Selected as Party of the Day on November 20th!
Aria's Enchanted Forest 1st Birthday
ByParty Recap
Aria’s 1st Birthday in the Enchanted Forest was inspired by a combination of things–including movies like Fantastic Mr. Fox and Shrek and stories like Little Red Riding Hood, Goldy Locks and the Three Bears, and Snow White. Really anything that’s ever happened in the “Enchanted Forest” was fair game for this party and guests were encouraged to dress in “Woodland Attire”. While there were no adults that followed this “suggestion”, there WAS a little lumberjack, a beautiful fairy, a baby butterfly, a cute bear and the birthday girl was Little Red Riding Hood. I also made a bunch of felt animal masks for kids to play with as well. There was a large amount of cuteness at this party!!
The decor included birch branches, wooden crates, birch vases, lanterns, bunting banners, moss, rocks, wood slabs, succulents, ferns, dahlias, hydrangea, billy balls, butterflies and a bunch of other fun things!
An adorable favor station allowed kids of all ages to choose up to 3 age-appropriate favors of their choice as well as many gummy bears as they wanted. Games and activities included a Ball Toss Game into birch buckets, Bean Bag Toss/Cornhole, a water table, a mini circus tent and of course all of the fun animal masks I designed.
The food for the party was AMAZING and totally made it feel like an Enchanted Forest. We decided to handle all of the side dishes and desserts ourselves (the Grandmas, Aunts and myself (Aria’s Mom)) and catered in the Entrees from Q BBQ and Brown’s Chicken Catering. This allowed us to focus on making some amazing themed dishes. We had a “Poison Apple Salad”, Potato Salad, “3 Little Pigs in a Blanket”, “Puss in Boots’ Caprese Swords”, “Magical Mushrooms”, “Acorn” Donuts, Mini “Acorns”, Chocolate-Covered Pretzel Twigs, Black Forest Cupcakes (both alcoholic and kid-friendly versions), Fruit of the Forest Pies, “S’mores on a Stick” and I made an awesome Smash Cake decorated with fresh flowers and foliage and topped with a custom mini bunting banner. Drinks included pink lemonade, cider ale, and assorted bottled beer, pop and juice boxes.
Party highlights include kids in cute costumes, the birthday girl playing with faux strawberries, lots of laughter and love, and Aria ended up being so sleepy by the time we presented her the smash cake that she barely smashed it! After a nap, Aria tried again and got a little messier, but she seems to be more of a dainty eater than we expected.
It was an amazing party and Aria and all of the guests loved it–I look forward to her one day looking back at these photos and thinking “Wow, I had an awesome 1st birthday mom!”
Party Highlights
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Best Moment
Aria was so tired by the time we did her smash cake, that she basically almost fell asleep in the highchair and barely touched her actual cake. She took a 1-hour nap directly after this, and then we later tried to get her to "smash it" some more, which was only mildly successful.
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Funniest Moment
It was funny watching all the kiddos wear the animal masks and splash in the water. One of the boys thought it was hilarious to just pour entire buckets of water on himself. It was funny to watch, but not-to-funny for his mom to dry him off after!
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Most Touching Moment
Just being with so many friends and family--we had such a good turn out which was just really touching. So many people love our little Aria. There wasn't really a moment, it was more like a warm fuzzy feeling I had the whole time.
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Best Dressed
Aria's Little Red Riding Hood Costume took me several hours to sew, so I'd like to think she was best dressed!
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Desserts
“Acorn” Donuts, Mini “Acorns”, Chocolate-Covered Pretzel Twigs, Black Forest Cupcakes (both alcoholic and kid-friendly versions), Fruit of the Forest Pies, “S’mores on a Stick”
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Party Favors
We had a "Favor Station" for kids with assorted prizes to take home including Birdie Whistles, Flingin' Frogs, PlayDoh, Grow-an-insect, twig pencils, bouncy balls and some yummy gummy bears. Kids got to choose up to 3 items for their goody bags.
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Activities / Games
Woodland Creature masks, Ball Toss, Cornhole/Bean Bag toss, Water Play area, enchanted play tent, Favor Station
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Budget
~$500-$1,000
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What People Ate
“Poison Apple Salad”, Potato Salad, “3 Little Pigs in a Blanket”, “Puss in Boots’ Caprese Swords”, “Magical Mushrooms” plus fried Chicken, Pulled Pork and BBQ Chicken as entrees
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What People Drank
Water with Lemon, Pink Lemonade, Juice boxes, bottled beer, assorted pop
Party Helpers
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Jennifer Kaye Photography
Photographer
Jenny did an AMAZING job capturing our event! We love working with her and she is awesome at what she does!http://www.jenniferkayephotography.com/
[email protected]
630.334.5841 -
Kio Kreations
Florist
My company, Kio Kreations did the flowers, paper items (signage, invitation, etc.), and designed the entire eventhttp://kiokreations.com/
[email protected]
6308625486 -
Kristen Janes
Graphic Designer
http://kiokreations.com/
[email protected]
6308625486
4 comments
Tickledpinkwithrosesandpearls.Com P wrote:
SHE IS PRECIOUS! Most adorable party ever too!!
Tickledpinkwithrosesandpearls.Com P wrote:
EVERY SINGLE DETAIL OF THIS PARTY IS PERFECT!!
Tickledpinkwithrosesandpearls.Com P wrote:
ahhhhhh these are ADORABLE
Raquel D wrote:
Love it!
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