Bear's Birthday Bash

This past Saturday we kicked off the birthday festivities with a gathering of our nearest and dearest to celebrate Bear's first year. The party had a subtle teddy bear theme in the color scheme of blue, cream & brown. The front door was festooned with a decorative number one sign created in pic monkey.

Once inside, a plush teddy bear and billows of balloons welcomed guests. The foyer table also held a tray full of  party favors & a framed number one print.

The favors were cello bags filled with honey & chocolate teddy grahams. The chevron tags read "Thank you so beary much for celebrating with me" and were also a pic monkey creation. If you haven't had the opportunity to try pic monkey, I highly recommend it. All of my party printables were created there free of charge.

The dining room was party central housing the dessert, drink & gift tables.

Since it was an afternoon affair, we had a large sweet table. The offerings included 2 glass jars filled to the brim with chocolate chip cookies & kettle corn. Chewy number one rice krispie treats. Fluffy vanilla cupcakes topped with the sweetest brown bears. And the 2-tier birthday cake.

I love the look of layered linens and the dessert table was no exception. It was dressed with a burlap table cloth, a baby blue overlay, two linen-esque navy runners & Bear's initial. The dining room table and sideboard also had matching navy runners. Thanks to the magic of stitch witch, I didn't have a sew a thing and can reuse the fabric for future parties.

Hubby grabbed a few extra dollar store chalkboards when we were decorating the basement. I cut them to size and rested them on top of the pictures in the dining room. The chalkboard over the cake was inspired by an etsy artist and captures Bear's stats at one year of age. 

The reflection in the mirror just makes me smile…I am truly smitten with how it all turned out. I could look at this picture all day.

I love a good topiary and it was the prefect solution to the dining room table centerpiece. I fashioned this guy out of 3 faux boxwood balls I found at Hobby Lobby. Dressed with a herringbone twill bow he is as dapper as can be.

I baked the vanilla smash cake and created the bear topper following a tutorial I found on pinterest. Rather than fondant (because I didn't have any on hand) I used play-doh and simply removed the little critter before setting the cake in front of Bear. The figurine now sits in Bear's room as a souvenir of the day.

Scrapbook bear punches (etsy) were hot glued to toothpicks to make cupcake toppers.

The rice krispie treats were dolled up with blue sugar crystals that I first mixed into the marshmallow and then again sprinkled on top.

For refreshments, guests could help themselves to a variety of beverages. Coordinating tags identified the drinks and festive straws and glass bottles made everyone feel like a kid. 

Over the drink station, a mini banner adorned this corner of the room. I printed up 2x3 sized tags and attached them to a piece of grey yarn for an easy and festive addition.

Balloons and our gigantic Pottery Barn Kids teddy bear livened up the family room. The kiddie table held coloring pages for the tots and jelly beans for all to enjoy. The mini bunting was Belle's idea, I absolutely adored how it looks nestled in the multicolored jelly beans with the balloons above.
 

In the kitchen, party goers had the opportunity to cut, sew & stuff their own teddy bears.  (Bestie H's side note: This is a fantastic "Parent" project…kept those of us with multiple children busy for quite awhile.)

Once guest arrived we snapped some pictures.

Put the newly decorated basement to good use. And yes, accommodating the bouncy house was taken into consideration when planning the layout of the playroom.

Sewed a bear or two.

This is Hubby's grandmother. I LOVE the fact the party craft was multi-generational.

Oohed and awed as we watched a slideshow of Bear's first year.

And finally, gathered in the dining room to watch our baby enjoy his cake.

After an initial hesitation, he found it most definitely to his liking!

Out of all the parties I've planned and thrown, Bear's 1st Birthday Bash is my favorite. Everything came together perfectly. The celebration began at 2 in the afternoon and our last guests left just shy of 11:30pm! Now I call that a successful party. 

We talked, ate, reminisced, drank, ate again, and laughed a lot. Most of all Hubby & I are reminded of how truly blessed we are to have such amazing friends and family to share our joys with. Bear, you are loved by so many and we all can not wait to see what amazing things you do with you life. Happy First Birthday!