Happy Birthday!

A couple weeks back (I'm a little behind), we celebrated Alice’s 1st birthday with a “Alice in One-Derland” party. (I obviously had no alternative but to use this theme this year, right?)

I never thought I’d be the type of mother who goes overboard and treats their kid’s first birthday party like a wedding, but let’s face it, I’m exactly that mother. I did promise J I wouldn’t go too wild and I think I was successful in keeping that promise. I mean, she only had one outfit change! Well, two if you count when I stripped her down to a onesie after cake. I scaled back. Really, I did.

Outfit #1. Obviously Alice had to dress up like Alice!

Outfit #2 - The Handmade Outfit

I made her crown, t-shirt and tutu. This one I’ll actually create an individual post for, I think.

Outfit #3 - The Post-Cake Outfit



More important than any decorations or fancy fondant cakes (made from scratch, thankyouverymuch) or a Mexican feast (what? Alice didn’t eat pork carnitas and tacos in Wonderland?) was that Alice got to spend her first birthday surrounded by people who love her. That, and she got covered in pink icing. No birthday party is complete without some cake smashing.

The cake:

The smashing!

Alice had her own giant cupcake cake!

After cake time, Alice could be seen running all over the place in a buttercream-induced sugar haze. I can assure you she had a blast. And if she could talk, I’m sure she would have complained about a headache the next morning.

Party on! I gave her regular cake this time. Can you tell? I think she's enjoying her party!

Opening Presents

HANDMADE DETAILS

Of course, the party was replete with handmade details…I could probably write a post for each one of these things, but I know well enough that that will never happen, so this will have to do.

Invite - Front & Back

Monthly Photo Banner

Birthday Banner

My favorite decoration, by far. I wanted to create something gender neutral so that we could use if over and over again for everyone’s birthdays. So, it’s more of a family birthday banner than an Alice birthday banner. Fabrics are a mix of Amy Butler, Sandy Henderson, Heather Ross, and Alexander Henry.

Party Favors

I kept in theme with eat me and drink me favors.

"Drink Me" Hot Chocolate Favors

I used this recipe

I designed the labels in illustrator and printed on cardstock.

"Eat Me" Talking Flower Sugar Cookies

Royal Icing Recipe & Tips

The Cake

I was a little nervous that I bit off more than I could chew with the fondant, but it all worked out. I decided to make the fondant from scratch because I detest the plasticy chemical flavor of the Wilton pre-made stuff.

Marshmallow fondant Recipe

Cake Recipe: Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party cake (with a few modifications – eliminated all lemon flavor and fillings.)

Happy Birthday, Alice!