I kept joking to friends and family not to expect all of her parties to be like this - The one million details, elaborate food display, etc. To be honest, I think there is a lot to be said for a good ‘ol fashion kid birthday party. The kind I had a lot of growing up. Burgers or pizza, a cake (or if you were really lucky an ICE CREAM cake), maybe a balloon on the mailbox. Kids don’t really care if you spent $50 or $500 on their party, as long as they feel special on their big day.
But this was a her first birthday. One of only a handful of birthdays that falls into that “super extra special” category - her first, her thirteenth, her sixteenth, her twenty first. This party was more for those people who have had the joy of watching her grow and flourish this past year and so all of the extra effort was worth it.
...I know what you’re thinking, “Gee Marcie, that sure is a lot of presents for a “no presents” party.” And you’re right. Tyler and I picked out 6 little gifts (and her big one: a play kitchen from her grandparents and us) for her thinking that would be all she had, but a few more were kindly brought by friends and family members. The good news is that we raised over $150 in donations for
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I was SO excited about that!
The key to pulling this off on our budget was a lot of pre-planning. I’ve been collecting party supplies (paper plates here, party decor there) a little bit at a time for months on end. We handmade as much as possible and I simply could not have pulled this off without amazing support from Aliyah's Grammy & Grandpa, YaYa & Bebop, and her awesome aunts & uncles. They helped with everything from party set-up, to cooking the food, running errands and decorations. Aliyah's grammy shared her creative skills (and paper/stamp supplies) to help me make most all of the decorations.What would we do without our amazing family?!!?!?
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| Helping Dad ice cupcakes before the party |
Whew. I’m now completely exhausted just typing this out. You moms out there who pull these things off by yourself in a matter of weeks, I don’t know how you do it! It took Tyler and I four months and a full team of family members to get this together. I’ll never look at one of those “birthday party inspiration” websites the same way again!
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| Playing in Aliyah's balloons |
I will post more later about what Aliyah wore and some of my favorite moments from her party to keep this from getting too long.
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