Last updated on March 4th, 2024 at 08:19 pm
Welcome to Missy Moo’s 1st birthday party! As many of you know, we celebrated Missy Moo’s christening and 1st birthday together, the other week. I have long to share the homemade decorations I made, in action. I have waited to do her birthday party post more close to her actual birth date. Let’s not age her faster than she is ageing herself!
Just to forewarn readers: this is a heavy induced photo post, I have consent from all parents to use photos of their children in this post, and apologies for the grainy, poor lighting, it was very sunny out which made the venue very dark inside so it doesn’t do the decor, venue or the people justice.
THE PHOTO BOOTH!
I didn’t have a lot of permission to share other photo booth photos, but it was great to have a place where each family that came in, could take a photo with a nice party backdrop. It made for great memories, not just for us but for all our guest too. I have emailed them to the families for a keepsake! It only took five minutes to set up with tissue paper, tape, bunting, and balloons.
THE ROOM SETUP!
Along side the photo booth, I had the gift table, adorned with my tassel garland. Advice, don’t attach with tape with toddlers around, they just pull it off. By the end of the party the tassel garland was in pieces and used as party pom poms!
I displayed the Happy Birthday banner, I made, across the front of the bar with pom poms on each side and added two very LARGE jars full of candy on each end so that people could have a sweet while waiting for their drinks. They were gone in seconds and the jars only cost £5 at Matalan. Bargain!
My painted O-N-E letters and 0-12 month collage was set up at the end of the bar where people were lining up to the buffet. It gave them something to look at while they waited.
Each table was decorated with confetti and these lovely white heart centerpieces that I got super cheap from ebay and now can reuse them for future parties.
It worked out perfect that there were two huge windows on each side of the french doors. I hung the three party theme colored pom poms in both windows, so you could see the decorations from inside and outside.
The two matching cakes were a hit, and tasted delicious. The design came out just how I wanted it too. I love designing cakes, it’s too bad I didn’t have enough time to actually attempt to make them myself. Next time!
THE VENUE!
The venue was beautiful and right around the corner from our house. There was a fantastic seating area with big cushions right outside the french doors. The weather was stunning and the sun was beaming so this space got used up the entire afternoon. It was nice to have such a great space inside and outside on such a beautiful day. It gave the 30 plus children room to run and play! The venue really is gorgeous and the staff were amazing. They really made our special day flow smoothly. It’s called Charnock Farm and also has a restaurant, garden center, motel and cafe attached to it.
THE ENTERTAINMENT!
We had our local music teacher do an hour entertainment for the kids. Harriet Gore is a fantastic entertainer for parties and will cater the entertainment to the theme of the party, if you have one. She did my son’s birthday party last year too. I highly recommend her. The kids were in awe when she came out and the music started up. There was bubble blowing, clappers clapping, ribbon twirling, bucket sliding, parachute gliding and more. She really got the kids involved and everyone was having so much fun. Even the adults that have never seen something like this before were impressed. It was a great aspect to add to the party and so affordable. She is really reasonable on her pricing. Her new business is called Rock N Learn. Check her out if you live in the Northwest.
THE CAKES!
I had two cakes made as I really wanted her christening and 1st birthday to be still two separate, special celebrations. I thought we would have cake left over but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was gone in 10 minutes which was both pleasing and shocking at the same time. Everyone came back for seconds.
SINGING HAPPY BIRTHDAY & BLOWING OUT HER CANDLES!
She wasn’t even bothered by this time that a whole room of 80 plus people were singing her happy birthday. Buba tried to get her involved but she was exhausted, bless her. She had no nap all day and really impressed us by not getting whiny and grumpy which we fully expected. She is always one to prove us wrong. Buba even helped her blow out her first candle. She mimicked him but I am not sure if she really knew what was going on.
FIRST BITE OF CAKE!
I let her eat her letters of her name from the top of the cake, but it wasn’t long as I passed around the tray full of sliced cake before I was feeding Missy Moo her very own slice while Granddad held her! She loved it. No surprise there, this girl loves all food.
THE PRESENTS!
I couldn’t be more surprised and appreciative for all the wonderful gifts she received. I fully expected guests to put one present for both occasions but almost everyone bought two separate presents for the separate occasions. The love was pouring out for Missy Moo. I can’t say THANK YOU enough to everyone that came, shared our special day and spoiled my daughter rotten!
A HUGE THANK YOU!!!
I made matching thank you cards, to match her invites using PicMonkey again. It really is the cheap fun way to go to get the design you want and be more personalized. The great thing about PicMonkey is I had designed it when I designed the invites, and then saved it. After the party I came back, added a photo from the party and had them printed right away. It saves time on thank you cards. I, then had them printed at Tesco in 5×7 and wrote a personalized message on the back to each guests.
