This past month we celebrated my daughters 1st birthday. And yes, we celebrated (don’t judge me)….over a month late. Although I certainly received some flack for that, it gave me the opportunity to own my own feelings about it which are this: date are only dates. We ascribe the meaning to them. This celebration was extremely important to me and it wasn’t something I needed to fall on a certain day for it to be significant.
For her theme I chose a boho rainbow for two reasons. First, I’m loving the muted colors of this new boho rainbow trend because I’m allergic to bright colors – I know, I’m working on it. Secondly, and most importantly, she is the rainbow that came after many storms. I created two prints for her birthday from which I drove the entire theme with the line from Cinderella because it rang so true in my heart when thinking about my daughter.
Have faith in your dreams and one day, your rainbow will come smiling through.
My path has not always been sunny. Like all of us, I’ve navigated some stormy waters. Amist the losses I was navigating my heart never stopped longing so deeply for a family, a child to call my own (whether biological or adopted). And she finally came. My rainbow. And I was so excited to celebrate that blessing in my life. And I didn’t care on what day that fell.
THE DESSERTS
The artistry of desserts brings me so much joy. My late night scrolling through endless cake/cupcake/cookie videos has been equated to my “food porn” addiction. And it’s not that far off – there’s just so much great stuff out there.
Not surprisingly, there were so many amazing directions you can take a boho rainbow cake. Endless actually. I honestly had a hard time deciding, but ended up going with simple. I created the cake toppers myself using macrame rope, wire, yarn and wood beads…..which means of course there will be a DIY Macramé Rainbow tutorial coming soon!
I had intended for the bigger cake to be for the adults and her smaller smash cake to be just for her. But low and behold I forgot to take her smash cake out of the freezer in time so it was rock solid! Poor thing was so frustrated. She actually resorted to trying to eat the topper! #momfail
Good thing I had the other cakes! We just let her dig into the larger cake and she had noooooo qualms after that. Went in face first – no hands needed. It was super fun to watch.
I had also made mini cupcakes to add a pop of color. These were great to share with family and friends, especially those that could not be with us.
And then there were the cookies! Because we didn’t have enough sugar right!? This was honestly one of my favorite things. The cookies were gifted to us by my best friend, and they were the cutest! I had such a hard time letting anyone eat them because they were just too perfect. Thank you to Schnice Treats by Ashley!
1ST YEAR PHOTO COLLAGE
One thing I’ve always adored seeing at 1st birthday parties is the banner of baby’s month milestone pictures. It so sweet to see the progression through their 1styear of life. Instead of a banner, I opted to repurpose a headband holder/name plaque we received at her baby shower. Of course I made and added a macramé rainbow (because I was going rainbow making happy), new set of flowers, and attached photos I had printed from Printiki, made to look like polaroids. I loved the way it turned out, and now it’s taking up residency on our wall, at least for now.
HIGHCHAIR BANNER
As I was searching for a banner for her highchair online, I just never found one that I really felt fit her theme/colors quite right. So I embarked on a project to create my own. I created my own tassels using tissue paper (see the DIY post here) and added wooden bead accents. I also drafted, printed and cut out the O.N.E. using Xacto knife. In hindsight I maybe should have gone with yarn instead (to better match her cake toppers) but by the time I was done, there was no way I was going to start over. There’s always next time right?
PARTY FAVORS FOR FAMILY & FRIENDS
For those of you who know me best, you know I feel there can be great meaning in the small details. Because we are in the midst of a pandemic, parties of course look very different now. We can’t necessarily celebrate with all those that we’d like to. It was important for me to include those who could be with us, so I made these party favors for family and friends.
I resurrected a DIY concrete candle project that I had started years ago (and don’t worry, this is a DIY project I will be sharing with you soon)! Although I had made the concrete candles, they had yet to be painted or sealed and had been tucked away in cabinet. I pulled them back out and painted them with her birthday theme colors.
I then placed them individually in favor bags and printed these adorable printable BOHO rainbow thank you tags at home! I added a touch of greenery with super glue, because why not right? Finally, each take home bags was also adorned with a picture of Indie and the friend/family member who would be receiving it. I wanted each person to know how much they mean to us in raising our daughter, and this was my way of honoring them.
STRAWS
Again, I’m a details girl. These printable rainbow straw toppers added just the perfect little amount of detail to create more continuity with the rainbow theme. How cute are the kiddos with their straws!
