I love themed parties.  LOVE THEM! So when it came to planning Jellybean’s first birthday party I immediately took to Pinterest to brainstorm ideas for themes.  It didn’t take long before I settled on a Winter ONEderland theme.  I pinned FAR TOO MANY details in hopes of being able to pulling them all off for the party.  Then planning came to a complete stop.  Work, life, motherhood and {some much needed} evening relaxation trumped party planning.

I had my heart set on sending out paper invites instead of doing an Evite for Jellybean’s first birthday.  I managed to motivate, design and print (using Vistaprint) the invitation just in time to get them out a few weeks before the party.  When the husband and I sat down to discuss decorations, food and other details he had one rule for me.  I had to LIMIT how much I took on for the party.  This meant doing things such as buying vegetables precut and not embarking on tons of DIY projects.  The hubby knows me well and putting a few restrictions in place helped me not go overboard.

Despite the party planning procrastination I am incredibly pleased with how the Jellybean’s first birthday party turned out.  Not to mention … how special and love we felt to have so many friends and family there to celebrate our little snow baby’s 1st birthday!

Jellybean in her Winter Onederland Birthday Girl Outfit … and yes I love playing ‘stylist’ for my sweet daughter.  She’s already got that stoic model face down :)

1st Birthday Winter Onederland Snow Baby Outfit - Pink/Sparkle tutu and flower headband | Life's Tidbits

Snowflake Onsie and Pants (Carter’s)  |  Tutu and Headband (Etsy)

And now for all the party details!!!

Pink stripped snowflake straws / Baby it's cold outside | Life's Tidbits

Winter Onederland Food Table and Snowflakes | Life's Tidbits

Winter Onederland Food Table | Life's Tidbits

Let it Snow Winter Onederland Party Decoration | Life's Tidbits

DIY Strawberry Tower | Life's Tidbits
The strawberry tower was so easy to make though a bit time consuming.  All you need are a bunch of strawberries, toothpicks and a styrofoam cone.  It was easiest to put the toothpick into the cone at an angle and then put the strawberry on … go slowly I definitely pricked myself a couple of times with the toothpicks.

DIY Chalkboard 1st Birthday Sign | Life's Tidbits

Winter ONEderland pink snowflake cupcakes | Life's Tidbits

Thank You Snow Much DIY Sign, Snowflake Stamps and DIY Sugar Cookies | Life's Tidbits

Snowflake Sugar Cookies | Life's Tidbits

Details:
Water Bar:  Snowflake Paper Straws  |  Baby It’s Cold Outside FREE Printable  |  Picture Frame  |  Glass Drink Dispenser
Decorations: Let it Snow Doorway Curtain | Plastic Clear Snowflakes Table Cover | Snowflake Cutouts
Cupcakes: Editable Snowflakes
Chalkboard Poster:  DIY using PhotoShop and printed at Staples … DIY instructions can be found here
Thank You Table:  Snowflake Treat Bags |  Thank You Snow Much Sign (DIY)  |  Snowflake Stampers | Snowflake Cookie Cutters

What was the theme of the most recent party you threw?

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As 2014 kicks into high gear I thought it would be interesting to see what posts were most popular in 2013.  I was a bit surprised by the top 5, however maybe I shouldn’t be.  No two post were from the same category. which I was pretty happy about.  I think it helps “prove” sharing different types of tidbits is working out well for the blog!

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Without further ado, here are the 5 most popular posts of 2013 …

Number 1 – {Recipe} Cracked Sugar Cookies

These cookies really are A-MAZING!

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Number 2 – DIY Wedding Envelopes with Calligraphy

This post is read consistently each week.  It was a pretty easy DIY wedding project and saved us a good chunk of money as well!

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Number 3 – French Dresser – Inspiration / Mood Board

The first purchase we made for the nursery was the dresser (and nightstand).  Everything else we selected was based on the shabby chic / french inspired dresser.

