A Ladybug Birthday…

We’ve been busy at our house!  Our baby just turned ONE!  It is hard to see that first year pass by so quickly, but so much fun to look back and see just how much they have changed and grown.

For Miss P’s Birthday, we celebrated with a Ladybug theme.  I didn’t post instructions on anything, but feel free to email me and I will send any your way.  We started out with the outfit, there always has to be a Birthday outfit, and this was no exception.  I began by making the skirt, following these instructions, but altering them just a bit.   Then appliquéd a ladybug on a t-shirt I purchased at Target.  I will say though, Cherokee t-shirts are WONDERFUL to appliqué on!  Just soft, and easy to use.

Then came the decor…

We kept it simple, and trying to stay within budget.  I decided to check out the dollar store and see what I could find.  I found some simple glass vases, and thought they would work great to hold the balloons, but I wanted to spruce them up a bit.  I took a sheet of printed scrapbook paper, rolled it up and put it inside the vase, added some floral foam to stabilize the balloons, then some metallic basket filler to add some flare.  I think it turned out pretty great!  After the party I re-used the vases…  I’ll add a picture at the bottom of this post.

As a thank you to our guests, I baked sugar cookies (the recipe Jenni posted) and frosted them with red buttercream, and added black buttercream dots.  So cute, and oh so yummy!

 

I really wanted to make the birthday hat this year, so, I set out to do it.  I was surprised how easy it really was, and loved the end result. 

Every first birthday needs a “smash cake” and this was no different.  I started with a 6 inch round cake and frosted it completely with red frosting, then piped on black dots and accents, and smoothed it out.  Nothing fancy, but she loved it!  For the guests we had cupcakes, with white icing and red and black sprinkles.

 

It was a lot of fun to put this party together and I was very pleased with the results, especially since both kids were very sick the entire week before, Miss P had an ear infection and respiratory virus, and Miss C had the same virus and croup.  But we survived it all and had a great time!

When it was all over I found a great way to use half of the vases from the party too!

Just by sticking the vases on top of the candlesticks Kimie taught me to make, and adding candles, they are perfect!