Birthday Behind the Scenes

I was so all over the place planning this party. On one hand I didn't want to get caught up spending all of my time planning and decorating for a birthday party, setting the bar so high only to fall later on with other birthdays. On the other hand, this is her first birthday and I want it to be special. I tried to keep the crazy ideas to a minimum, but they still took over. 

This lovely wall of yarn and photos was super last minute. As in done within the last hour before the guests arrived. I had the photos printed and the clothespins out but no idea what I was going to do with them. I remembered this yarn from a project I did last year, and my sister came over early to help out. We felt pretty good when we saw the finished project.

My sister also decided she wanted to make the birthday banner. My "rules" were that it couldn't be age specific and couldn't say her name in it, so that we can use it again for future birthdays and different people's parties. She did fantastic! It was big, colorful, generic enough to reuse, and original. Can't wait to see it become a tradition for future birthday parties.

These streamers were a bit huge pain. I drew four different sized circles on five different colors of stock paper, and cut each one by hand. It took so long. My hands hurt, it ended up taking numerous days/nights, and I couldn't get them as perfect as I wanted. No project I do ever is easy but I did love the way they turned out. I had originally wanted to buy a circle cutter type thing but they were ridiculously expensive. $20 for one size? Yeah right. I like options... like four or five sizes. I would have paid $20 for one that had adjustable sizes. I did fold them up nicely to be used again, which makes me feel better about all the time I spent doing it.

The tablecloth idea came from google searching and just added a bit of pizzazz to an otherwise boring corner. 

I had great plans to make potato salad from scratch but then saw the deli clearance section had a big container of it for only $5. That was cheaper than the potatoes alone. I also got one of coleslaw for variety. Both hubby and I didn't feel like we had enough food, even though we did have left overs. Usually we have so much left over so we were trying to cut it a little closer. Oh well, I don't think anybody left hungry.

Okay so here is the part that makes me cringe but also smile huge. I really wanted to try working with fondant topping for cupcakes, but had no idea how to do it. My friend/cousin-in-law's wife Missy has done it enough to be an "expert" to me, so she came over to help. When she got there around noon, she found me just about having a meltdown because the cupcakes I had made had completely failed. I am not the worst baker out there, so I was caught completely off guard when they over flowed but didn't cook or stay raised. What did I do wrong?? 

Missy convinced me just take a break from baking and make more later after we made the fondant, and that is exactly what I did. They turned out perfect and it was a super easy recipe compared to the original recipe I had tried. Stick to the simple things. That's what I've learned. 

The fondant took quite a while since each piece needed so much attention and focus, but it was worth it! They were so perfect for my baby girl. The fondant is marshmallow and powdered sugar, so it didn't taste too bad either. 

Lastly, my sister said we needed to have a game to play to pass the time. She suggested bean bag toss, so she got to work with a friend of hers to make the boards with the hole in it, and I made the eight bean bags. That took some time too, but once I got going it wasn't too bad. I took a video of the "action" in the back to show them off, so feel free to watch it or just start it to see what they look like. 

It was the best idea. They drew people outside so we weren't all crowded in the house, and we got to enjoy the nice afternoon while moving around a bit before we crammed back in for cupcakes and presents. It broke up the party just perfectly. Thank you sister.

I'll post about the rest of the party later, but I wanted to get this post done first so I don't forget the detail and time that went into it. When you read this later, Josie, please know that it was worth it, but no party of yours will probably be this perfect. ;)

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