Blake's 1st Birthday

Blake turned one-year-old last week and we decided to throw her a 'Pinterest-worthy' party. I am not one of those crafty moms who loves to host. For Leo, I hung a *one* balloon on the wall, bought him a cake, and baked brownies and cookies that I happened to ruin. (Yes it's possible to ruin pre-made brownies and cookies ... just put them in the oven and forget about them.) I thought that was good... for me. But this year I got inspired to put on my big-girl panties and throw a real party.

This was a 25ft balloon arch strip. I didn't realize how long it was so we ended up cutting a big portion off. I think 10-15ft would have been long enough

I decided on a donut theme because the party was going to be in the afternoon, so we didn't have to do a full meal. We just wanted to do snacks and donuts are easy and cheap. Plus there were so many ideas for donut parties on Pinterest, it made it easy.

I saw these donut towers everywhere and knew that I wanted to make them. This blog gives you details on exactly how to put them together. And of course, the balloon arch was a must. Honestly, picking out the balloons took the longest time. I wanted a simple pink color, a peachy color, and a rosey pink. Finding a pack with those colors was a challenge. I used balloons from two different places to make my arch. The rest of the details fell into place. I added old-timey milk bottles and pink straws to eat with the donuts (no one drank them).

Having each item at varying heights added dimesnion and appeal

The felt board is actually from Blake's bedroom, and I just added a cute saying.

I want someone to look at me the way Blake looks at a donut

The smash cake was a last-minute decision. I had initially thought to do the icing in a flower pattern, but then I thought the dots would go with the balloons and donuts. You know, like a circle theme. I love how it turned out! And I just topped it with a glittery 'one' cake topper.

I highly recommend a veggie tray, some fruit, and a cake for the rest of the guests. No one wanted the cake after Blake went head first into it. The cheesecake from Costco is heaven if you need a recommendation. For drinks we had pink lemonade in a self serve stand and a tin filled with beer, water, rose, and ice.

The final touch was gift bags with donut holes for guests to take as they left. I just found a .pdf of a cute saying and printed them out on card stock at FedEx. I used string to tie cards around the treat bag and voila. Easy peasy.

Totally worth it!