‘Flower Power’ Themed First (and Fourth) Birthday Party!

April is a crazy month for our family! Brett’s birthday is at the beginning of April and both girls’ birthdays are five days apart at the end of April. For Bennett’s first birthday we threw a super fun Safari theme party at a local park. Her Safari party blog post remains to be one of my most viewed blog posts every month – Y’all love it!

This year I knew I wanted to throw a similar first birthday party for Parker (and Bennett since she was turning four)! I reserved the same party and had everything in place until “April showers” appeared on the forecast. A few days before the party I switched locations to an intimate event space in the basement of a local women’s boutique, Ensemble. I was skeptical at first but once I saw the space in person I knew we could pull it off!

My inspiration for the party was ‘Flower Power’ but not 70’s / hipster. I ordered a DIY daisy balloon kit from Poppy and Posh because balloons make a party! They create a beautiful, fancy-smancy backdrop without the work! This DIY kit came with everything I needed to create a 10ft garland. They also sent me videos illustrating exactly how to make the Daisy and full the whole thing off! The garland looked beautiful and was easy to put together! Just be sure to set aside ample help and the more hands, the better.

I also ordered three dozen cookies from Mini E’s Cookies! They were truly a work of art. I received so many comments about the cookies they tasted as good as they looked. They made the table look beautiful!

I made Parker a healthy little banana bread smash cake but for the main cake we ordered a cake from Dolce Bakery. This cake was perfect!! Two tiered cake with a pink background and rainbows and daisies. My daughter could not believe it! The bottom layer was chocolate cake with peanut butter icing and the top was almond cake with cream cheese icing. I’m not kidding when I say the almond cake is the best cake I’ve ever had (ask Brett)! I have a tiny bit leftover frozen in our freezer and I am savoring it because it’s unreal.

For food, I didn’t want to serve dinner because I know from experience how much work that is. I sourced Pinterest and came up with the idea of doing charcuterie boards but with a kid twist. I tasked my mother-in-law with this job because she loves this sort of thing and she killed it. We had three trays with meat, cheese, and fruit but also fun kid snacks mixed in (pb&j, goldfish, pizza bites, etc).

I also made “bunny bait” for the party which was a hit! I mixed pretzels, circus animal cookies, pastel M&Ms, sprinkles, popcorn, and drizzled white chocolate over it and mixed. I put it in a huge bowl and allowed people to self serve. Such a good party snack and it looked pretty!

A ton of the decor was DIY projects! If you follow me on Instagram, you also know I painted these corn hole boards for entertainment and to match the theme. The kids loved them – they were definitely a hit! I also bought flowers from Trader Joe’s the morning of for centerpieces.

I also bought kid’s sunglasses and used E6000 glue to secure charms on the rim. The party was originally supposed to be outside so the glasses would have been perfect! This kids still enjoyed wearing them inside and they made for cute pictures!

I bought wood signs from hobby lobby and made a picture sign for each girl and a milestone sign for Parker! I used leftover Sherwin Williams sample paint to paint the backgrounds. They made for cute wall decor at the event space. I rounded the corners on all the pictures to soften it up a bit.

Lastly, since we moved the party indoors at the last minute I needed entertainment for the kids. I bought a ton of these ceramic kits for the kids and they worked out great!! There was a bar top at the event space and we put parchment paper down to make paint stations and let the kids pick their ceramic. The kids ended up painting for a while! All the parents were commenting on how quiet of a kids party it was cause the kids were so into painting! *Score*

When planning a party my #1 piece of advice – hire a photographer! It is so nice not worrying in the moment about taking pictures and capturing details. A follower recommended Mary Stuckey Photography to me and she did such a great job! She captured all the details and was on top of it! I’ll treasure these pics forever!

It was a fun, magical day for the girls! Of course, it was a ton of work for me but worth it! At the end of the party Bennett was sad it was over which put a smile on my face knowing how much she enjoyed it. I included all sources below!