With a new year, comes many new celebrations. I am gearing up for Valentine’s Day and my daughter turning four next month, but in the meantime, I thought I would share the details from one of my favorite parties that took place last year. Read on for all the delightful elements from a “Little Ladybug First Birthday”.
It was hard to believe my friend’s daughter was already turning one. It seemed like just yesterday we were hosting the baby shower prior to her arrival (you can see all the details from here “Oh So Sweet Cherry Baby Shower” here). However, it was time to celebrate the big one year milestone and I was honored to be involved in helping plan the party. My friend was keen to do a ladybug theme for the gathering and I knew it would be both cute, and fairly easy to pull off.
We hosted the party at a local Community Centre. For those local Vancouverites, the Trout Lake Community Centre is a great options for your little ones celebration. The rooms are inexpensive to rent, bright and open up onto an ourdoor patio overlooking the lake and playgrounds. It may be hard not to have all future birthday parties in this space!
Not surprisingly, the color palette for the party was red and black, but I also decided to add some plaid and burlap into the mix. Jars of yellow, green and white florals were nice additions on the tables. The look was finished off with gold floral rings I DIYed to dress up the walls, which would have otherwise just been bare.
As usual, the dessert table was the focal part of the room. My friend is an excellent baker and made up a collection of cookies and cake pops, along with the birthday cake. The cake was a simple circle shape that was the perfect size for photos of the birthday girl. Additionally, there were the most adorable ladybug cake pops and sugar cookies. Watermelon and berries were also placed on the table to appease the crowd of babies and toddlers. A collection of salads and pizzas were served up for other guests.
A 12-month banner of photos from the young girl’s first year was created and place up on one of the walls for guests to view. Otherwise, we kept activities to a minimum since many of the birthday girl’s friends were still non-walkers. I brought along an inflatable pool and some plastic balls to create a mini ball pit. I also created a game for any older kids to play, called the “Ladybug Toss”. I lined up a few pails and made “ladybugs” out of heart shaped balls that could be tossed into the buckets for points.
It is obvious from the photos that the birthday girl enjoyed her celebration. Though I think we were all a little surprised she didn’t attack the cake. Instead she just stared and delicately touched it. We will have to see if this changes come her second birthday.
