March 16, 2020
Caroline’s first birthday party is in the books. I am beyond thankful for all of the friends and family that joined us to celebrate her. Who knew it would take a few days to recover from a one year old’s birthday party?
There is a lot of unnecessary pressure on a child’s first birthday party. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good theme, but I am not the kind to go for a Pinterest perfect party. I chose the theme for Caroline’s party before she was even born, Mardi Gras. The day before I had Caroline we went to the Mardi Gras parade in Galveston on the seawall. It was so fun (yes, even sober) and it was a great distraction for me. I knew a Mardi Gras theme would be so easy to decorate for, and who doesn’t love Fat Tuesday?!
Invitation
The invitation is something that I did not want to skimp on. I love receiving mail, so I wanted to send out physical invitations for Caroline’s party. I searched all of the popular stationary websites and could not find a Mardi Gras design that I liked. At that point I turned to Etsy and found an adorable design by Sweet Providence that I was able to customize and download for about $13.
Once I finalized and purchased the design I uploaded it to a blank card on Shutterfly. They are always running a sale ((currently 50% off everything, end 3/18))! I had some stamps leftover from sending Christmas cards, but I hand delivered as many as I could. Galveston is small enough to do that, thankfully!
Decorations
Our Walmart puts Mardi Gras decorations in the seasonal department as soon as Christmas is over. This is where I bought my wreaths and garland. Caroline’s party was after Fat Tuesday so I was able to get a few things on sale.
We have a catwalk on our second story that I turned into a Bourbon Street balcony. I bought these buntings (more like faux buntings/banners) on Amazon, and zip-tied them to the rail. I draped the garland around each banner, and then strung beads across the entire rail. I love how the beads made it look messy and less uniform. The wreaths between the banners are from Walmart. I found the same ones on Amazon but they were way more expensive.
As you can imagine, there is no shortage of beads in Galveston. We went to a couple of parades this year and put our beads in the basket of Caroline’s stroller. We had more than enough beads for the party!
Cake
If you follow me on Instagram and watch my stories you know that I made Caroline’s smash cake myself. It might not have been perfect, but it was just what we needed for her party. I bought cream cheese frosting and made purple, green, and gold with food coloring. I used funfetti boxed cake mix and three six-inch round cake pans.
My sister in law decorated the high chair with beads for Caroline’s smash cake. I put her in the $20 Ikea high chair for the cake smashing. I bought this high chair to keep at my in-law’s house, but kept it at our house just for her party since it is much less bulky than her regular chair. I put a table cloth down underneath the high chair for easy clean up!
For the rest of the guests I provided king cakes! I had intentions of getting them from a local bakery, but I never called anyone to make the order. Oops. Target had $15 king cakes. I bought some on Fat Tuesday and put them directly into the freezer when I got home. The day before Caroline’s party I pulled them out to defrost. Before serving them I sprinkled each one with water and warmed them up in the oven. They honestly tasted great! Big props to Mary Alice for making the suggestion to reheat them, because I was just going to set them out and be done.
Food & Drinks
I don’t mean to brag, but….. we had Chick-Fil-A for Caroline’s party ON A SUNDAY. Chick-Fil-A has an option to order nugget trays cold so you can reheat them later for your event. We bought about 400 nuggets and they were all gone before the party was over. We also had a fruit tray, and chips and salsa.
Yes, this was Caroline’s party, but Milton and I knew that this party was more for us and our friends. That being said, we had plenty of beer, wine, and Truly (Milton). We also picked up bottled water and sweet tea and lemonade from Chick-Fil-A.
