Liam's Almost 1 Party

During our vacation to the PNW, we threw Liam an "Almost 1" Party at my parents lake cabin!  I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to be with friends & family even though it meant celebrating about 3 weeks early!  I have been a little sad when trying to plan something for little L's birthday, because I wanted a huge bash with everyone who is important to our family!  Unfortunately that will never happen, since we have friends scattered all over the country and our families live in two separate states.  I had to continually remind myself that I don't need to throw this epic party that is Pinterest worthy.  Instead I focused my efforts on trying to make a fun celebration with some of Liam's favorite things.  Since it was the weekend after the 4th of July, many people were out of town...  I was a little bummed about this, but it didn't matter because we still got to celebrate with a select group!  :-)

I'm not a huge fan of themed parties, so instead I just wanted something colorful.  I also knew I wanted to incorporate tons of balloons (Liam is obsessed) as well as some zoo animals!  Liam & I take weekly trips to the zoo which he always seems to enjoy, so I'm going to go ahead and assume he also loves zoo animals!  Conor found this invitation which caught our eyes immediately!  It was exactly what I was picturing in my mind; I loved all the colors and kept them in mind when selecting banners, balloons, poms, & more!

After deciding on invitations, I wanted to have a Happy Birthday banner made that incorporated those same colors.  I sent an image of the invite to Yellow Bird, Yellow Beard so that she could custom make me one!  Jane was wonderful to work with and even got my order to me in a hurry, since I was a little late in the party planning department.  I know you can find Happy Birthday banners every where, but I wanted a high quality one that I can use year after year.  My mom hung the same (somewhat hideous, she bought it in the early 80s) banner every year for my birthday, so I want to continue that tradition.  Unfortunately I didn't snag a picture of it, but I will on Liam's actual birthday!

I also worked with the etsy shop, Best Birthday Ever, to find a t-shirt for Liam's big day!  I shopped around for awhile on this one, and I even contacted a few other shops that weren't nearly as friendly or easy to work with.  Again I was on a bit of a tight timeline, but Charles & Sarah made it happen.  I think his shirt is just adorable and it was incredibly soft & well made too!  I see Liam wearing it until it no longer fits!

Liam & the Godfather

The other thing I was really excited about was doing a photo collage in the shape of the number 1 (yes, the one we have seen all over Pinterest)!  I ordered these prints from Prinstagram, a pretty awesome company.  The photos were cheap, although the shipping was a bit high.  However, the ordering process is so simple that it was well worth it!  You literally just sign into your instagram account and then select whatever pictures you want with just a few clicks, easy peasy!!!

Guests arrived to plenty of sunshine and a few pitchers of fresh mojitos!  My parents have an incredible amount of mint growing at the cabin, so we put it to good use!  The weather was perfect for a lunch time BBQ.  I wanted to keep things simple, that way I wouldn't be spending all my time in the kitchen!  My mom & Conor helped me did most of the work preparing hamburgers, fresh fruit, and homemade guac & chips!  I had been excited about making Liam a smash cake for months, but as the party got closer I wasn't too pumped about the idea anymore.  We still hadn't really introduced Liam to sugar, so I didn't want him eating a ridiculous amount of cake all of sudden.  I thought through some "healthy" options, but ended up making a last minute decision to serve Sweet Peaks ice cream!  Conor's sister & brother-in-law own this incredible ice cream shop in Montana, which Liam had his 1st lick of during our recent visit.  This stuff is amazing, so I knew it would be a huge hit at the party!  I picked out a few flavors (cupcake, salty caramel, & grasshopper mint) so our guests would have options!  After lunch, we put a single candle in a cone of cupcake ice cream and sang Happy Birthday to our sweet little boy!  He was a little surprised by all the voices but then was into his ice cream before I could blink.  We shared a cone (read: Liam had a few licks, then I devoured it)!

 

 Liam was a lucky boy, who was showered with gifts from all our generous guests.  I like to think we've been pretty reasonable when purchasing things for Liam, so he was definitely due for some new toys!  During present opening he was pretty into the cards & the tissue paper (my kid loves paper and anything that crinkles)!  I'll be sharing some of his new favorite things soon!  Liam's cousin Hadley was there to help him check out all his new stuff and slam down some ice cream too!  She's such a little cutie pie!

Liam could have partied all day, but I made him take a little nap to break up the festivities!  The rest of the day was spent taking a long boat ride, followed by pizza from the local spot (only 1 pizza place in the tiny town of Spirit Lake), and then s'mores in the firepit!  While I stressed a lot about this day and making it special, it turned out wonderful.  Liam had such a fun time and that's really what is important!  Little L was playing with balloons for days!  As always, I wish I had more pictures, but I was too caught up in the moment to remember to use my camera  :-)