A Very Special 1st Birthday

Being an event planner, it was only natural that I wanted to go all out for my son's first birthday. So I started planning 4 months in advance! Since at only a year old kids haven't really developed certain likes and dislikes yet, I had trouble coming up with a theme for the party. I searched, and thought, and Googled, and Pinterested, and I finally came across something I absolutely LOVED! Although this theme was really geared towards mommy, who loves everything country, a county fair theme seemed to be perfect! So I started to brainstorm...hmmm...what is "county fair-ish"? There's so much I could do...

First things first. Where would the party be? Our condo is too small and we don't have a yard. So Grandma and Poppy's house it is! Since July was such a busy month for me with work and Kyle's birthday is the day after the 4th of July, I had to set a date quickly and let people know ASAP so that they wouldn't make other holiday plans. A child's first birthday is very special and I wanted all of our friends and family there. 

I found a great county fair themed invitation design on Etsy. The seller was great and very flexible as far as the format that I needed in order to print the invitations. Isn't this adorable??

After a little decorating and a LOT of work done by my fabulous hubby and parents, we are ready to party! Doesn't the yard look great!?

Airbounce Amusements in Wallingford did a great job setting up the bounce house. We even rented a popcorn machine from them. Lots of fun!

A few details to add to the party...iced tea and lemonade...

I bought these tin watering cans at the Dollar Tree and my good friend Renee of FloraBella Florist designed the arrangements. We put these all around the yard. They were so cute!

These colored cowboy hats were also purchased at the Dollar Tree and the bandanas are from OrientalTrading.com.

Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves so far...

Kyle is a very lucky boy to have so many generous friends and family!

And the birthday boy awakes from his nap! A little overwhelmed and in awe by all the people, I think. 

Of course the party was complete with a face painter! And yes, those are bales of hay she is sitting on thanks to Uncle Shaky, owner of Vaiuso Farms in Branford. 

This was all literally the calm before the storm. Right before the main event of the party, a hailstorm decided to come and try to ruin the day. Yup, this is hail. 

Anyway, the hail did not stop the fun. And what county fair would be complete without pony rides? Here comes the pony now!

I think Kyle was a little unsure of how he felt about this...

He seems happy here...

But not so much here...

I think he is more interested in the hat.

Renee seems to be having fun!

And here comes Luke...

The Lone Ranger Trev...

Let's give it another try...

Now it's time for cake! But first, Kyle has to tell everyone how old he is. 1!

I didn't really want a traditional cake because I had planned to have an ice cream buffet. But my aunt and cousin offered to make cupcakes and a small cake for Kyle to smash and eat after we sang happy birthday to him. I found these great decorative picks on OrientalTrading.com to put on top of the cupcakes that went with the theme.

BEFORE!

Daddy trying to get a bite.

AFTER!

"Why did you take it away from me?"

"Where's my cake?"

In addition the cake, cupcakes, and ice cream sundae bar, I also slaved for 5 days making these pie pops for the guests' favors. They included 3 flavors: cherry, blueberry and apple. 

I found a really cute idea to display them: floral foam. I covered it in this wrapping and just put the sticks right in it! This thing held about 100 pie pops!

And because I didn't have enough to do, I made homemade favor tags. They each had a stamp that read "Thank you" and the date stamped on the back tied to the package with twine. I thought it needed a bit more so I dug into my scrapbook supplies and glued these cute little buttons on them.

Finally, each child got a "goodie bag" to take home. The boys got a water gun, a kazoo, bubbles, a crazy straw, a sneaker pad, markers and candy. The girls got a water gun, bubbles, a necklace, a crazy straw, and flip flop pad, markers and candy. 

Each bag had a homemade "Thank you" tag with each child's name on the back, tied to the bag with twine. 

Thank you to Kristen Waterbury Photography for (most of) these images!