Anthony's 1st Birthday Party: What I Learned

So I survived my first 1st birthday party with minimal tears (mine). I learned a lot and hopefully you can too from reading this blog post.

Anthony's party was supposed to take place on Saturday, September 15. Since our house is on the smaller side we decided to have it at a nearby park so we didn't have to be stingy with our guest list. We reserved a pavilion and decided on a puppy theme, since Anthony is in love with all doggies! The invites went out via email and the RSVPs began to come back in UNTIL...

I had to send out another email just three days before the party that Anthony had hand foot and mouth (dun dun dun) and we had to postpone his PAW-ty until the following weekend.

Everyone was disappointed, especially myself. But you know who wasn't disappointed at all even in the least bit? The birthday boy! You see Anthony being only 11 3/4 months old couldn't care less -- he didn't even know! And what a blessing that was. Of course his first birthday is special and I wanted it to be perfect but my mom said if there's ever a year for this to happen it would be this year when he doesn't know what's going on. She is so wise.

The second silver lining in all of this was I had another whole week to complete all my dog-themed projects including cardboard dog house for photo ops, puppy adoption center, dog collar necklaces, very intricately decorated cookies with the help of my mom and grandmom (definitely bought off more than I could chew there), a cake smash session courtesy of my amazing photographer mom and a video montage of Anthony that literally took me an entire day to widdle down the thousands of photos I have taken of him since birth to a 5 minute clip (here's the link if you feel so inclined).

With juggling all of those projects, we seemed to forget about a contingency plan for the park and yes it poured the morning of... so my husband and I made the necessary calls and texts telling everyone to come to our house instead and then busted our asses to clean and decorate our three-kids-two-dogs-under-one-roof-home. We put the kiddos to work too!

Well, we did it! And the party was a success! The cookies looked "professional," the doghouse was "clever" and the cake smash photos (Anthony in jeans and suspenders) was the cutest damn thing you've ever seen. All of our hard work paid off! And Anthony was actually WALKING around during his party. In the chaos of party planning he took his first steps (and stuck the landing) while we were at my grandmom's house putting the finishing details on the cookie favors. So not only was he feeling much better but he got to show off his new skill to all of his guests. Scroll through the photos below to get to the tips!

The doggie and bone cookies were bagged up and given out as party favors to everyone. Loved how the dog ones turned out!

Writing in icing is not my forte but I think they turned out decent... and they were certainly delicious! 

Sit, Anthony! So I can take your picture lol

The big birthday boy was WALKING around at his party!

So proud of himself

Little show off!

Dog bone soft pretzels from Philly Pretzel Factory - yum!

Homemade "Dunkaroo" dip served with Scooby Snack graham cracker biscuits.... addictive!

Fetch sticks and Pup-corn served in dog bowls

Anthony and his cousin Dakota

Stay! Good girl, Emma!

He loves any kind of ball just like a little puppy would!

All his new toys and he just wants to play with the Wegmans bag

All of the kids at the party "adopted" a puppy and took it home with them.

By the end of the night this birthday boy was all tuckered out from partying!

 So I know this post is long but if you held on for this long keep reading just a little longer for some 1st birthday hosting  tips!!

1. Go with the flow. Nothing goes as planned with kids birthday parties -- just accept that now, lower your expectations and everything will turn out way better than you planned. Fight the urge to have that perfect party. Most of the time, when something fails or falls out of place you come away with something better or more memorable. This happened to use not once but twice with changing the date of the party and then the location but the extra week made the difference of Anthony walking!

2. Hand your phone off to someone that can take photos. Assuming you are the hostess and assuming you don't have a third hand growing out of your body, it's best to hand your phone off and have someone take pics for you especially during the chaos that is unwrapping presents with a one year old. I did this and after the party flew by in a blur I was able to take a look back at all the photos.

3. Work on the baby book. And yes, that includes actually printing the photos you are hoarding on your phone (I am so bad about this). This is such a nice thing to pass around to people at the party. I also decided to make a video montage and played that at the party as well.

4. Don't go overboard with pinterest. The ONLY reason I was able to finish all of the party projects was because I had that extra week. Pick one or two things that won't take too much time or money. If you're having a puppy party anytime soon, I highly recommend the dog collar necklaces (modeled by my daughter Emma in the photo below). I'm happy to report they were actually my own original idea.

I think they cost about $12 or less to make and were super easy. Just cutting ribbon and attaching a key tag. Then I laid them out on a table with a sharpie for guests to write their names. They were such a fun alternative to the traditional party hats. A project I do not recommend would be the cardboard dog house -- In the end it turned out well but Pinterest made it look wayyyy too easy... just ask my lovely assistants, Marissa and Emma.

I hope you find these tips helpful and if you have any tips to share from your own party hosting experiences, I am all ears!