Cherry Party First Birthday!

Hard to believe my little girl is one year old, but she is. It was time to plan her birthday party, and I had no idea what theme to do in the middle of November. For some reason, I felt like I shouldn't do pastels in November...I know, silly me! I inherited a cherry dress from a friend's daughter that was absolutely adorable, so this dress served as inspiration, and I decided that Jenna's first birthday party theme would be cherries. I originally thought this might be a popular theme, but I wasn't able to find much inspiration on the internet. Nevertheless, I went with it and this is what I came up with!

Invite:  I created an invite on Photoshop. I tried to tie in the cherry theme by using words like "cordially" and "sweet."

To go with the super cute cherry dress hand-me-down, I decided to make Jenna a cherry-inspired barrette.  Unfortunately, Jenna doesn't keep bows and ribbons in her hair for very long, but I wanted to try! I tried to make it light enough she wouldn't notice. At least it lasted through some photos!

Entry Decor: I made a sign for our front door using foam board, poster board, and card stock. I cut out the cherries by hand and used my Cricut machine to make the letters. I also set up a card table with a bouquet of flowers, some balloons, and a 12 month sign.  This is the same sign I used as a prop in Jenna's photos each month.  I just had to scrapbook a new front each time.

I made a Happy Birthday banner using my Cricut machine.  The cherries I found on the Nifty Fifties cartridge.

For the photo banner, I created an image on Photoshop to display the months and represent my theme. I then cut the images out and used scrapbook paper to create the banner.

I bought cheap red plastic tablecloths for the tables and sewed 12" x 12" squares out of a cherry fabric I found at Joann's Fabrics.  I also found red pails at Joann's that I filled with red carnations and white daisies. On various tables I also tied red and white polka-dot balloons and displayed photos of Jenna in her cherry dress.

I set up a dessert table with a cherry table runner made with the leftover fabric, a chalkboard sign, and more photos of Jenna.

I saw a first birthday chalkboard on Etsy, but I didn't want to pay what they were asking.  I decided to make my own.  My husband cut a piece of wood, and I painted it with some chalkboard paint I already had.  A friend of mine offered to do the writing (hers is SO much better than mine). It came out great, was much less expensive, and I was able to add the cherries to make it fit with the theme.

I made a simple smash cake.  I didn't want to use too much red frosting because I didn't want it to stain Jenna's cherry dress, so I stayed mostly with white and just used red for the cherries.

Yep....Jenna loves cake!

I made cherry cupcakes for all the kids at the party.

Mini cherry pies for the adults!  These were SUPER tasty and easy to make.  The recipe is made using mini cupcake pans, but I just doubled the recipe and made normal size cupcakes instead.  Here is the recipe (this is NOT doubled):

• 1 (16.5 oz.) roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• 1 (21 oz.) can cherry pie filling
• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp. melted butter
• 1-2 Tbsp. milk
• 
  

1. Divide cookie dough in half; cut each half into 12 slices.
2. Generously spray 24 mini muffin cups with cooking spray OR line with mini cupcake liners.
3. Roll each slice into a ball, then place each ball into a mini muffin cup.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
5. Remove from oven; press down the center of each cookie cup gently to make a small indentation.
6. Fill each with 1 Tbsp. cherry pie filling.
7. Return to oven and bake an additional 3-5 minutes.
8. Cool slightly; remove from pans.
9. Drizzle with a mixture of powdered sugar, melted butter and milk.
10. Store in refrigerator

Beyond the normal drinks, I also set out ingredients to make Shirley Temples since it went with the cherry theme.

Party Games:  Since Jenna is only one, we didn't go too crazy with the party games.  I bought Hi Ho Cherry-O and set it out in a corner, and we had a bounce house.  The only other game was Pin the Cherry on Top of the Cupcake. I made the cupcake using red poster board that I folded accordion-style.  Then white poster board for the cupcake and card stock for all the rest. The cherries took a while to make since my Cricut didn't cut that large and I had to do it by hand, but the kids had fun playing.

Favor: As a take-home gift, I filled a red bag with various cherry inspired items.  These included a pack of cherry Lifesavers, bubbles, a notepad, and a red pencil.  I ordered the pencils from ebay and had them personalized with "You're Cherry Special".  I couldn't find red notepads, so I made them myself.  The image on the front I photo-shopped from a Google image and then printed on labels so they would stick on without any issues.  The notepad is just red card stock and white typing paper held together with ribbon.  The bubbles I bought at US Toys.  Again, I replaced the wrapper they came with originally with a cherry label I created.

This was the tag I created to go on the front of the red take-home bags.

Thank you to all our friends and family who came out to celebrate our sweet little girl's first birthday! We love you, Jenna!!