Charlotte's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Sweet Charlotte's 1st Birthday on Saturday, and I still haven't quite recovered! We just had a little backyard, friends and family-type soiree. The weather was not ideal, unless you consider sweating out of your clothes "ideal". I do not. It was the kind of hot and muggy that might kill a lesser man. Thankfully us Southerners are used to air so thick you need to chew it before you can breath it in.

Here are pics of the party-in no particular order, of course! 

We did cupcakes for guests, but we had to have a special "Smash Cake" just for Charlotte. This was made by my friend Victoria, who owns a great little company called Chubbycakes. She does some really awesome stuff, and if you're in this area you should totally check her out! She's on Facebook if you would like to see some more of her work (or you could just take my word for it!).

Check out her new wheels! This was her gift from H and me, and it was money well spent! She LOVES it! We have already made many trips down the street and around the dining room table. And if we got a dollar for every time she climbed in and out of it, the Cozy Coupe would have already paid for itself!

This is the gift and favor table I set up. Once I realized the temp wasn't going to get below 115 degrees, I decided to leave the favors inside. The favors were little monogrammed sand buckets that contained a scoop, a sand sculpting starfish, ocean-themed stickers, and chocolate-dipped rice krispie treat. Nothing too fancy, but hopefully the little guests will enjoy some or all of it this summer!

This is Charlotte contemplating her smash cake. By this time she was completely exhausted from all the partying and a little confused about being the center of attention. She didn't get into it as much as I had hoped, but we're gonna give it another go.

This is part of the table. Don't worry, we didn't let the kids have much wine! Kidding, kidding! They all preferred the beer.

Here is the main table that held the food. Everyone was super impressed by the topiaries, but I can't take credit for them. One of my besties, Nicole Davis, made these a few years ago for her daughter's birthday party. The pink and green color scheme was perfect for Charlotte's party so she graciously let us borrow them. I painted the clay pots hot pink and voila--instant centerpieces!

And here is a shot of the backyard, just so you can get a better idea of the set up.

Honestly, it wasn't as perfect as I had hoped. It was SO FLIPPIN HOT, and it would sprinkle on and off. I think we ended up moving the food and the tables about 3 times before I finally made an executive decision and moved all of the food indoors. The kiddie pool and sprinkler helped cool things off for the kids, but the adults just suffered through. We eventually set up a homemade slip n'slide and the kids really enjoyed that! (And it has been requested that we make it a neighborhood adult slip n' slide pretty soon)

I love any reason to throw a party, but what better reason that Charlotte's first birthday!?! My parents always made my birthday such a big event, and I want her birthdays to always be that way, too. In my opinion, a birthday is the one day out of the year that is totally about YOU. Why not make it a special occasion? Whether it's the first one, the sixth one, or the twenty-ninth one--a birthday should always be your special day. I pray she celebrates each year knowing just how precious she is to us.

Happy 1st Birthday Charly-Bug!