I hope you have enjoyed her special day! Stay tuned for the cake smashing photos!!!
What a party! Looks like you all had a wonderful time!
Gorgeous photos x
Thank you so much! We had the best day ever. It couldn’t have gone more smoothly. The kids were angels all day!
It looks like an amazing party! You have a gorgeous little family x
That is so sweet Jess, thank you. I am so grateful for them. I really am.
Jenny wow it looks amazing!! I love all the colours and the cakes are stunning. Looks like everyone had a really good time x
Thanks Katie. It went really good. Wish the photos were a bit less grainy and better but I will take the sunny day anytime over great photos. lol
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to Missy Moo, Happy birthday to you 🙂 Gorgeous photos xx
Hahahah Thanks Michelle. You are so sweet. Glad you liked the photos.
Oh I love this! What a beautiful party and I love the colour scheme for summer. Wish I was nearer so I could come and cake smash with you!
Me too, you could teach me so much Hayley, it didn’t turn out at all like I was hoping but hey ho will just have to keep practicing. Missy Moo didn’t want to smash cake though she doesn’t like to get dirty so it was hard to even get her to touch the cake. Wait till you see it, it’s hilarious.
I think you may be my party soulmate!!!!! I LOVE it all! xxxxx
Ahh that just made my day, thank you for your comment. Glad it looks better than I expected. I love LOVE planning parties and I hope to keep getting better with each one. It’s Buba’s 3rd birthday soon can’t wait to do it up. Although it won’t be as big as this. I only do big for big milestone birthdays. But still looking forward to it.
Wow Jenny, you guys threw one helluva party! Looks more like a wedding than a christening/birthday bash. Super stylish too. Hope you had lots of fun organising it and on the day itself 🙂
I really enjoyed organizing it and it was way cheaper than you think. I made all the decorations and bought supplies from matalan and pound shop. The room was free! I pulled some strings for that. lol The food was amazing and reasonably priced and catered for bubas allergies. So while it looked lavish it didn’t cost lavish which is my favorite part.
Jenny, seriously you’re like a super woman! I have no idea how you find the time do everything you do. Your pictures are beautiful, those decorations are crazy cute & I’m totally envious of your organisational skills!! Looks like it was a great day 🙂 xx
It was a perfect day. Thank you. And thank you for the kind comments. I am very very organized, and it’s all about making list, prioritising and working through everything including dishes, laundry, showering etc as fast as possible. hahahaha I have a lot of energy.
I’m in party heaven, we need to meet! Love this post. I’ll be doing my own little party post soon, 8 days and counting! Love your pictures and the decorations. I’d love to know how you made the tassels? X
Here is how I made the decorations. https://www.letstalkmommy.com/2014/05/final-phase-of-planning-a-1st-birthday-party-the-fun-part/ And the phase before this is how I made invites using PicMonkey, free! I love planning and decorating for parties. I have my son’s 3rd birthday coming up soon and I can’t wait. Although it won’t be as big as we only do that for BIG birthdays like1, 5, 10, 16, 18, 21, 30! lol hahahaha See already organizing parties for their adult life too! lol
Wow, that was a huge party. The decorations looked beautiful. Love the children’s entertainment photos with the bubbles. They all looked like they had a great time.
The kids were in bubble, singing, dancing heaven. It was so cute. Wish i had more permission to share ALL the photos. There was so better action shots. lol Glad you like the decorations, it was the first time I made everything myself. It was a lot of people but didn’t cost much, room was free, I made everything from pound shop or matalan. So just food and entertainment which was really reasonable. You would be surprise at lovely venues like this that don’t charge room hire if you have a huge group of people as they make their money from drinks bought.
Jenny, it all looks fantastic, you did so well with it all!! Such a big group but still has a very personal and intimate feeling to it all!! The colour scheme was perfect too! xx
Thank you so much. It did feel weird singing her happy birthday before her actual birthday but we had no time to do two parties. I had to age her before it was time. Which made me sad. But the day was beautiful. Can you believe are two are 1 next week!!! Ahhh where did the time go?
Oh just gorgeous!!! Love the peach theme. You can just see how much effort and love you poured into it. Looks like a beautiful day
It was the perfect day indeed Sian. I was so pleased how it turned out. I am obsessed with peach/coral color this season. I have it in my BritMums outfits and wearing the nail polish 24/7 now. hahahaha Glad it looked good for the party.
Oh looks amazing! Just showed my Mum and we had a good old nose. Glad you had fun and let’s try and catch up at BritMums! xxx
Yes do fine me and if I blank you I have horrible recognizing skills. lol Shout in my face. lol Glad you had a nosy and enjoyed the photos. Wish it was so grainy and dark in there. They would have been better. Was disappointed in that aspect.
