Though throwing parties in the colder months can require a little extra thinking on my part to accommodate everyone, it still can be a lot of fun. Thankfully, though, I love the ease and simplicity of also having a little gal whose party can be taken to the parks and fields.
As we start to prepare for the summer fun, I am reminded of her very first birthday bash... a picnic in the park!
We held it several hours away at my parent's church picnic area, so that meant I needed easy food prep. I bought several packages of hoagie rolls at our local discount bread outlet and froze them so by the time we arrived they were perfect for the sandwiches. Nana picked up yummy meats and cheeses from a local Amish store and we kept them together with olive topped toothpicks. That was the most elaborate of all the food... nice!
We had two coordinating ribbons (on plain jane brown paper sacks) depending on whether the lunch was an adult or kiddie bag. The fillers were apples or raisin boxes bought in bulk from Sams, granola bars bought in bulk from Big Lots, and pretzels or goldfish divided into snack sized baggies to get the most bang for our buck. Pink lemonade pouches and water bottles completed the easy picnic theme! The kids decorated cupcakes for everyone's dessert.
The favors were big, swirly lollipops as well as a few sticks of sidewalk chalk from the Dollar Store and clearanced pinwheels from the Hobby Lobby.
Decorations included lots of paper lanterns and some little daisies in mason jars... really, we kept it pretty easy at that. Oh except for our centerpieces on the picnic bag table... these cute little cupcake stand-thingies Nana found at Tuesday Morning. We printed off pictures of my daughter in the same chair taken each month up until a year. Then we tied them four to a stand... so fun to see how much she had grown!
With sidewalk chalk on the pavement, bubbles in the field, and a park next door-- that was all we needed to ring in a celebration of her very first year.
Somebody pinch me, though, because I can hardly believe we're about to ring in number two!
~Katrina
