A Perfect 1st Birthday! | Julie Marie Portraits

When I started thinking about Jakers' first birthday party, I thought Pittsburgh would be the perfect place for it.  It's 5.5 hours for us to get there, it's a 4 hour drive for my family to get there, and my husband's family is all in Pittsburgh.  So once that was decided, I started thinking of what I wanted to do for his birthday party.  I came up with an invite that was orange and turquoise, and I enlisted the help of my sister to help with the planning.  

I was a little nervous as to how Jake would react at the party, but he had the best time and was full of smiles!  He had so much fun playing with his cousins and friends and loved hearing everybody sing happy birthday to him.  It truly was everything that I hoped it would be and even better for my little guy!  Thanks to all of our family and friends for making it so special!

So, here's a little peak of his party:

My mom made the buckets - she covered them with some fabric that I found.  I made the banner across the back - just printed off some paper and cut it.

I wasn't sure how to decorate the tables that everybody would sit at, and my sister said to throw some colorful paper lanterns on the table.....great idea and super inexpensive!!

I made his party hat, but he wanted nothing to do with it.  In other words, he screamed when I put it on him!

I wanted one picture of all of my nieces and nephews, and this is what I got! :)  Everybody is looking one way or another, and Jakey didn't want to smile as you can see.  Oh well, at least I got one!
 Jakey loves his cousins, and they love him sooo much!  He's such a lucky guy to have all of them!

Some friends brought these pretzels.  How fun is that!  It was such a huge hit for the kids at the party....I am definitely going to be doing this again!

He loved his cake!  In fact, I had to take it away because I think he would have eaten the whole thing!

We caught Papa stealing a lick of frosting!

The invite is on the left, and I copied off my sister and took a picture of Jake holding a thank-you sign for his thank-you's!

• The lollipop cookies and cakepops were brought in from Toledo.  Stephanie (who made them) is AWESOME and can do anything!  Check out her facebook page to see more of her stuff! 
• Jake's t-shirt is from an etsy store called Bowdacious Baby!  It turned out just perfect!
• The cupcake party favors boxes on the right, cupcake toppers and water bottle labels were party cupcake mix party favors.  Check out their shop on etsy here.  Michelle is awesome to work with!
• Photo banner and high chair banner was made from the Etsy shop, Any Good Ideas.  She did an awesome job!