I can’t believe little Misha is one already! Her Mom, Michelle, & I have been best friends for 21 years now, so her kids are family. Michelle did a great job on this adorable owl themed first birthday party. Check out the end of this post for her party sources, venue rating, & tips for planning your own owl birthday party. 🙂 So lets get started…
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These favors were placed just inside the door, with the cute little stuffed owls peeking out of the bags. She also did place cards for the little ones, which were a big hit when they were ready to pick their seats. Owl shaped paper was a place for each guest to write a favorite memory from Misha’s first year, or some words of advice for her as she gets older. I did this at my now 8 year old’s first birthday party and we were just reading them the other day. It’s priceless to be able to look back on these memories as they grow.
We had to get some shots of these three little amigos. They have a total of 5 1/2 months between them. Misha (middle) is the oldest, Simon (left) is 3 months younger, and Blake (right, my little guy) is 2 1/2 months younger than Simon.
Cheers! Pink owl cups with neon straws filled with pink lemonade were a big hit with the girls. They also loved drawing on the paper owls at the little arts & crafts table.
Here’s a huge tip I learned from this party. If you want a party favor to be popular with the one year and younger crowd, make sure they have TAGS! The babies thought the tags on their stuffed owls were the coolest thing ever. 🙂
Here’s a few shots of my little ones being silly. The highchairs had wheels… entertaining for Alex, scary for Mom! 😉 Alex’s words of wisdom for Misha: “Do what your Mom’s every command.” haha! I’m not sure she’s following that advice herself… 😉
Misha is quite the little Daddy’s girl. 🙂
These little cuties were loving the cake!
I think it’s safe to say the littles at this party had a total blast.
The proud parents. <3
Piñata time!
Even Blake got a turn.
Candy!!
He was a little confused about what the kids were going crazy over.
Misha loves her Grandma Shirley. 🙂
Sisters <3
Time for presents!
and finally… it was cake smashing time! I love how lady like she was being in the beginning, just some little tiny bites…
Eventually she put her foot in the cake, and was even nice enough to share with Grandma! mmmmm haha! 🙂
Party Info:
Location: HyVee Club Room | Locust St location | Dubuque, IA
Decorations: “Look Whooo’s Turning One” decorations & piñata | Birthday Express.com
Favors: TY owl Beanie Boos + snacks for the littles & baby food pouches for the babies
Menu: pizza, chips, coleslaw, potato & macaroni salad, soda, water, pink lemonade | HyVee
Cake: white cake with whipped frosting – 1/2 lemon 1/2 raspberry filling, marble cake with sugar frosting, smash cake | HyVee
Mom’s Review: “If you spend $125 at Hy-vee for the party, there is no charge for the room. This price includes anything you buy there (food, flowers, balloons, cakes, ANYTHING). We bought the kids’ snacks for the favor bags, the flowers, etc. You are not allowed to bring in any kind of foods/drinks, as everything like that must be purchased at Hy-vee and not leave the store. Normally, I would have made a themed cake to go with the party but since we could not bring anything in, I ordered the cakes from Hy-Vee. I found the design online and they did a good job of replicating it and the cakes were delicious. They also give a free smash cake if you are ordering for a first birthday party. This Hy-Vee in particular allows you to bring in any decorations you want and decorate however you want. (This is not so at other Hy-Vee’s in town as they do not allow you to tape anything to the walls.) They also have a drop celing so you can hang decorations from the ceiling. Having the freedom to decorate however we wanted was amazing and turned out absolutely adorable. Another reason we chose this Hy-Vee in particular was because at other Hy-Vee locations in town, there were additional charges that we felt were unnecessary (just one example was a charge for having the soda cold for the day of the party.) There was no nickel and diming at this Hy-vee, and we did not pay for anything except the actual costs of the food and items we picked. We chose most of the items we needed from the sale ads (like for the soda, chips, etc) and felt that it was very reasonable. We also collected fuel saver points for the items we purchased. Everything we had left over, we just took back home with us.”
Mom’s Venue Rating: **** 4 Stars
Party Tips/Tricks: Take a friend with a good eye for decorating with you to do all the set-up. Let Daddy or someone else watch the kids.
Favorite Moment: We put Misha up on the table where she was the center of attention and she was happy and smiling, opening presents and then doing her cake smash.