Wow!! What a wonderful birthday/christening!!! You did an amazing job, well done 🙂 #Sharewithme
Thank you so much Denise. I was really pleased with the outcome. We all had such a great family day together!
Thank you for sharing all these photos, Jenny, because they look so beautiful! I’m sure you worked very hard to organise this party and it shows. Love everything about it, and everyone must have had a great time too 🙂
Wow what a party! It looks amazing!! 🙂 I love that photo booth idea, and the thank you cards are gorgeous, Pic Monkey is fab isn’t it? Looks like a really lovely day and sounds like a lot of effort went into making it perfect, well done you 🙂 xx
Happy to hear that Missy Moo’s party went so well. Love the photos and the venue looks fabulous!
That looks like an amazing party! I’m so glad you all enjoyed it. I particularly love the photobooth idea. So simple yet a great way to get some pretty pictures!
Gorgeous party! Looks like everyone had a fun day. The pictures are beautiful!
My goodness Jenny, this looks like the event of the year! It’s beautiful and so thoughtfully put together – the colours, the cake, her clothes, the decorations. Just stunning in every way. Thank you for sharing the amazing photographs with us. You must have worked so hard on this – where DO you get your energy from?! Wonderful mummy x x
Ahh that is the sweetest message ever. Totally just made my day. Thank you so much. I was do proud and I did on such a tight budget. Just shows u hard work research pay off it was beautiful. I enjoyed making all the decorations too.
Beautiful photos, looks like you had an amazing day
Thank you we really did and are so blessed with a great family!!
Jenny it’s absolutely beautiful you did such a good job. I love everything about it, the colour scheme, the little details, and Missy Moo looked so adorable, As did you, I love your hair. Gorgeous. The photos are so lovely, thank you so much for sharing it all. x
Thank you so much Katie, that is so sweet of you to say. It really came out great, I love planning parties and making decorations and getting the whole thing setup. Right down to matching eye shadows and toe nails. lol I only wish there had been better lighting and I was a better photographer. They were so grainy.
What an amazing party and beautiful day. So glad that you all had such a special time. Thanks for sharing it with us, it really is inspiring! x
Thank you. I love planning parties, at one point I thought I would be a party planner. lol Maybe someday. lol The day went perfectly. From christening to birthday, was a lovely mixture. I love a good outfit change too!
What a fabulous party Jenny, you really out did yourself! What wonderful photos and memories to look back on x Just beautiful x
Thank you Sara. I loved it. I was so pleased with the outcome. I love planning parties and I only wish I was blogging for all of Buba’s parties as well. I usually don’t do huge things like this for all parties just big milestone birthdays. But it was lovely.
I hope your little one had a fantastic birthday, it’s my first time visiting you and I must say your photos are beautiful x x
Thank you so much Cathy. Welcome to LTM. I hope you like it here and I see you again. The photos were a bit grainy as it was dark in the venue so I am pleased they still look decent. Thanks for stopping by!
What a gorgeous party! I’m really in awe and you’ve honestly given me more enthusiasm and inspiration for kids’ parties. I kind of stuck my head in the sand when M turned one but when he turns two I want to make more of an effort. Missy Moo looks so sweet too, what a good girl for coping with so many people all day. x
Thank you Eline. Always amazing to hear I have inspired a good party to come. I love planning them and making the decorations. You really can throw something big with very little cost like I did. I bought all decoration supplies from pound shops, matalan, or ebay. Made everything myself and the venue was free which was a bonus and you could even make all the food if you want to save more money but its a lot of work I did it for Buba’s the food I will always forever now get catered. hahaha
Jenny, it looks amazing. You did a fantastic job and I’m so impressed with your attention to detail. The photos are gorgeous! x
Thank you so much. Wasn’t impressed with how grainy and dark they were but still amazing memories!!’
Beautiful photos. I wish I could have had some (note, I didn’t say just a slice!) of that scrummy cake!
The cake was definitely worth eating a few slices!!!!
Oh my goodness! Wow. Stunning! Will you organise my next party please?! x x x
Hahaha yes. Jks. I used to want to be a party planner. Maybe someday!
What an adorable party you set up! I absolutely love the color scheme! The photo booth was a great idea as well! Everything came together great!
Thank you so much. It really did. I even impressed myself for once. Hahahaha the day was perfect. And didn’t cost a lot either. Which was a bonus. Did it all myself saves a lot of money.
Ok I know who I am hiring for future events 😉 Your decorations are beautiful and so are your family and friends – what a lovely day 🙂 xx
Hahaha Ok! lol I love planning parties. I used to pretend plan them when I was a kid in notebooks and all the various color themes and stories through decorations I would tell. It was great. lol