Friday, July 25, 2014

Ethan is 1 little monkey


We had Ethan's 1st birthday party on June 29th. At first we thought about having it at the park but it was going to be way too hot plus all my decoration plans wouldn't have been possible there.

We went into overdrive to get the house ready for the party and I am glad we did! Every little detail I wanted came to fruition and I couldn't be happier with the memories we created for our 1st birthday party ever. I had been dreaming about a 1st Birthday Party ever since I got pregnant with our first back in 2010. Wow!!! It was a long time coming, things don't always happen like you imagine but this party did! 

OK, so on with the program. Let me give you a tour of the party and tell you a a little bit about it.

Right as guests walked in they saw a "one a day" presentation playing on our TV,
I tried to take a picture a day for his first year, I had to cheat on some days but
for the most part they were chronologically accurate.

On one corner of the living room we had the "present table" which
was our ottoman, it turned out great because we sat there to open his presents.

As you walked into the dining room to the right we had a cotton candy and
snow cone station.

Then we had the food station. We served banana chips (ruffles),
monkey tails (hot dogs), and alligator jaws (watermelon). 

Walking into the den we set up Ethan's high chair.
 
To the right of the high chair we had the "cake" table. Tons of monkeys
that spelled ONE and his special one with his candle.
   
Along the den we set up the table for everyone. Daddy had the last
minute idea to use banana clusters as centerpieces and I added
some pictures but I took the picture before I did that.
I loved how it turned out!

We decorated the mantel with his hospital onesie, some pictures, and his first
piece of art (which mostly we made cuz he didn't want anything to do with
the paint). He did stamp his footprint so there. Also we hung his "monthly"
footprints (I had to cheat a bit too, life happens way too fast!).

In the den we have a "window" that opens to the kitchen, we closed the
shutters and I set up his tiny bits picture, a frame with lots of pictures for
everyone to flip through, and our Evan's bear attending baby brother's party.
 
Outside we had the piƱata, that was all Bruce. He made a palm tree
and hung coconuts filled with candy, when the kids hit the trunk the coconuts
fell and some busted open. Everybody loved it, it was very original and it worked
like a charm!

We also had a cake for Ethan so he would smash it with his guests, we
didn't make a mess like the first time but he enjoyed it!
   
Our family picture. I wish it had turned out better but in the
heat of the moment that's all we had time for. 
   
"Happy Birthday" time, not too loud so birthday boy wouldn't
get startled because he was having a hard time with all the people
invading his house. Once he got over it he enjoyed the party!

Well, that's it for today. We had a great time and we were very pleased with how everything turned out. We had lots of friends and friends that are family join us to celebrate this very awaited day!

Only Abuela was able to make it in town for the party, she enjoyed it a lot and we were happy to have her. We wish we could have had more of our family here but that's how distance works. 

Happy Birthday sweet boy, I hope you'll like what you see when you look at this pictures!