Aurora's First Birthday Party!!!

Whew! I've finally recovered enough from Aurora's epic first birthday party to write about it. It went off pretty well, a couple minor things could've been better but that's just the perfectionist in me talking. I spent so long on it but the good news is that by making everything myself I came in at just under $100- - -TOTAL!
That's food, decorations, tableware, favors, the whole shebang. I was pretty proud of myself and in the end it was worth all the stress because the kids had a great time. So where to start?
Well, Saturday I spent the entire day baking... two cakes for the layered smash cake, 72 mini cupcakes and 6 accidental big ones from over flow, plus a batch of brownies! Then I started putting together the balloon 'trees' our 'forest' tree (soon to be a Christmas tree) and a small reading/play nook under the table for the littles...

Excuse the mess, this is actually an 'after' picture! 

Then on to my favorite part: decorating the cupcakes! I made two different kinds, Spiced Yellow Cake with Honeyed Buttercream Frosting:

Finally! An excuse to use my bee and lemon decos!

Then there were Black Forest "Toadstools" (chocolate with cherries) and my favorite, though very labor intensive, Peanut Butter Toffee Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Brownies! Finally the little layered pink angel food and chocolate Owl smash cake for Aurora to eat! Then I put them all together on the three tiered  cupcake stand that I made with some cups and platters from the dollar store and a hot glue gun... 

Does it sound like bragging yet? Sorry.

Top to Bottom: Yellow cake, Toadstools, Brownies and Adorable Owl!!

I had spent the week or so prior making little woodland creature masks out of felt. I was inspired by some I saw elsewhere but couldn't afford... they came out pretty great though and I may start making more and trying to sell them... it's one of the many ideas swimming around in my head right now. We'll see what happens... Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, there was also a photo frame for everyone to sign so Aurora can look back and see who came to her party, since she definitely won't remember it.

I designed that little birthday owl!

Here's a better picture of the masks.

I originally had this slightly convoluted idea that all the kids would wear masks and play and they would make the best pictures ever, but I realized later that was asking waaaaay too much. Aurora wouldn't keep her mask on for more than 2 minutes. Oh well, they are well made so we can always use them for dress up in later years! I made two of each so everyone would take one home too. The other minor glitches include not finishing all the signs in time and our helium balloons deflating. All in all though no one seemed to notice or mind. 

Speaking of masks, now is a good time to mention that Aurora was a unicorn for her birthday!! I got her an adorable little handmade foam unicorn horn from Etsy... it was the one thing that wasn't worth making myself. Between labor and buying all the foam and glitter it actually would've been more expensive to even attempt it. Luckily I found THIS ONE! Plus, the girl was nice enough to make a mini version for Aura!

After everyone arrived and settled in with snacks and some good conversation it was time for presents!!

She wasted no time digging into the bags...

Once all the presents were unwrapped she took some time figuring out some of her new toys with her pals!!

That's our best buddy Hendrix's mama Adriana helping them out... you can see more of her and her adorable crew HERE. Then it was onto the cake!!! Aurora never had cake before and we don't really give her refined sugar so this was quite a new experience for her!

Saying Hi to the owl... not sure what to do with it yet though.

Just took one quick explanation: "It's FOOD! Yummy!"

Then it was on! She went for the feet first, then the one of the mini oreo eyes... and then she dug right in and got down to business!

Some of the photos came out greenish because of the balloons we had hanging from the ceiling fan. Oops... sorry about that!

Still adorable though, right?

Once she started in and noticed everyone watching she really started to play it up, grabbing huge fist-fulls!

Then the laughing! I swear no kid has ever loved attention quite as much as my little bean. What a ham! Here's a short and sweet video:

Here's a couple more pictures of the cake, we couldn't stop taking them!

That's her pal Hendrix's big bro C. watching from a safe distance.

The verdict is in... Aurora LOVES cake!

After dropping the bottom part of the cake on the floor she started playing with the frosting. Oh, the mess she made!

There aren't many really many pictures after the birthday cake smashing because Aura needed and emergency bath, as I'm sure you can imagine...

Then it was off to bed for my little birthday bean after a very long and eventful day!

Aurora's actual birthday wasn't until yesterday. We went to the Children's Museum and then had a quiet night in. I'll be sure to write more about that soon. This post has gotten long enough already! 

So... there you have it, Aurora's Woodland Birthday Party was a success!!