Well you haven't missed much. I have done a few things around the house that I should probably post at some point. Nothing major but a couple fun things.
One thing I did do was throw Juniper a 1st birthday party. We usually don't do big parties over here but I figure everyone has to have a great 1 year party. Also, we all really know that the 1st birthday party is for the mom since the baby will never remember any of it.
I was leaning towards a "you are my sunshine" theme but my friend Carrie suggested I do a rainbow party. I thought why not do both. Finley loves rainbows so I figured it would be a great way to get her excited about her sisters party without feeling jealous that she wasn't getting a party this year. Their birthdays are 2 weeks apart so it may get touchy in the future.
As with anything nowadays I scoured Pinterest for ideas. I came across this invitation and loved the modern simplicity of it so I decided to recreate it. Yes, I totally copied it but I am cheap and it's not like I am selling them or not owning up to copying it. Here's how mine came out. I added little strips of color to the back to incorporate the rainbow part.
Next on my list was decorations. You can't go wrong with rainbows with hints of yellow. I gussied up our mantle with paper lanterns, a rainbow bunting, and Juniper's monthly pictures. Since I hadn't taken her 12 month picture yet Matt had to quickly sketch out a fill in.
I also made a little display of pictures from the last year. I used yellow bakers twine and itty bitty little tiny rainbow clothes pins to hang the pictures. I actually left this up and replaced the pictures with Christmas cards as we got them.
Finley made a bunch of rainbow and sunshine art to display.
Can't forget the party hats and gift bags.
Outside I hung rainbow paper lanterns, made a rainbow picture backdrop, and had a few fun activities for the kids and adults.
The art table before and after. I had glitter glue, rainbow crayons, punches, lots of scrapbook paper, scissors, markers, plain ol' glitter, and these fun things. There was also a little table with a rainbow assortment of beads for making necklaces and bracelets.
Bubbles are fun for everyone. Juniper thought they tasted good.
I got this next idea from a fellow November 2012 mom. I set up a table with blank wooden blocks and had everyone use a sharpie to write a sweet sentiment for Juniper. I'm a sucker for stuff like this.
We also can't have a party here without an official photo cut out thingy.
Food wise I decided to save my sanity and buy a cake from Costco and get Mexican food from a local restaurant. Everyone like tacos, beans, and rice right? I did put together a few snacks though and an awesome candy table. I love candy.
Yummy ice cream with rainbow and yellow sprinkles.
I did make Juniper a smash cake but she wasn't super interested in it. Which made me sad because the inside was rainbow and I would have loved to see her tear into it and get rainbow colors everywhere.
No party is complete without a playlist of songs about sunshine and rainbows. Matt and I combed the internet and our brains to come up with the following list of songs. I am sure the neighbors are tired of hearing all of these songs because we play them every time we are out in the yard.
Here comes the sun - The Beatles
Sunshine of your love - Cream
Swblar - Cream
Sunshine superman - Donovan
Jennifer Juniper - Donovan
You are my sunshine - Gene Autrey
Gimme a rainbow that's for real - The Radiators
I live for the sun - The Sunrays
The rainbow connection - Willie Nelson
Sunshine, lollipops, & rainbows - Lesley Gore
She's a rainbow - The Rolling Stones
Rainbow stew - Meryle Haggard
California sun - The Riverias
Walking on sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
Somewhere over the rainbow - Judy Garland
Sugar magnolia - The Grateful Dead
Good day sunshine - The beatles
In the end a ton of fun was had by all.
I did finally get that 12 month photo of Juniper. I little late but I got it done.
Finally a huge thank you to my official birthday photographer Carrie. Without her I would not have all of these great photos.
