Ford's 1st Birthday Party! (What DID get accomplished)

Family post party

This post is a Two Part Series. Why? Because Friday night and Saturday morning of the party were filled with Urgent Care visits and lots of medication. This first part will tell you what did happen. Part two will cover what didn't happen (on my OCD list)
The bottom line (before you think I'm an over-the-top-mom) is that I love entertaining. While I'm not the chef in the family, I love getting the house ready, making a party playlist, setting up a slideshow, picking out invites, arranging flowers....etc. I made a promise to M that I will not do this for every birthday...I mean, won't we be at Monkey Joe's in a few years anyways? But a good old fashioned house party is my absolute favorite. We work hard on our homes and yards so why not celebrate that hard work with having friends over?

I picked a Cowboy theme for Ford's 1st birthday because it was cute, had plenty of decor ideas, and the invites I found on Etsy were so freaking adorable. Plus we could serve BBQ and beer and it would be a fun party!

So here we go!

LOVE these invites. Mine was a little different saying Bandanas & BBQ for Ford's 1st Birthday

A dear friend told me about this amazing cake lady here in Charlotte. Her phone number will cost you $20...just kidding. You will have to bribe me for it with more than that!

How cute are my sauce labels? NOT. I wanted to have a little NC map with a heart over Western NC for Tomato sauce and a heart over Easter NC for Vinegar sauce. That didn't happen and the sauces never made it into the bottles! But Dad did bring sauce from 12 Bones in Asheville and it was killer.

Dad toasting my hard work with a bloody mary. 

Here are the kiddos gift bags. I found the bags at the Dollar Store. I can't say enough about the Dollar Store! Having a party that includes a primary color as part of the decor helps too. Inside was a rubber ducky dressed as a cowboy and some silly sunglasses. Probably my craftiest endeavor was the labels. I wanted to order them off Etsy but instead I bought a stamp from Paper Source and downloaded a font. Impressed right? Using my old Rockbrook skills!

The spread. BBQ, Coleslaw (Bojangles!) Chips, Goldfish and Buddy Fruit squeeze snacks

Dr. Seuss's Happy Birthday Book for guests to sign and cookies as the take home!

How cute is Ford's smash cake?!

Our buddy Wallace looking mighty guilty! Beer & Juice boxes in the Radio Flyer!

Not so much a smash cake as a timidly poke cake. He loved it!

My sweet one year old

And there's me! Dollar store cups, napkins and straws from Sur la Table. How cute are Ford's friends?

I think the party went well! M's BBQ was perfection and I think all the kids had a good time!

A huge thank you to all my friends and family that came out for Ford's first birthday. A party is just a bunch of decorations until all your friends show up! You all are such wonderful friends and I feel like the luckiest mom in the world that Ford is surrounded by such amazing friends and family!!!