Lucy's Ladybug Birthday Party

We hosted Lucy's first birthday party this last weekend, and it was so much fun!!  We had lots of friends and family in the house, and it was so nice to see everybody.  


Our friends Joe and Sarah came all the way from Beaumont and were huge last-minute helpers!   



Ladybug is a pretty popular theme these days, and that's what we went with.  

After perusing Pinterest, I had several ideas for decorations and food.  


I particularly liked this blogger's "Happy Birthday" banner (my version above).  


And some of her decorations (mine above).  
 

And I liked this blogger's cute little olive-tomato appetizers (my version above - with black bean hummus for the polka dots and a mixture of feta and cream cheese for the eyes).  

 

We had Fadia's cater the hot food: a variety of breads with stuffing of cheese, meat, or spinach, and some miniature pizzas.  We also had them cater the hummus and pita bread, and then we made some tabouli with quinoa.  


I used pieces of polka dot fabric as accents and kept the decorations to a minimum.  My living room is already mostly black, red, and white - so that sort of helped with the festive feel.  


I dressed Lucy in a Gymboree polka dot dress and a black headband and red flower (from Hobby Lobby), and she looked so cute!! 


The cake design was inspired by this blogger.  I baked the body of the ladybug in a pyrex glass dish and the head in a Fiestaware teacup.


The cake itself is my favorite, simple recipe (Duncan Hines cake mix--made with buttermilk instead of water-- with an extra packet of pudding mix + some chocolate chips), and the icing is just cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar with a little almond extract for flavor.  



My friend April helped me decorate it.  
 

The grass is coconut, mixed with green food color gel (much more potent than liquid). 



These lovely chandelier decorations were compliments of my nephew Jack (age 5).  I think they add something special :).



Lucy's cupcake was special in that the icing was actually butternut squash, with butter, some salt, and food coloring to make it look like chocolate.

After the cake smash bedtime sadness, we decided not to repeat the sugar/caffeine rush that actual chocolate icing seems to deliver.  Since she's a big fan of savory flavors, she still gobbled up the squash adequately for photos. 

 
In fact, despite her expression in the above photo, she actually enjoyed it quite a bit.  I guess by next year, she'll probably know that icing is supposed to be sweet.



Pinterest also inspired the ladybug fruit tray, which is admittedly easier to see if you blur your eyes.  And use your imagination.



This blogger inspired the water bottles.  I bought Avery brand glossy stickers and printed them on my home printer--easy peasy--and then my MIL put the plain red paper around the bottles and used the labels to make them stay.

For party favors, we did ladybug sugar cookies, made by me and my sister Carrie.  Well, mostly Carrie, actually.  But I made the dough and supervised the baking :). 



There's a little more to them than I originally anticipated, and Carrie is quickly becoming a master cookie maker and decorator. 



I had thought we would open gifts during the party, but I was completely daunted by the prospect - so we only opened a few during the party and most of the others right afterward.  Lucy got such cute toys and clothes and will have so much fun discovering each one in the coming weeks.



I'm going to pack up her current ones and put them away so I can re-introduce them as "new" toys in a few months and keep them on a rotating schedule.

That's the plan, anyways.  Lucy's grandparents gave her this wagon - and it was a huge hit with the kids at the party.  I didn't know they made wagons with so many different features!!



When my MIL asked me what kind to get her, I just assumed "red and metal" described them all.  Not so!  This one has a cup holder, a door, a self-storing handle, and two little seats with storage space underneath.  So cool!


A HUGE thank-you to anyone I forgot to mention for helping us throw this party - we had such fun and really appreciated your help as well as your presence on such a special day.