NurseryDresser_inspiration

Number 4 – One Year in a Flash – Birthday Party

The party was decked out with all sorts of details and DIY projects.  As co-owner of Baker’s Bliss Kia made all her own cupcakes for the party!

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Number 5 – {Pregnancy Tidbits} The 5th Month

I really enjoyed blogging about my pregnancy.  It’s fun to go back and read how each month went!  Some tidbit I remember so clearly and others I had kind of forgotten about.  I’m glad to have the pregnancy log to help me reminisce.

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I’m looking forward to seeing what 2014 has in store for Life’s Tidbits.  I hope you will continue to follow along and share your tidbits!!

What was your favorite blog post in 2013?

Happy New Year!!

If you enjoyed this post, please add your tidbit by commenting below.  Don’t forget you can follow us on PinterestInstagramFacebook and Twitter.

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My friend Kia threw her son a first birthday party a few weeks back.  The party was decked out with all sorts of details and DIY projects.  As co-owner of Baker’s Bliss she also made all her own cupcakes for the party!  Party details as told by Kia…

For my son’s 1st Birthday I wanted to do something different and something fun.  Hopefully, along the lines of cost effective as well.  I looked through a variety of themes of things to do and most of them felt too kiddy.  As every parent knows the first birthday party is more for the adults than the kids and so I wanted a fun theme that all ages could enjoy.   I searched the internet high and low and ultimately fell in love with the posts I had seen from different moms who had decided on the “one year in a flash” theme.

I didn’t have a lot of time to put the party together being a full time mom of 2 plus my full time job left me with not that much time to put the grandiose party on that I wanted too.  However, my bestie and business partner Rebecca was in town to save the day.   And so began the party planning….

First, I made a list of what I wanted to do.  It was hard to come up with this list because I really wanted to do all the ideas I had seen on the internet.  They ranged from photo booths and custom chalkboards to custom banners and cupcake stands.  All of which I thought was ridiculously creative and cute, but I had to be realistic.  I really had about 3 days and unlike most of the other party planners I had intended on making my own cupcakes because that’s just what I do!  So these are the things I decided I was going to do for the party.

Decorations:

  • Custom Banner (What better way to say you are 1 then a year of pictures to remind you)
  • Custom Cupcake Toppers
  • High Chair Banner
  • Balloon Display
  • Photo Booth
  • Custom Thank you Cards
  • Custom Water Bottles

Food:

  • Dessert Table complete with custom chocolate covered Oreos in the theme colors and “camera” sugar cookies.
  • Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream
  • Vanilla Bean cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream
  • Pigs in a blanket for the kids
  • Veggie Tray
  • Fried Chicken
  • Queso Dip
  • Chips

This all seemed pretty overwhelming so I ended up ditching the Photo Booth.  I simply just didn’t have the time or the energy given the list of other things that had to get accomplished.

For the Banner, Thank You Cards and Cake Toppers I needed photos!  It was already Wednesday and the party was Saturday so I had to come up with the photo digging through all my digital memorabilia over the last year and get them printed and ready really by Thursday.  CVS photo online to the rescue!  I uploaded the pictures and picked them up at the CVS down the street from me the next morning and it was only .19 cents a picture!   This really came out very cost effective since in addition to the 12 pictures I needed 24 cupcake toppers and 20 thank you cards.

Here’s how the banner came out:


Here are the Thank You Cards:

And the Cupcake Toppers:

Here’s how the dessert table turned out:

You can see my nice balloon display courtesy of Party City.

Admittedly, most of the food items I purchased them from the local super market.  The Fried Chicken was purchased the hubby and then he made the veggie tray and queso dip.  I made the pigs in a blanket and here is what the food table looked like.  The table display was done by my friend Monique!

The chocolate covered Oreos were a big hit and proudly displayed on the right and the custom water bottles on the left.  After all the work it all turned out great.  We all had an amazing time.  I hope you enjoy the pictures and the ideas.  It was a great party!

Check out the Baker’s Bliss website or like them on Facebook.  Thank you Kia for stopping by and sharing your party tidbits with us!!

Happy Party Planning!

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