We had an awesome time celebrating Kenley’s first birthday on Saturday.
In the last couple of weeks, I got a lot of questions about the theme of the party.
I didn’t really know how to answer them because there really was no true theme.
I wanted her party to be fun, girly, and dainty, and I also knew I wanted one thing: bunting!
I had a lot of fun fabric laying around thanks to Kenley’s Weekly Photo Project,
so I wanted to put it to good use. Plus, this fabric was an integral part of her first year of life!
We first started with the invitation. The insanely talented Isabel Ibanez with 9th Letter Press
designed our invitation for us. They are now available for others to purchase!
I absolutely love them.
From there, majority of my ideas came from Pinterest and other blogs,
so I will give credit where credit is due.
For the bunting, I followed a DIY bunting tutorial, which is apparently no longer available,
so I may have to write my own sometime in the near future.
I specifically searched for bunting placecard ideas and came across this tutorial. It worked wonderfully.
I purchased the O – N – E letters at JoAnn’s to take pictures with and my mom stuck them on top of the blinds. I loved it!
I spelled Kenley’s name using IKEA TOLSBY frames that I already owned
and I got the idea from this adorable party on Hostess with the Mostess.
I made the pink and white cake stands with some spray paint and a glue gun and they worked great!
The water bottle labels were a free download from Bump Smitten.
For the fabric wreath, I followed this tutorial and for the tiny bunting, I followed this one.
The menu consisted of light and dainty foods:
Petite Quiche
Pinwheels
Chicken Salad Croissants
Cucumber Feta Rolls
Individual Fruit Salads in champagne flutes
Beverages included:
Strawberry Lemonade in glass bottles with striped straws
(which I failed to get a picture of, but used recycled Starbucks Frappucino bottles)
Bottled Water
Gin Bucket
Beer
For dessert:
Chocolate & Vanilla Cake Pops
Cupcakes in various flavors:
Strawberry Lemon; Chocolate Peanut Butter;
Cookies & Cream; and Pumpkin Pie
Kenley had her very own smash cake: vanilla with ruffled pink icing.
Cake pops, cupcakes, and the smash cake were fabulous, and were done by Lindsey Bishop,
who I highly recommend to anyone in the Central Florida area!
Kenley wasn’t sure what to think about her cake. She was tentative at first but did eat some of the icing.
It was pretty uneventful. I think she was more interested in why everyone was staring at her.
She did not get as messy as I would have guessed, but that’s ok.
Watching Kenley open her gifts made me even more excited for Christmas morning.
I thought, for sure she’d get overwhelmed very quickly, but you couldn’t tell if she was.
She had one little break to see what the other kids were doing since they were playing with her toys,
but she was right back at it after that. She and daddy had a great time opening all of her new clothes and toys.
On the other hand, I am not ready for Christmas, becuase I’m not sure where we’re going to put all of this stuff!
I’d like to think that her favorite gift is her new chair, but I may be a tad biased.
She does love to climb all over it and will actually sit still while in it, which is not like her!
Getting introduced to Mickey and Minnie. They’ll all be best friends before we know it.
Kenley is one blessed little girl, that’s for sure.
The final piece I had seen floating around Pinterest, but wasn’t completely sold on until
Heather posted about Henry’s Little Man Mustache Bash… a DIY photo booth.
I knew it was going to be the perfect way to get pictures of everyone and not have to hire a photographer,
which I was highly considering doing at one point.
It turned out so well.
We borrowed the pipe and drape from Greg’s work and I added my bunting.
Ryan wasn’t able to come to the party, so he hung out the night before.
Grandma & Grandpa
Family
GG (Maggi) and Kenley matched on party day!
So thankful for the all the help of this crew!
Our little one year old. Kenley’s dress is from Etsy.
Uncle Michael
Aunt Ya-Ya, Uncle Papi, Greg and GG
Jeremy & Stan
Ann, Ron, Cooper, and Jackson
Lindsey
Kristen & Carly
Lindsey, Michael & Karolina
Jessica & Benjamin
All the mamas & kiddos
Overall, the day was a complete success. There was minimal crying and a lot of laughing.
It was so great to have family and friends here from all over the country to help celebrate this little girl.
We were even able to video chat with Kenley’s cousins in Colorado so they could see her play with their gift.
We cannot thank everyone enough for all the gifts, calls, texts, and well wishes over the weekend.
We are so incredibly blessed to have such amazing people in our lives!
Happy first birthday Kenley Dee!
The Gilbertson Family 