Easy Little Girl Birthday Party

Last weekend we celebrated Layla’s first birthday with a cookies and hot chocolate party! I love that our theme was simple and had lots of easy to eat food for little ones and parents! Besides the food theme, with decorations we pretty much just went with pink and “Layla”. My goal was something simple, but special.

The Menu:

First off, the menu. I served three different kinds of cookies: classic sugar cookies, pink m&m cookies, and red velvet bars. I wanted to forego the traditional cake for Layla’s party and go with something more portable and kid-friendly! I also served a white chocolate-cherry trail mix (recipe forthcoming!) and fresh fruit–bananas, strawberries and grapes.

Then there was the hot chocolate bar! I made my own hot chocolate mix and then had toppings of whip cream, Andes mint pieces, marshmallows and sprinkles.

The Decor:

On the mantle I strung a banner of Layla’s photos…one from each month of her life. It was definitely my favorite thing to put together. I struggled to figure out how to put the banner together because I didn’t want to punch holes in the picture and I couldn’t find any clips I liked. So I ended up just taping them with scotch tape to a ribbon and lining it up on my kitchen island.

I also made a “pom pom garland” with white yarn to add some fun and visual texture to the party! I followed this tutorial. It took me about an evening (while watching tv) so it wasn’t too time intensive.

The final touch to the mantle area was the two big pink poufs I attached to either side of the fireplace. I got one for $1 at Dollar General and the other was a recycled one that made it’s first appearance at Layla’s baby shower and then again in her first nursery at our old house.

For the cake table I utlized a pink plastic tablecloth (also Dollar Store) over the white cloth to add a pop of color. I then spread out 5 extra homemade pom-poms among a few framed photos of Layla. I also added two pink ribbons to the jars that held the hot chocolate mix and toppings. Just little touches to make things special!

The final decorations was a pack of pink balloons that we blew up and scattered all over the floor! Kids love balloons! Layla loved toting them around and even the big kids loved playing with them.

The Fun:

Finally, the hit of the party was the bounce house! We were blessed to host our party at the Gull Lake Ministry Center and to be able to use one of their bounce houses. (camp staff perks!)

It was such a fun afternoon spent with our family and friends celebrating our little girl’s first year! Some people told us to save a big party for another birthday since Layla is too young to remember all this, but we decided that there is never a better thing to celebrate than your first child’s first year of life. And I think God likes parties. So that basically decided it!

We certainly do! We were thrilled to have so many friends and family come celebrate with us! Layla truly is blessed to be surrounded by so many that love her.