Arlo's First Birthday Party

For Arlo's first birthday party, I kept it simple. The theme was simply "birthday party" since it was his first one!

My first priority was figuring out what guests were going to do! I came up with a few activities and it worked so well!

1. A ball pit!

I've been inspired by The Alison Show. She lets her kids pick the theme of their birthday party and no matter how crazy the idea - like a unicorn parade - she lets her kids' desires shape their party - After all, the party is for them to have fun!

I wanted to create an activity based on Arlo's favorite word and toy... BALL!

I filled a pool with ball pit balls that I got from amazon. The kids, Arlo and the teens LOVED IT! Even the adults enjoyed watching and playing with the kids too!

2. Letter Writing to Future Arlo

Based on an idea Arlo's grandma Cindi found, I had a little letter writing station where guests could write letters for Arlo to open on his 18th Birthday. Family who could not travel to attend the party, are sending in their letters by mail! Such a sweet idea.

3. Family Albums

I wanted to set myself a deadline to get our yearly album finished, and I wanted to let the family enjoy viewing the photos from our year! Arlo's party was the perfect occasion. Guests enjoyed looking through the albums at their leisure.

Albums created using blurb.

4. Our 2016 Home Movie!

You can see the DVD menu in the background of this photo on the T.V ^.

In reality we have over 2 hours of footage from our adventures in 2016! I cut it down to 30 minutes and had it playing in the background of the party. Definitely the best decision! Guests tuned into the video whenever they wanted. Everyone loved watching Arlo grow up through his past year, see their cameos in the movie, and funny moments.

5. Arlo eating his first birthday cake!

Best moment of the party!

A big thanks to The Decal Divas and my Mom for making Arlo's birthday onesie! He loved getting icing all over it.

I love how he's looking at a guest like "look how cute I am!" haha!

We had cupcakes for everyone that were topped with edible gold glitter! The coolest thing. The cupcakes were made by Buj Bakes.

It was her idea to make a jumbo cupcake for Arlo. SO CUTE!!

7. Opening Presents!

The party was at 3:00pm and light snacks were provided (plus chili - Weston's surprise addition to the menu and a big hit).

Plus some wine, beer and a hard cider named ARLO! So excited about that find from Salud in Charlotte, NC.

I kept the decor minimal, using whites, blacks, greenery and gold sparkle.

My color palette inspired by Pinterest was originally something different, but as I was shopping around, the palette evolved based on what was available and cute!

I find picking a few colors helps the decor stay cohesive.

This cute banner is from Target! ^

The morning of the party I told my fiance, Weston, "I wish I had saved money for balloons! I just got carried away with everything else." He went out to pick up some food and surprised me with a balloon for Arlo! I was so happy and even more in love with him. Haha! Balloons are the way to my heart.