I decided on a winter one-derland theme because it was super cute, and I knew I could do it on the cheap! As soon as the Christmas decorations were out at Dollarama I was scouring the shelves for all the ornaments that were white, pink, silver and snowy. I found a ton of great things, and when I combined that with what I could make, the result was awesome. John hung a few lengths of fishing ling across the ceiling in the living room, then attached all the ornaments to those lines using more fishing line to make them look suspended. I also strung some cotton balls on lengths of fishing line to look like snow. I made the giant snowflakes with cardstock. I actually learnt how to make them in grade 3, but luckily Pinterest was kind enough to provide me with a refresher. Of course no first birthday is complete without all of the monthly photos that I meticulously took, displayer for everyone to see!
In the entry to the kitchen from the living room, John hung another length of fishing line and suspended some of our white Christmas bobbles on it along with some honey comb balls. In the kitchen, we hung bobbles, snowflakes, tissue puffs and honey comb balls from the light fixture to act as a centrepiece. You can find tissue puffs and honey comb balls at party supply stores, OR, you can save yourself a ton of cash and make them yourself! I make these same puffs for pretty much every party I ever have and they are super easy. This was the first time I made the honeycomb balls and it was actually super easy.
Onto the food table! Bianca's birthday was from 10am-12pm so we just had some snack items. Buns, cold cuts, cheese, pickles, veggies with dip, fruit pizza, iced tea and melted snowflake water. For some added fun I put together a hot chocolate bar complete with all the toppings you could want in your cocoa! Candy canes, caramels, mini marshmallows and freshly whipped cream! I also jazzed up the to-go cups with some corrugated paper and a "1" medallion. We had a good amount of food left over, but I'd rather have extra than not enough!
After the kids had some time to run around and play, and the adults had some time to visit, it was time to open presents. If you remember from Roman's 3rd birthday, I've started to go the "no gift" route with birthdays, but since it's Bianca's first I thought she should have the chance to open some gifts. Not that she really opened them anyway, but Roman was there to help with that part.
Of course after presents comes cake! This cake was an experiment of sorts. A new cake recipe, a new icing recipe that I used for filling and a new piping technique. A first birthday probably isn't the best time to test new recipes but it turned out delicious! This is a chocolate chip cookie dough cake, filled with brown sugar buttercream and decorated with vanilla buttercream. It was soooo delicious! If you've read the post about Bianca's smash cake then you'll recognize the flowers and the snowflakes from that cake. If you'd be interested in seeing a post, or maybe a video, on how I decorate some of the cakes I make, comment below and if there is enough interest I'll give it a shot!
Bianca LOVED the cake! I mean, she is my daughter after all so I'm not surprised. I was however a little surprised that she dove in head first. Again, not surprised by the giant mess she made. I have to give all the props to John for the highchair decorations. I totally left this to the last minute and didn't have anything planned, and he banged this out in no time flat!
Even after looking at all these pictures, I still can't believe my little girl is already 1. How did this happen?! We're so thankful to everyone that joined us in celebrating Bianca's special day. The best part of putting together parties like this is enjoying them with our friends and family. Happy Birthday Bianca, I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for you!
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