Victoria's Belated Birthday

Little Victoria turned 1 back in June, but we were in the middle of moving and renovation craziness, so we decided to have a small birthday party for her at our new house after the move and everything was complete.

So August 8th we had a party for her, and it definitely felt nice to finally have a little celebration. I mean, I know she won't remember any of it, but it does feel nice to celebrate this sweet little girl who came into the world a year ago with family and friends.

So with lots of family coming from out of state and several friends and neighbors joining us, I was a little nervous and excited to host our first event in our new house. I set a tight budget and was still able to make it beautiful and special.

 I was able to get 5 of those tissue paper pompom things on amazon for $5, which is about what it would have cost to buy the tissue paper and make them myself. The banner was also premade and I found it on clearance at target (we just added the name of course).

My sister loaned me her beverage server, which served yummy raspberry lemonade. The teal and pink paper straws were a big hit, and matched the pretty green and pink floral napkins I got from Ikea. Notice the cute bucket they are in? It has a 1 on it, and was in the $1 section at target, as were the tiny mint green buckets I used for cutlery. I plan to use all of them in Victoria's big girl room when we move her out of the nursery someday.

And am I the only one who refuses to purchase flimsy, cheap paper plates? They were my "splurge" of the party. The menu was:
-grilled hot dogs and hamburgers
-homemade broccoli salad from my mom
-homemade spinach dip with pita and guacamole with chips from my mother-in-law
-fruit salad
-chips

And everything was followed up with these!

Chocolate fudge cupcakes and Vanilla almond cupcakes, all of which turned out amazing, if I do say so myself. I made Victoria's little cake in a small glass pyrex bowl and put a paper "V" on it before putting on the sprinkles. I love homemade cakes, don't you?

The best part of the whole day was the people and the memories we got to make

Victoria playing through the window with her aunt (my sister)

The "cheese" face with my husband's mom

She sat and played like this for a good 20 minutes

The "Illinois" family: my stepdad, mom, brother, and sister-in-law

She dug into her cake like a champ!

It was such a special time sharing our home and celebrating our daughter with friends and family. That night we had 14 people sleeping under our roof, which was an interesting logistical challenge to be sure! Somehow I found myself sleeping on an air mattress in our front room (which doesn't have any furniture in it yet)

We managed to throw this entire party for about $100, which was definitely a blessing. And visiting family did such a great job helping us get everything ready.

People were very thoughtful with the types of gifts they gave Victoria. We got lots of books (you can never have too many), a play shopping cart, a baby doll and baby doll stroller, and some cute fall clothes. But so far the favorite has been this:

My mom bought her this adorable wooden play kitchen off of craigslist and it came with a large box of play food items and pots and pans, of which I gave her only about 15 pieces for now. This is her and my good friend's baby who is 1 month older. They love hanging out together and this kitchen is their new favorite place to hang!

Did you have a 1st birthday party for your baby(ies)?
I'm really one to keep birthdays simple, and in the end I left like I did a good job making it special but not over the top.