Well, the long-awaited milestone finally arrived: Nathan's 1st Birthday. Wow! To say this year has flown by on a flurry of wings and memories, is a vast understatement. Every month I charted our baby's growth, enjoying the progress he made and how with each passing month, he became more and more a unique person, with his own identity. And now he's an entire year old. *wiping happy but sentimental tears away*
It was Lucas's idea to do a circus theme- and as I stalked Pinterest, and gathered ideas online and off, I realized how popular that particular theme was. But still a lot of fun to plan! Nathan was going to be the Strong Man, and Lucas wanted to make a little costume for him for his special day. So I donated an old dress of mine- a very sexy leopard print that had seen its day (last place worn was at the House of Blues for the Type O Negative concert- happy memories!)- and Lucas cut it up and made a costume for Nate, and a shrug for me. The man is ridiculously talented! He probably could've designed a headband for either Nate or Beau with the remaining material, but time was very limited, lol. He also made barbells out of purple balloons and a paper towel cardboard holder:
He and I decided to dress up but just a little- so Lucas planned on being the Ringmaster, with top hat and striped jacket; and I would be the Animal Trainer, with a fascinator (miniature top hat) made by hubby, and animal print sweater and a shirt with a tiger face printed on it.
I managed to stay on a tight budget, by going to the dollar store for supplies- invites, balloons etc. I found plates and napkins and cups at Wal-Mart for $.97 per package, beating even the dollar store out. The design was cute- it said "I am 1", and had safari animals which I figured could double up as circus ones since there were no actual circus designs. I also found a "pin the tail on the zebra" game for the kids.
I hunted on Ebay and found retro-looking popcorn bags to fill with popcorn as party favors; and a multicolored pennant to string around the dining room (which also happens to be multi-seasonal and multi-purpose for future parties). I bought root beer for hubs and asked him to save the glass bottles after he drank them, to use for a ring toss game (I found the rings on Ebay as well). I also found a photo prop for our circus theme- a plastic print of a strong man and a trapeze artist, with holes cut out so people can take pix and put their faces in the holes. Talk about a fun party prop!
The most important aspect of the party- the cake. After shopping around and getting prices, I went with Rouses Bakery- they had a sheet cake that was only $24.99 and fed up to 40 people! They decorated it with multicolored balloons, and it had chocolate buttercream icing with red trim, and the cake itself was white almond. It was fresh and absolutely delicious! Li'l man had his piece, but was more interested in the icing part than the actual cake- but hey, his day, his way ;)
Family and friends came over Saturday (the day after the actual bday) to help us celebrate. The party started at 1:00 and lasted a couple of hours. Everyone seemed to have a great time, and Nate was the star of the show. He was such a happy li'l man that day, and enjoyed seeing the familiar faces of his loved ones. We took countless pix and ate cake and "helped" Nate open his presents. He got a Cookie Monster stuffed toy, a lot of very nice books, brand new clothes and socks and some really nice toys. Li'l man cleaned up because our people were very generous!
So, we all survived the first BIG birthday milestone- maybe now that I won't be charting each month till the next one, I will have more time to plan an even BIGGER bash the next time around! Here's to you Nathan, my li'l strong man- Happy HAPPY Birthday, sweet son!!
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