It’s always a big deal when your baby turns 1 year old, definitely moreso for the parent than the child. However my family tends to give me grief if I go over the top for any party or birthday planning and since we are still in the middle of a pandemic, it didn’t make sense to do anything too extra for so few people to experience. So, I needed to be extra vigilant with how much big and how much DIY I planned for this birthday.
First up, the theme. I hate really corny (Wild One) or character themes (Paw Patrol, Mickey Mouse) so I started along the route of a color palette to guide me first. I like starting all of my birthday parties with a color palette because that helps me to decide what the party recipient will wear (Liam), what I will wear, what the cupcake/cakes will look like, and what the decor will be. This helps me to think in ‘images’ and create a more cohesive backdrop for photography. It also helps me to focus on a few items that will make a big impact, instead of sourcing lots of little things that I probably don’t need.
I scrounged through my fabric closet for fabrics in a color theme I liked and decided on Coral, Mint Green and Teal Blue. I have a few fabrics that assisted with this: a mint chiffon with teal green hearts that I used as a table cloth and a bright orange and mint lace that I could make a dress for myself out of. I realized Liam already had a cute orange onesie and shorts set from Gap with tiny surfboards on it, so this led to the California surf theme for his party.
Everything really came together after that. I made a very simple banner out of scrapbook paper to hang behind his highchair, found some on-theme pom-poms to DIY a cake topper, and found a wooden camper van to paint to hang his monthly growth photos from. The final DIY project was customizing a surf/skate style ht for him to wear. Using my embroidery machine and special software, I designed a custom Liam patch for him with California in the background, that I sewed on to a Binky Bro hat.
The cake we ordered was the Luscious Lemon from SusieCakes, although we got one cupcake for Liam to try. He hasn’t had many sweets and was pretty hesitant at first, then started offering it around to everyone to try once he decided he liked it!
In the end our California surf theme birthday party a perfect celebration for Liam’s first year. It was bright and happy just like him!
