First Birthday Party (part two)

I'm using this post (and last) to journal some of what I did at Noah's party while it's still fresh in my mind. I'm sure I'll come back to it and make some hard copy notes so that I can remember what worked, at what didn't!

The Food:

We decided that grilling hamburgers and hot dogs would work the best for us. Our friend, Kirk, offered to be the main man at the grill. That helped free us up to mingle with friends and family. I had a table set aside with all the fixings and a separate table for chips, macaroni salad and watermelon. We ordered a Costco cake for everyone and Noah had his own special cake from Albertsons (a FREE first birthday cake) that he could dig into (and he DID)! The food worked great and we had plenty for everyone.

Noah's cake:

Noah enjoying his cake:

As you can imagine we had to give Noah a quick bath (in the sink :)) right away...he had frosting everywhere. I'm glad I decided to strip him down to his diaper, it saved his clothes from the impending mess...I don't think a bib would have protected him all that well.

Decorations:

This is where I had some fun with the monkey and banana theme. I had brown table covers, yellow tableware and brown/yellow napkins. On the table with the chips/watermelon and macaroni salad I had two inflatable monkeys, one on either side. I got these for $1.99 at Party America. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the decorations until after everyone had eaten...here's a picture of the table after some wear and tear:

On the round tables (that guests ate around) I had a bouquet of brown and yellow balloons tied down with a bunch of bananas. I loved that idea. It also worked well when the little ones needed a snack. I saw several kiddos eating bananas by the end!! I figured that I'll just make banana bread with the leftovers...a task for today, maybe. I was also able to find a Mylar balloon that was a bunch of bananas. I alternated having one of those in the bouquets.

I used a die-cut machine to cut several monkeys to hang from the patio cover...I forgot about them until it was too late! Anyone need some die-cut monkeys?? :) I'll save a few for Noah's scrapbook, but I have several left if anyone needs some.

The friends:

I had Noah right around the same time that several of my friends had their first (or second or third :)). In fact, there were 7 other babies Noah's age and 3 of them are within 2 weeks of Noah! Here are the faces of some of Noah's friends and family:

Noah and his cousin Lily:

Eva and her Mommy and Daddy:

Luke and Rachel some of Noah's favorite playmates:

Noah's cousin Ryleigh and friend Gracie:

Noah's friend Karis:
Noah's cousin Isabella:
Sweet Sienna:
Noah's buddy Mason:Noah's buddy Joel:

Check out this picture taken when Noah was 1 week old:


Yep, Noah, Joel and Mason!