Greyson's Birthday Party

{Greyson's Birthday Party}

Held: December 27, 2012

At: Our Home

(photo Sears portraits- Adorable shirt by Shelly St. John...check out her face book & etsy site here)

Greyson's first birthday was Dec. 9th, 2012. Since Matt's family lives near us, we had our mini party for him on his real day, but his REAL party wasn't held until 2 weeks later (after Christmas) when more  of the family was in town. 

I don't think it mattered to him much WHEN it was, but having both sets of Grandparents here made it extra special. 

Some families think having a big birthday party for the first one is a little over the top since they won't remember it. I made my decision based on the time of year Greyson was born & the fact that my family lives so far away. Since they (most likely) won't be in our area on his real birthday every year, this was really the only time I could plan to have it late (when it really wouldn't matter) & have the most people included & involved. It just worked better for us! The older he gets we'll still have nice parties & I'm pretty sure there will be a pony involved at one point...but in my eyes, this is the only party that will have this much work & details going into it. 

If we have more children I'll plan to do bigger, more details parties on the FIRST birthday & go easy on the rest. Makes my life a little less complicated in the long run! =) 

Theme: Sock Monkey's & Vintage Toys

I have always loved sock monkeys (we had one when we were little) but when I saw the newborn sock monkey hats, I knew I had to get one for Greyson's new born photos. Since then I always had this theme in the back of my mind & planned to use one of those photos at the party. With in that year, the sock monkey theme got so popular! It was easy to find lots of things out there to use for the party. 

I wanted something different than a cowboy theme, because that will come up eventually =) 

I also got another hat for his 12 month shoot & tied that in with his newborn photos. In addition to the sock monkeys, I had vintage toys that also reflected the theme of my baby shower up north! 

I had so much fun planning & making things for this party. I put some of my own special touches in the details & I absolutely loved how everything turned out!!! 

So without further delay...here is Greyson's party!

Smash Cake

 Candy "Bar" for the favor bags

Drink Table-  Coke & Root beer in glass bottles =)

 Hot Chocolate bar on a cold December evening! 

Peppermint marshmallow stirrers! 

Photo timeline banner (Newborn - 12 months) & gifts

 We did the gifts first so everyone could see him open everything instead of waiting till the end of the party. Plus, there is such thing as "too much birthday" & we knew giving cake before presents would be a disaster! 

Family & Friends at the party. We had around 25-27 people in attendance. Some friends were out of town, couldn't make it, or ended up sick...we missed them but it was still pretty full! I didn't get pictures of everyone but I'm so glad they all came =)

Menu:

Sloppy Joes & BBQ ham on small dinner rolls

Jalapeno cheeseball & crackers

Deer Bologna, cheese & crackers (compliments of my dad bringing it from PA)

Sweet pickles

Macaroni & Cheese (made by Karen Blankenship...which is always amazing!)

Cocktail weenies in sauce

Chips & French Onion dip

Banana Pudding (made by my mother in law...it's the best!) 

Chocolate & Vanilla cupcakes & smash cake (from Pell City Coffee Company...amazing!)

 Singing Happy Birthday! He was very quiet & looked around at everyone as I brought the cake out. He blew on his candle & kept blowing but had to have a little help to blow it all the way out.

He loved "smashing" his cake! He got icing everywhere, but managed to eat a good portion of his cake =) This one was less messy than his other birthday cake that had blue icing...-_-

The Kids favors (I had 8 total) 

Included:

Pencil pinwheels

Vintage toy- Small Wooly Willy game

Glow Stick

Bubbles

Candy

 The next day I took a picture of Greyson with his banner. Hence the PJ's!

Nana was leaving so we had to get a picture of Greyson sitting in his new rocking chair! 

{Special Thanks}

A HUGE Thank you to Richelle Ritchey (Aunt Chelle) for all of her hard work in making this day AWESOME! Not only did she take all of the pictures
(& spend an entire day or days editing them)
she also designed & ordered the Birthday invitations, ran errands for me, helped cleaned, wrote on all the notecards...etc. etc. etc!! She helped in pretty much every area to set up for the party. I could not have done it all with out her help. She is so talented & I'm so glad she was able to be here & be such a big part of Greyson's day. My brother (Uncle Brandon) also helped Richelle run the errands & watched Greyson part of the time =)

My mom (Nana) pretty much helped plan out the menu, helped me shop for everything, made almost all of the food & got it ready & set out. She also helped get things set up, picked up & watched Greyson while I was running around. Dad (papa) even gave Greyson his bath before the party & helped Matt move some of the furniture.

My best friend Emily Powell let me borrow what seemed like a never ending list of things from the high chair, to serving dishes! She helped with the set up, sprinkling of the cupcakes (among other things) =) & did a BUNCH of the clean up at the end of the party. She was a HUGE help all around & her husband, Matt, also helped carry & load all of these items as well as watched the kids & kept things "under control" haha for the most part =) 

Other friends & family helped with the food & also gave Greyson so many wonderful gifts for his party. We didn't have one thing duplicated all the way through Christmas & his birthday combined! 

A sweet friend of mine (Brenda) gave me a "time capsule" for one of my baby shower gifts. We have added special things to it all year...from his party we added all the cards he got & several of them had money in them. We plan to keep the money & cards in tact so that one day during another milestone of his life (we're not sure how old he will be, but MUCH older) we will give him the time capsule as a keepsake. 

I am so grateful for all the many friends & family that have added so much to our lives. Each one is special & means so much to us. We have been blessed more than anyone will ever know & praise God for all His goodness to us. This party wasn't just a celebration of Greyson's first year, but a THANK YOU to all those who have had a part in his life so far. From babysitting, to play dates & everything in between...we had a great year!