This post is going to be very photo heavy, so here goes!

Gracie’s birthday was on a Friday, so Keith and I both took the day off and took her to the zoo! She loves animals, and we knew she would have a blast.

  

Her birthday party was that Sunday, which happened to be Mother’s Day. Her birthday party was a day filled with so much love. Seriously, this little girl is so blessed to have all these amazing people in her life.

 

 

 

It was about 95 degrees on the day of her party, and it was SO hot inside the venue – she only lasted about 45 minutes in her really cute party dress! The rest of the time, I just let her run in her diaper

Planning her party was SO much fun. I kept it simple with a taco bar (we made everything ourselves!) and lemonade for the kids, and strawberry basil margarita and beers for the adults. We had birthday cake (obviously) and milk+cookies for favors.

I’m not big into “themes” so we stuck with varying shades of pink and lots of gold glitter. I used Etsy shops for a lot of the custom items, and relied on my friend Meghan’s insane ability to draw. She did all the chalkboards and Gracie’s “one year” board.

The highchair was vintage! I searched high and low for one, and then one day Keith’s stepmother told me that she had one from when she was a baby! I painted it using Annie Sloane Chalk Paint in “Antoinette”. I also painted a dozen mason jars with the same paint to use as vases for centerpieces.

It was quite the long and exhausting day, and even though I know she won’t remember a minute of it – we will. I’m so glad we went all out for her first birthday, but I think we’ll tone it down for the next ones