The Details...

I am a detail person, I love the little details that go into anything, but especially party planning! I thought and thought and thought about the theme for this HUGE day in Connor's life. I knew that I didn't want anything about the holidays and I really didn't want a winter theme, just because he was born in the winter. So, I thought that "cupcakes, stripes, and polka dots" would be the perfect theme! I love blue, brown and green and there was the color scheme! Once I figured out the theme, the rest just kind of fell into place. If you know me, you also know I like to re purpose things if at all possible and I was able to do that with a few things for the party!The little banner, it matched the paper from the invitations! It looked a little cuter in the room, but I did the best I could to photograph it! I figure I can use it for as many birthdays as I can get away with and after that, it's going in the scrapbook!

The polka dot and stripe cake was lovingly created by the one and only Auntie Girl! She is a cake baker/decorator extraordinaire and I knew she would make the perfect cake for the little man! Didn't it turn out cute? I love the "1" on top! The enormous cupcake was Connor's smash cake and I loved it! Does it get much better than an enormous cupcake? I am not the best decorator, so Bj had to ice it - he did a great job, huh? I just thought the table looked cute with the cakes and little cupcakes on it! So fun!
I think this was my favorite little piece. The dining room looked so fun with the balloons, centerpieces on the tables and Connor pictures hanging from the chandeliers! In fact, I still haven't taken them down because I love them! I had pictures of Connor and his first year all over the house, it was so fun to look at how much he has grown and changed over this first year!
We had centerpieces on the tables and cookie favors in a basket! I wanted to put something in the vases that we could reuse, I didn't want to fill them up and throw something away. So, my thought was coffee beans with blue and green ribbons around the outside, but my mom suggested ornaments and I loved it! She found these super cute polka dot ornaments at Wal-Mart and I think they looked darling! We had some with blue and some with green AND we can reuse the ornaments next year on Connor's tree, love it! We gave away cookies in the shape of a cupcake as our little favors, they were pretty cute! Last but not least...I had all of the guests sign a copy of "Oh the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss so Connor could look back and see all the people who came to celebrate his first year! I think it will be fun for him to have and look back at. I am a sentimental sap though so at the very least I will enjoy looking at it :)
I thought these turned out sweet - we had pictures frames on the tables at our wedding, they had a picture, description of the picture and table name. My mom had originally bought these picture frames (20 of them at the dollar store!) but I liked the other set better. SO, I spray painted them brown and used the coordinating paper to mat the pictures with! It was just another fun way for me to get as many Connor pictures out as possible.

I wanted to do something a little different for the food and I knew that everyone would be eating fancy around the holidays - so a little Mexican feast emerged! We had southwest rolls, queso, salsa and taco dip for appetizers - and fiesta chicken, spanish rice and southwest salad as the the main course. It was YUMMY and we had no leftovers, so it must not have been too bad! I just keep looking at the pictures and smiling because it was such a fun day - and it wasn't even his actual birthday! I have a feeling I am going to be a crying momma on Thursday - I have found myself so emotional this week - I think all of the feelings are just flooding back from this time last year. I can't believe we didn't even know if he was a boy or a girl - he was still our little nugget as this time last year. Now, he is a beautiful, darling almost one year old! Okay - sorry for the boring details post, I promised I would take lots of pictures though and I thought the pictures needed some explanations!