Vintage Circus 1st Birthday Party

Can you believe my baby girl is 1 year old already?




These parties get harder and harder with 2 kids and working full time, but we pulled it off!  I could have done so much more, but I just had to draw the line somewhere for my own sanity.  The decorations came out super cute, the food was good, and everyone had a great time!

DIY party hats with a special one for the birthday girl

Let's just go right to her wearing it because it's too darn cute...she was so upset that she had to wait for cake!

The front hallway with her 12 month calendar photos, party blowers, and circus animal crackers as the balloon weights

Close-up of the party blowers


Front door sign

Back door leading to the backyard...
A couple hours before the party started, we ended up moving a lot of things outside because the weather was beautiful!


Happy Birthday banner in the kitchen

Party hats for the kids

Banner of monthly photos with her baby doll

Cards for the guests to write memories and advice for Caylee.  Everyone wrote the cutest messages for her! (I did this for Connor too, and I love that we can save them for him to look at when he gets older)


The snacks were also an important part of the vintage circus theme.  Everyone pigged out on circus peanuts, gummy bears, candy buttons, popcorn...

Cotton candy, Cracker Jack, animal crackers, etc...

We also had soft pretzels with cheese dip, hot dogs & turkey dogs, and some everyday food too.  Most of it got eaten before I got to take photos!

Caylee absolutely loved her first taste of cake and ended up with half in her tummy & half in her hair!

Connor was a great big brother and helped her blow out her birthday candle!

 It's so hard to believe it's been a year since she was born.  She's gone from a little newborn to a big girl in such a short time! But thank goodness this party is over now...I'm ready to enjoy the summer!

DIY Baby Onesie Dress

One of the best parts about having a baby girl is all the stuff you can make her to wear.  However, I pretty much avoid making her clothes because she grows out of them so fast that it's not even worth the effort.  These dresses were pretty easy, so I did do a few of them (back when I still had time) during maternity leave.  She never even got a chance to wear them, but I did take photos of her in them before they got too small! 

I pretty much followed this tutorial by Prudent Baby with a few tweaks of my own to create this little dress for her.

It's really nice to have the onesie attached and then you can always add leggings or tights over it too.

Pretty girl!

Easy Baby Hair Bow Hanging Closet Storage

Baby girl might have a few too many hair bows & headbands, but really, you can never have enough, right? She needs one to match every outfit and occasion!  Finally, I found the perfect solution to hold everything!  This closet organizer is double-sided so it actually holds twice as much as what I have here. 

I love that it fits perfectly in her closet so it doesn't take up a bunch of space in her room.

Brilliant! I'm so happy to have some organizing done for the new year!

DIY Pacifier Clips

Once again, I have a baby that loves their pacifier.  I bought a few clips ahead of time, but I actually like the ones I made even better!  We get a ton of compliments on the chevron one :)

She doesn't look very happy here, but she was very comfy and warm in her flower costume on Halloween with her chevron pacifier clip.

DIY Girly Hanger Hair Bow Holder

I might do have a small addition to baby headbands and bows.  It's so fun to make them and she look so darn cute in them!  Here's a few of the ones I've made for her in the last couple of months: upcycled t-shirt headbands and flower headbands.  The number of hair bows is started to get out of control and she's only 3 months old, so I decided it was time for some organization.  I wanted something that I could hang in her closet so it would be out of the way, but it would also be easily accessible and I would be able to see all her hair accessories at one time.

(I apologize for the photos that are kinda dark.  That's what happens when I get super busy and it's rainy on the one day that I have a few minutes to get some photos done!)

This idea is a combination of several different ones I've seen before and I just mixed them together to create my own concept.  I took a padded hanger from her closet to use as the base.

At the craft store, I found this little wooden tag for less than $1 that would work perfectly for her name.

I painted the wood yellow and then printed out her name in a pretty font.

Using my easy pencil trick, I transferred her name to the wood.

I used a silver marker to trace over the pencil.

To hang the ribbon from the hanger, I used my glue gun.  My warning with this is to make sure you glue it very well and you might even consider using super glue.  Mine broke after a couple days, so I had to redo it.  But I also have WAY too many hair bows for a 3 month old baby!


To add a little extra flair, I added a pretty bow to the top of the hanger.

Of course, I'm going to move this into her closet, but it works well on her doorknob for pictures.  I love it and it's so easy to grab a bow and go!

Connor's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Birthday Party

My big guy just turned 3!


Because of the new baby and such a crazy summer, we did a low-key birthday this year.  Nothing too big and not as many decoration and DIY as normal, but still just as much love and fun!  Connor was into Mickey for the majority of the year, so I decided that was the best bet for his 3rd birthday theme.


The party started at 4:00 after nap time, so we did some easy snacks before picking up pizza for dinner.  The hit of the party were the homemade Mickey & Minnie sugar cookies that we made!  I love baking, but I haven't had the best luck with sugar cookies.  After a lot of research, I found the perfect recipe here, and they came out perfectly!

 

 Mickey watermelon with blueberries

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse serving bowls and Mickey ears for the kids

 

Can't beat balloons for $1 and the best entertainment for toddlers!


Miss Caylee in her party dress :)

Connor with his Mickey birthday cake

He insisted on getting a piece with Mickey's foot on it and then only ate the frosting. Silly guy!

Happy Birthday, Connor!