Jack and Nellie's First Birthday Party

We sort of went all out for J and N's first birthday (which I can't believe was almost two months ago!). It really wasn't our intention; I initially thought we'd do something small with just our families because that's all our apartment can fit. But then Evan's parents offered up their amazing Noho loft...so of course we said yes, and thus began a crazy month of Pinteresting, Etsying, etc.

I didn't want a strict theme, I just wanted to make it like the parties Evan and I used to throw before we had the monkeys (except at 1p.m. and with a lot less wine). I wanted it to be cute, kid-friendly, vibrant, with a beautiful sweets table, and lots of special details. I said rainbows, Evan said "how about...colors" and so a first birthday party was born.

The great thing about my in-laws' loft is obviously, the space. It's perfect for a party. And the ceilings are so tall! We hung homemade pom-poms and giant colorful balloons from the ceiling - with help from my best friend, Kara, and my best brother-in-law, Greg (who I yelled at during the hanging of the "happy birthday" banner...sorry, buddy).

We had a simple lunch: sandwiches, pasta salad, sweet potato chips. I wanted to have baby-friendly food, or at least a twist on baby-friendly - finger foods, sweet potatoes, bananas, etc.

The banana pudding was a hit. I used this recipe from Magnolia Bakery - I was initially just going to buy two containers of it since Magnolia is right up the street from Evan's parents', but it was so much cheaper to make. And it was everyone's favorite dish of the day.

The sweets table looked wonderful, exactly as I'd imagined. I combined homemade goodies with treats from my favorite Brooklyn bakers and some sentimental desserts. The Italian cookies my mom made are from a recipe passed down from my grandmother, whom Nellie is named for; and the cake pops we had were the same ones a good friend brought us in the hospital after J and N were born!

Here's a closer look at those mini cupcake flags, before they became flags. I printed little sayings out on sticky paper, cut them in strips, and then wrapped them around a toothpick and cut a triangle out of the end to make the flag. Easy peasy.

For paper products and utensils, I did most of my shopping on the cheap at Party City, but I couldn't resist these super cute napkins and plates for desserts. Look closely, doesn't it look like Nellie and Jack?!

We also supplied guests with personalized milk bottles from Shop Sweet Lulu, complete with colorful nametags and straws. We urged the grownups to make pear bellinis, using organic pureed pear baby food pouches!

We were so excited to unveil the cake, which went from this:

To this:

To this!

We made sure the kiddos were having a great time as well. We had a pull-string pinata, filled with little bags of Goldfish crackers, applesauce pouches, and yogurt bites. Our good friend Arthur, who also sang at our wedding, serenaded us with a couple of songs...including Smelly Cat from Arthur and my all-time favorite show, Friends.

We supplied the kids with pinwheels and paper crowns, which Jack and Nellie thought were pretty cool.

They also enjoyed eating with Grammy (Evan's mom) and Grandpa (my dad).

When the festivities ended, our guests took home leftover cake pops and cupcakes, and of course, Girl Next Door brownies.

It was a perfect day, and Jack and Nellie were great little hosts. I wish I'd taken more photos of them, but they were busy running around being cute, as usual. Here they are on their actual birthday, a few days later:

Wondering where I got all the goods to make this party happen?

Cake, banana pudding, brownies: made by me at Girl Next Door Baked Goods
Sandwiches and fruit kabobs: Lassen and Hennigs
Pasta salad: homemade by Nanna (my mom)
Italian cookies and pizzelles: homemade by Nanna and Grandpa (my parents)
Cake pops: Stick and Pop
Mini cupcakes: Butter and Scotch
Brownie labels: designed by Rick Orlosky
Tented food cards, cupcake flags, and milk bottle labels: designed by me...using PowerPoint (eek!)
Paper crowns, milk bottles and straws, "Happy Birthday" banner: Shop Sweet Lulu
Dotted plates and cutie napkins: Meri Meri, but they have them at Shop Sweet Lulu now, too!
Wooden "Happy Birthday" forks: Sucre Shop
Chevron bags for sweet potato chips: GlitterDaisyShop
Giant balloons, colorful utensils, lunch plates and napkins, tissue paper for pom-poms, pull-string cupcake pinata: Party City
Dot banners: Any Occasion Banners
Dot table runner, silver platters, cake stands: my own "collection"
Cake pop glasses: Bonne Mamman preserves jars