Our little “Baby Ryan” celebrated her 1st birthday today. Although her first birthday wasn’t as over the top as Keaton’s first birthday (which included livestock roaming around our backyard and pony rides), a lot of preparation still went into making her party a complete success.

I spent months  weeding out the possible party themes, but after seeing a customized Sesame Street sign on Pinterest, it just seemed like the right thing to do.

The custom sign was the first thing we focused on, since I needed the picture for her birthday invite. Etsy had the custom sesame street sign on sale for $59 – not a bad deal until I saw the $30 shipping fee (I kid you not!). A quick trip to home depot paired with a handy husband brought the final cost of this project to $20. I was debating on painting the letters myself, but my hubby suggested printing out the letters and mod podging them to the sign. Quick, easy and painless – the sign was complete in 2 days time.

Next I created her birthday invite. I found a template I liked on Etsy and recreated and customized it. I designed the back of the invite to look like one of those chalk boards that lists all the fun facts about the baby. After it was complete, I was able to find a Groupon to print 50 double sided 5×7 postcards for $20! Although we were only expecting 25 people you can’t beat the $20 price tag. They came out beautifully.

I spent A LOT of my lunch breaks and after bed time hours on all the tiny details of Ryan’s party. From custom crayon packages, to tissue paper pom-pom character heads, to cookie monster face Chips Ahoy cookie packages… this party did not miss a deet. Emma even chipped in by creating a delectable primary colored sugar popcorn.  Mini ducks floated in a blue punch (tying in the well known Sesame Street Rubber Ducky song) while hand made chocolate chip cookies (made out of felt) were sprinkled behind a giant cookie monster balloon. There were bubble wands tied with tulle, themed sippy cups (for the infants) and juice box holders (for the toddlers). If I could redo one thing, I would NOT have bought the whistles. They were cute…until the toddlers decided to blow them for the entire duration of the party.

For every one of our parties, I like to do something unique or special. For Keaton’s 1st birthday, I rented  farm animals. For this party, I thought really hard about all the things that little kids go apes over. The ice cream truck came to mind, but almost every rentable truck / vendor was waaaay to expensive for our low key party. One day I was fortunate enough to get referred to a little family owned ice cream truck. It was totally in budget (under $100!) not to mention a fun (and festive) alternative to the traditional cake.

Overall, everyone had a great time. Family and our closest friends joined us in the celebration of our little’s first year of life. Baby Ryan (in true Baby Ryan fashion) was smiling and happy the entire party. Keaton and Gavin assisted with the opening of presents (while Ryan sat nearby eating the paper). The birthday song was sung, and Baby Ryan stared with amusement while Keaton waited anxiously to blow out her candles. The trampoline was put to good use, friends reconnected outdoors in the sun, while basketball played to the walls indoors. Toddler giggles were sprinkled throughout while bubbles floated through the air. Our Big Bird balloon’s head disconnected from his body and then the entire balloon flew to heaven (while Keaton try to hold in his tears). Memories were made. It was a great day.