Aubrey’s “Early” 1st Birthday Party

Chock it up to life in the military, or maybe just life in general, but sometimes we have to fit things in when we can. This time it meant celebrating Aubrey’s first birthday a little over a month early.

My family was throwing a big joint birthday party for everyone who has a birthday from July through December, so I asked if I could tag Aubrey’s party on. 

I was in charge of decorations, and since we only had a few days to plan, and for sake of ease, we kept things simple. I made a swag out of some eucalyptus bouquets I picked up at Trader Joe’s, threw in a couple of peach roses, and made a small bunting (with the help of my Mother In Law) that said “ONE.”

It may be cliche, but using the supplies we had on hand I put together mason jar center pieces with twine bows, baby’s breath and some peach roses. 

I uploaded some instagram photos I’ve taken over the past year to Walmart’s photo center and had them printed to hang with ribbon on the canopy’s on the patio.

And that was it for decorations. 

We chose to not give Aubrey sugar for the first year, and planned for her birthday cake smashing to be her first sweet experience. Although even after committing to that idea, I was still hesitant to fill her up with sugar when the time came. It’s bad enough for adults! 

I researched a few healthier version of smash cakes, but ultimately decided to just deal with the sugar for this one day, but I did plan to make the cake myself. I cheated a little and bought vanilla cake mix from Trader Joe’s, then my Mamaw whipped up her homemade frosting, which I colored to match the roses I used in the decorations. The pans we used were barely used, and in spite of the coats and coats of grease we used, the cakes still stuck. Luckily the decorating I had planned worked well to mask our messy cake.

I wasn’t going for perfection, if that isn’t obvious, but I’m happy with how it turned out. I followed a tutorial I found online and used a large star decorating tip and made coils all over the cake. 

My family has been dying to expose Aubrey to the world of sugar, so they all waited with high anticipation as I set her down in front of the cake. 

Like most babies, she was a little hesitant to really get into it.

And she really didn’t like her fingers getting dirty, but she savored a few bites. 

After a few bites, even with the encouragement from all of us watching, she was done with the cake.

And ventured off to find Papa. 

We placed her back on the blanket for a few photo ops, 

then invited cousin Evan, a seasoned pro since he just turned one a few weeks earlier, to help us.

But Aubrey just starting picking on Evan instead of the cake. 

Then it was present time!

We peeled off each piece of wrapping paper…very carefully and slowly I might add. 

Aubrey got everything from clothes, to toys, to books, to her very own first baby doll…dolls actually.

And as the icing on the cake, at the end we got to spend a little time swimming in Evan’s kiddie pool and running around butt naked. 

We had a blast, and were beyond thankful we got to celebrate Aubrey’s 1st birthday with our family!