I started planning Lincoln's first birthday party when he was like 8-9 months old. Of course I went to the authority on ideas of this sort....Pinterest!!! And I soon found the theme I fell in love with - the Farm!!!
I had a few friends and family who I knew could help me pull it off.
First, were the adorable farm-animal cupcakes designed and made by my Aunt Alicia. I loved the little chicks!
My Aunt also created the smash-cake below with Lincoln in his barn...I LOVED it!!!
We also went all-out on the guest list. We ended up with around 70-75 guests. Yes, seven-five...it was a bit crazy. But we are very lucky to have a lot of family and friends...and many of them helped us celebrate our baby boy's birthday!
In addition to the adorable cupcakes and custom smash-cake, my friend Courtney (who, herself, lives on a farm) loaned us some hay barrels to complete the decor....although we did have to give them back to the cows when we were finished with them.
And of course, what kids summer party would be complete without a pinata!!! I ordered a cow pinata from Oriental Trading Company and it was a hit with all of the kids...from 3 year olds to 12 year olds.
Below is one adorable guest, Cullen, taking a shot at the cow...
Lincoln was in such a good mood that day and it was just the icing on the cake!! He had all of his favorite people in one place at the same time. There was so much excitement and, of course, yummy food and cake- he had a blast!
I was told by several guests after the party that their kids had an absolute blast! I was so happy- that is exactly what we wanted. We made sure we had plenty for kids to do- a double slip-n-slide, a kiddy pool, a baby splash pad and the pinata of course. The slip-n-slide and pinata were the big hits!!! Sure, the slip-n-slide ruined a good section of our grass, but it was worth it!
Lincoln was of course spoiled with many cool gifts- we have hardly had to buy clothes or toys for this boy yet. He is so spoiled!
Here is Lincoln with seven of the little guests on the slip-n-slide. So cute!
And what first birthday can come to a close without the smash cake. Lincoln loved diving into the cake, although he was a bit daintier then I expected. Never-the-less he enjoyed eating the cake and was clearly very pleased with himself.
As the big bash came to a close he took a dip with some friends in the kiddie pool.
So in retrospect all of the planning and money was worth it for Lincoln, and most of our guests, to have a blast. Sure, I could have certainly scaled back on some of the food (mainly munchy-food we put on the tables) - it was hardly eaten. And we probably could have had a few less dishes of food. Its so hard to know, especially with so many guests, how much food to have.
And its hard to believe the morning of the party we thought it would be a bust. At midnight we lost power. We had $400 worth of food in our fridge and freezer. Luckily we awoke right when the power went off and had a generator in the garage. We only lost a few items of food. However, cooking for the party in a house with no air conditioning in July was...interesting. Our smoke alarms were going off, the house filled with smoke as the mac-n-cheese started to burn....we were running around shutting off alarms...all while my mother tried to put Lincoln down for his first nap so he wasn't cranky for the party.
But, like a wish come true, right as the party was starting the power came back on.
It was destined to be a great day.
And it was.