Birthday Party Prep

My daughters 1st Birthday Party is right around the corner. Like right around it. Am I prepared? Am I ready for the big joyous occasion? Nope. Am I starting to freak out and talk to myself? Yes! Deciding on a theme was a mess. Of course, as you know if you read my first post ever.

Pie. Picnic. Country. Theme?

How on Earth did I come up with Pie as a theme? I guess somewhere in my head I decided I didn't want to give my child a big sugary cake for her to get sick over, literally. And I thought a pie would be better because, well it has fruit in it and I could control the amount of sugar added. Here is the real kicker. I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO MAKE A PIE! Like at all. I can make an overly dry chocolate pie pop but that's easy. I must need to brush the pie crust with butter or something to give it some flavor.

Now I know you can just add some pie filling to some crust and bake and your done. But I am already the daughter in law in the Jones family who can't cook, let alone bake. I show up to big family events with a salad while my sister in law has a gorgeous home made pie. I'm jealous, really. And if your reading this you can volunteer to bake some pies for the party...wink, wink, you know if you want to.

I also have no clue what to turn to for decorations. I love fabric, anything! Fabric garland is defientently my favorite. I had it everywhere for our wedding an it didn't disappoint. So for Ellie's birthday some bright colored fabric will help make the dessert table pop. I think. I also made a darling fabric wreath that has little mini pennants in the middle that say Happy Birthday Ellie. And then a small fabric garland to put on her high chair that says 'I am 1.' I wonder if when she's older she will think I'm so creative or just cheap. I would like to say I'm both...sort of.

Now to do streamers or balloons. I love balloons, who doesn't? They come in a ton of bright fun colors and then at the end of the party, everyone can get high off the helium and talk like a bunch of chipmunks. It's a win, win I would say. So balloons, YES!! Can I get them in Coral colored? I am obsessed with Coral, just like the rest of the world. I did find coral balloons but not for the price I wanted which was somewhere around 5 cents. Unrealistic I know, but I can dream. I'm cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap. So instead I will get a bunch of colors that will match the garland. Her party won't so much as have a color theme but will have every color. It's almost Spring so I think it will be fine and all blend together well. Shit, I don't know. I am also going to have Pom Poms. A wall of them was just to much work, so I am going to hang them on the part of our ceiling that comes down. Now that I am writing this all down I do not like it at all. I was just freighting about it but now I'm in a full blown panic! Why couldn't I have just done Barbie or something. She likes Doc Mcstuffins, I should of just did that. Actually, I like Doc, Ellie just sees a bunch of colors on the tv.

Okay, so what else?

Thanks to the amazing invitations made by Southern Bella Vita Studios I started to use it as my inspiration. It says at the top of the invite 'Calling all Cutie Pies.' Which I love! Then it says join us for 'Pie Tastin and Good Time Makin.' In the South you can end any word in 'in' and it be completely acceptable English. So for the dessert table I have made pennants that say Pie Tastin to hang above. I thought that would be a cute incorporation.

Now, food. What would you have at a picnic? Sandwiches, pasta salad, potatoe salad, fruit salad, I could go on but don't know what else to say. I don't remember ever having a picnic growing up so I'm not sure what you have. I know what your thinking, hamburgers or hot dogs. But to me that's a cookout, this is a Picnic. Two different things at least to me. Adam suggested pulled pork. That lead me to realize we should have all of the same stuff we had at our wedding. We loved the food and so did everyone else so why not.

Lets recap:

Decorations are struggling.
Food is set.
Dessert: I know what I want but have no idea how to make any of it, so check-ish
Games, activities, music, and whatever else: I haven't thought of yet but I'm getting there.

Ellie's first birthday will more than likely be a hot mess. But I figured with family, friends, food, pie, and booze, it's sure to be a good time. And if you think it's inappropriate to have alcohol at a first birthday party then you don't know what your missing because its a must have! When you have 20 screaming children you can't face them without Chardonnay in your grown up sippy cup.

Today I am a wife, mother, and not a party planner.

Keep Chasing Those Fireflies.

CJ