulled pork sliders with homemade coleslaw and crockpot beans) were great too. Thanks to all the family for coming and enjoying a beautiful afternoon with us as we celebrated Noa's first birthday!

Buzzzzzz!!!!

Noa is ONE year old!

Okay, so I'm three days late in announcing that. We decided to have the party the weekend after her birthday to make it easier on all my family's schedules (but don't forget that we won't be postponing her party next year please!) and so Gi could go to her buddy's birthday party which would have been on the same day. Anyway, even with the extended deadline I have had a super hard time committing to a theme and getting things planned for the party. It's also tougher the second time around having a standard in place for what a child's first birthday party should look like. With Gi we invited everyone under the sun, did a slideshow set to music and decked the house in pink and green. This time around, we only invited family and four days before the party I have finally decided it will be a bee theme. I tested the cupcakes last weekend and they are cute as pie and de-lish! The cupcakes are honey with yellow meringue buttercream frosting and marzipan bumblebees on top. Of course the theme was generated from a tasty snack idea. It all starts with the food folks!

But I've been secretly wringing my hands about how to decorate for the party, stuck as I am in a rural town far from chain party supply stores and short on time for do-it-yourself decorations. Then, inspiration hit! I have a 3 year old! And she likes to do CRAFTS. Insert devilish grin here. Today, Gi and I whipped up four of the cutest, simplest paper plate bumble bees complete with wax paper wings (using cut-outs of her footprints) and googly eyes of her choosing. She painted all the plates yellow then she added black stripes, glued on the eyes, painted noses and smiles and stood patiently while I traced her foot and cut them out of wax paper which she finally glued on top the plates as wings. As luck would have it, I have four windows in the kitchen that need decorating so I will be hanging these at varying heights around in the windows and voila! We have keepsake decor to brighten up the kitchen around the birthday cupcake table!