A funny thing happened as I got close to the one year mark. I saw the light at the end of the baby tunnel and a little human started hanging out in my house. She was pretty fun, I could take her to a greater variety of places and she even does this little dance in her high chair that is the cutest freaking thing I've ever seen. It dawned on me that, I DID IT. I was going to have a party and everyone was invited.
One of the saving graces of the year was discovering how fun it was to shop at the Dallas Farmer's Market. Our friends turned us on to Omar at booth 126 in the new shed. He always has the best produce and Heidi adores him - and his samples. It made the weekend errand running marathon a little more fun, and it became our loose theme for the birthday party.
These invitations were from PeraPress on Etsy. I just ordered the .pdf because the PostNet at Inwood and Forest in Dallas has always done a good job being about to print these types of files for me. It was double sided with a cute gingham on the back (**important details**).
I put the party in the early afternoon to leave room for the afternoon nap time and put it after lunch so the food could be pretty light. We had some sandwiches and a fruit/cheese tray from Celebration Market, and I took their veggie tray and put them in these farmer's market baskets to keep it in theme. Almost everyone in my family is gluten free, but we were of course entertaining for others. I think we struck a fairly good balance with some gluten-tastic sandwiches but two gluten free pies from Whole Foods (one cherry and one apple) and some mini-cupcakes from Spiral Diner that were also gluten-free. They were white with chocolate icing and crushed chocolate on top to look like dirt, and I stuck a Runt candy on top of each one so it looked like fruit.
The little fruit stand was a Zulily find in the toy section but turned out better as a cake stand than for kids to play with. Wish I had a link because our guests thought it was pretty cute. Zulily you so tricky!
We didn't have a ton of kids coming, but they ranged in age from 1-10 years old. I kind of scratched my head about what would make such a variety of ages entertained and also not be annoying to adults. Then I remembered the answer to any question in life is PONIES.
Kangaroo Kate was a referral from my godmother who raised horses growing up. Kate is so sweet and loves the ponies and therefore has the best time introducing children to them. It's hand led and a very fun experience for the kids since they are more involved over ponies being circle led.
Heidi is a natural cowgirl! We will probably just do barrel racing for her party next year. :o)
To have something else to do while taking turns on the horse, I ordered canvas eco shopping bags and Crayola fabric markers on Amazon and threw them on my mom's picnic table. Literally anything you get from my mom's house comes in a canvas bag now, due to my overzealous ordering.
Spiral Diner also did Heidi's birthday cupcake! We found out Heidi is a little pyro when she picked up the list candle off her cupcake as we were singing Happy Birthday. Made for a good video!
The best time was taking a moment before the holidays to be with good friends and show them how grateful I am for their support this year! The timing of Heidi's birthday can be a little crazy, but it is also a great time to get people together and remember how fortunate you are. I'll take it.
This is my awesome family who makes everything possible and puts up with my weirdo brain. I flipped out the day before the party wondering if I had done enough. Heidi didn't have a party hat and I hadn't printed pictures of her!! Markus and Sistah helped me remember one of Heidi's best features is her head shape and if people wanted to know what she looked like they could just stare at her at the party.
I think details at kid's parties can be so fun, but I am also thankful that the hectic nature of the season only allowed me to focus on making it hospitable and memorable, not about a lot of projects and crafts. In the end it was about celebrating a great first year and the people who made it possible.
