It's still hard to believe my little baby turned one. It really does go by so fast. Layla started her day a little after 7:00 am like she always does. H brought her in the room and we snuggled on the bed with her telling her happy birthday. Serena woke up and came in the room about 20 minutes later and we all just layed in bed for awhile playing with Layla.
About 30 minutes later we got up and started the day. We had breakfast and then started cleaning and decorating. Around 2:30 pm the first guests arrived and I had people trickle in after that. The party lasted till about 10:00 pm because the guys ended up playing poker in the backyard, but I had put Layla down to bed at around 8pm.
Here are the details on the party. I really wanted to keep it on a budget and we were able to except for the food. I think we went over budget there but that was due to poor planning on the food.
Theme
I started planning Layla's birthday party pretty late in the game. I literally did not have a theme till 2 weeks before the party (I know...tsk..tsk. bad mommy), but I think it all came together nicely in the end. The theme was "April showers bring May flowers"
Invitations
I found the invites by chance at Walmart. I was actually looking for poster board and came across these cute little flower themed invites. The package came with 8 invites and envelopes for only 99 cents. Score! I thought they went great with her theme so I bought two. Our guest list was 37 people but alot of them were H's family and my family so that really consolidated the number of invites I needed. Honestly I'm not into spending alot of money on invitations since they get thrown away anyways.
Decorations
Initially I was thinking of going with spring colors: pink, white, green, blue, light purple, but once I saw some items at Hobby Lobby I switched to the a brighter version of the colors mentioned. It worked out well because the craft stores had their Easter stuff marked down to 70-80 % off. The highlight of my decorations were the felt clouds that I made. They came out cute but were so tedious to make and twice I had to start certain parts over because I tangled up the string.
I made ten of them and hung them up at the top of our deck so it could look like it was sprinkling. I went with green table covers so it could look like grass, and then had felt flower water cans on the table surrounded by umbrellas I had cut out.
I had wanted to do a bit more like have flowers along the fence but time just got away from me. The plates, napkins, utensils, streamers, and goodie boxes were all bought at either Walmart or Family Dollar.
Overall I was very pleased with how the decorations came out and I gave myself a pat on the back for spending so little. With the decor I spent about $45. I spent the most on the felt, batting and prisms for the clouds. The watering cans were part of the Easter markdowns and came out to $2.99 but I bought 4. I also had coupons to use for Michael's and the fabric store.
Food
Ah yes the food which was the main source of bickering between H and I. Ok so initially we talked about making brisket with potato salad, corn on the cob, baked beans, and cornbread. The sides weren't really going to cost much but the brisket was. The cheapest we found it to be was at HEB for $2.87 lb. The only problem was we didn't start looking at prices for this till late in the game and then H decided he didn't want to spend the whole day in front of his smoker. We both dropped the ball in the food section so in the end we literally went to the grocery store around 8pm the night before the party and bought salad, chips, veggies, drinks, beer and some other things. We just ended up ordering pizza for the party. It definitely made life easier because we didn't have to worry about cooking. However between the trip to HEB and the pizza, we spent around $220 and ended up with around 25 people at the party. We did buy some things for the house at HEB and we did have leftover pizza which we ate for lunch and dinner but still, we went way over budget there. Alcohol will really drive up your cost though.
A nice little extra was that my parents brought over their popcorn machine and also bought the cake which was nice of them.
Little make shift stand lol.
Layla
I was really hoping she would follow her morning routine so she wouldn't be overtired for her party and luckily she did-for the most part. I gave her a bath around 10:00 am and then put her down for a nap. It was a short nap since she was up around 11:20 but at least she got some sleep in. She was such a good baby during the early afternoon while we were setting up and Serena was such a huge help in keeping her entertained. H and I both felt like we didn't get to spend much time with her though since we were busy getting everything ready and then entertaining the guests. Also our moods were tense. I admit I get a little stressed and easily irritated before a party and I feel bad that I snapped at Serena and H a few times.
When the guests arrived Layla was pretty much held by everybody and she was having a good time till about 5:00 pm. If she skips her afternoon nap, this is around the time she starts getting cranky. So we went ahead and did her cake. I didn't feed her any but I gave her a little taste. She had the opportunity to put some in her mouth but she was more interested in how it felt on her fingers. After the cake I took her inside to open presents and then she played with a couple before I finally put her down to bed around 8:00 pm which is her normal bedtime.
Oh before I forget, her outfit we bought the day before the party at Babies R Us. I was going to have her wear a dress she wore just once for her spring pictures she took recently, but H wanted her to wear something new. I'm glad we went with this one piece. It's so cute!
So overall the party was a success but can I just say "phew" glad it's over with. Next time I'm at least going to enlist more help in the decorating and setup process.
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