1st Birthday

The Birthday Girl!

So my baby girl is officially ONE! I cannot believe how quickly her 1st birthday came and went. She looked like a beautiful princess and like a birthday girl should – she got loads of attention, love, kisses and of course…cake. The beginning of the birthday was a bit chaotic as we didn’t get the hall until 5:00pm, but I had made the mistake of telling the guests to arrive at 5:00pm as I underestimated how long it would take to set up, what I should have done is invited people for 5:30. I had initially thought that most people wouldn’t be on time – but then I quickly realized that when it comes to a child’s birthday, time is of utmost importance. I was literally scrambling to get things set up before ALL the guests arrived. You have to be grateful for family and friends that are able to help out when you need it most. So thank you for all of your help! I was lucky enough to get the hall 10 minutes prior to 5:00pm which helped, but wasn’t nearly enough time to get the tables up; chairs out; table covers on; cake, baked goods as well as the candy bar arranged on the table. Than to make sure the other table was prepared with serving dishes and flatware for the catered food and the guest table had been set up for the Birthday Girl guest book.  I didn’t really know what to do for a guestbook and looked for some insight on Pinterest. There were things like photobooks, canvas’s with the birthday girl/boy photo in the middle, a poem about the child that people could write around, and then their was a Dr. Seuss book that was about Birthdays. There wasn’t a whole lot, or should I say not a whole lot that caught my eye. I thought to myself the book about birthdays would be fun, but not Dr. Seuss. I went searching for a birthday type book – something that was open enough that people had enough space to write on, yet was about birthdays and could be a great keepsake for my daughter. Chapters was where I found it. It was a large book that was called ‘Baby’s First Birthday’ and it worked perfectly and had just the right amount of space for everyone to write what their special wishes to the birthday girl. What did you use for your child’s 1st birthday?

As people started arriving, I was not yet done putting the hall together. Thankfully they were more than willing to lend a helping hand as I felt a bit overwhelmed as I just wanted the birthday to be perfect. I know that it was likely that my daughter would ever remember the day or the little details, but I wanted to know that when she looked back at the photos of her very first birthday that she knew it was something amazing and fun. I know that even though it is all done, there are things I would’ve changed but like anything in life it is a learning curve and for this next baby on the way I will hopefully be able to get it a bit better. One thing I can say was that I wish I had taken more photos. So advice to those…take LOTS of photos as you can never really have enough!

Once everything was all done and sorted I was able to take a breather, but it was difficult since as a host, it is always your duty to ensure everyone is taken care of and having a good time. I just wanted to make sure each guest was having doing okay, had something to eat and felt comfortable. I have to say that once the birthday was all said and done, my husband and I said to ourselves that it was hard to believe that the birthday had come and gone and we felt like we didn’t really get a chance to celebrate the day with the birthday girl. We were all to busy making sure everyone was fed and taken care of, that the birthday girl was just out of our site most of the time. Of course she was enjoying time with family and friends that don’t always get to see her, and that was comforting, but we just felt robbed of her first birthday if that makes sense. I know as a one year old, its unlikely that she will remember her 1st birthday, but we as the parents will remember it – we hope to anyway – and that is how she will relive the experience of this special day…through our memory. All in all it was a successful birthday and everything turned out as good as they could. I know that the preparation leading up to the birthday and the work involved on the day of can be exhausting, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was so much fun planning everything even though time slipped by faster than I could plan – so another piece of advice is start a bit early and don’t leave things till last minute because like a wedding, more needs to be thought of than you can sometimes think. Everyone loved the hall, were impressed by the cake, and thought that the birthday girl was an angel. What more could you really ask for….hmmm maybe more time in the day to kiss, cuddle and hug that little girl and sing her a happy birthday! 😉