Matthew's 1st Birthday {Part 1}

I know this is long over due, but our home computer was having major issues.  Anyways, here are pictures from Matthew's big day last Saturday.  The party was perfectly FABULOUS!

I ordered the invitations, cupcake holders/toppers and water bottle labels off of Etsy.  It was a great deal on the whole package (there was way more that came in the package, but I didn't use it).  It was sent to me in pdf format and I printed the invites at Costco and the rest at Officemax. 

Here is the balloon wreath I made. 

Got the idea off pinterest. Super easy to make.

Just a word of advice if you decide to make this lovely wreath...if you make an 18" wreath, it will take at least 300 balloons! (I think I ended up using 350, but I lost count). And, you can get the floral pins for cheap at walmart for $1 (for 100 pins).  The straw wreath can be purchased at Michael's or Hobby Lobby.  I got the 'm' from Hobby Lobby and mod podge scrapbook paper over it (How am I just now discovering mod podge??!! Love it!) 

Here is the dessert table.  Sorry for the glare off the backdrop.  More close up pictures below.  For the back ground, I just used wrapping paper and silly putty to stick it to the wall.

 I loved how the cup cake holders and toppers turned out. We had chocolate, strawberry and vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting.  Someone commented and said they looked too pretty to eat!

The monthly pictures were mounted on scrapbook paper and pinned to the ribbon, which was secured with silly putty.  The minature clothes pins can be bought at Michael's in the scrapbooking section.  I got lots of comments from people about his monthly pictures. It's great to see how he's grown each month. 

Now we move on to the candy buffet, which was a great hit with all the kids!

The canvas picture was done at Costco (there was a $10 off coupon).  Great deal!

The best thing about having a birthday party so close to after Valentine's day??...all the candy was on sale for 50% off!!  Can't beat that.  And I bought a TON of candy. 

Can you spot the birthday boy amongst all the candy below??

One of my fears when it comes to throwing parties is not having enough food for everyone!!  Needless to say, we had more than enough and those who stayed until the very end got to pack up some to take home.

I wish I had taken better pictures of the food!  (It's SO hard to try and be the photographer at your own party!)  The menu consisted of Egg rolls, Spring rolls, fried rice, pad thai, Beef panang curry, lotus salad, minced chicken salad, shrimp bean thread salad, papaya salad, pasta salad, little sliders, turkey rolls, chicken wings, chips and fruit kabobs.

A big Thank You to all who helped made food for Matthew's party!!

Matthew's high chair (that we borrowed from grandma's house).  The birthday hat and the high chair banner was part of the Etsy package I bought.  I just glued it to a regular party hat (from the dollar store), made the pompom on top, and hot glued that and the ruffle to the hat and ta-da!  Easy peasy!

Stay tuned for part 2 (and maybe part 3) from the party!

Updated: Click here for {Part 2} and {Part 3}