Sydney's Snowflake Sweet Shoppe

When my daughter was born in January 2011, I was already thinking about her winter first birthday the following year. I knew it would have to be indoors to keep warm, so when it came time to start planning I knew we had to do an open house to be able to accommodate so many guests in our home. A sweet shoppe seemed like the perfect theme for an open house timeline because the sweets could all be made in advance and left out for the 4 hour period while guests came and went based on their own schedules. In the end I am so happy I planned it this way because it was really great for everyone invited and my daughter never seemed overwhelmed by all the people. Since sweet shoppe's have been done over and over, I added a little twist to it by bringing in the winter ONEderland snowflake aspect too. All the sweets and digital elements were baked and designed by me with the help of some inspiration from various blogs. Everything was just great and I can't believe my baby girl is already one!

• Desserts

  Assorted desserts prepared by CupCakePops

• Activities / Games

  We had an indoor bounce house and miscellaneous toys for all the kids. The party was an open house so planning games would have been difficult since I had no idea exactly when families would be showing up.

• Budget

  The sweets were all baked by me and most of the ingredients I already had on hand. The decorations were either handmade, or found on holiday 80% off clearance. My daughter's outfit was purchased by her aunt before she was even born. The party ended up being fairly cheap which was great for our budget.

• Party Favors

  Hot chocolate was served in to go cups so guests were free to take them home and to go boxes were handed out so guests could fill them up with their favorite treats and take them home. Each box had a snowflake ornament on it. (no photo, oops)

• Best Moment

  Watching my baby girl stick her entire face right in her cake!

• What People Ate

  Since the time of the party was between lunch and dinner we just did a few snacks, the various desserts and a hot chocolate bar.

• What People Drank

  "Melted Snowflakes" (ice water) hot chocolate and coffee

• Most Touching Moment

  I loved reading all the notes that guests wrote to my daughter. They will be great to re-read years from now.

• Sydney's Snowflake Sweet Shoppe

  A Winter ONEderland Snowflake Sweet Shoppe.

• CupCakePops

  Cake designer

  http://www.facebook.com/4CupCakePops