I live for a good party, especially when there is significance behind it. Gisele’s first birthday party was certainly that moment for me.
From the moment I found out I was having a little girl, I knew I was going to be staring down many years of girly-themed birthday parties. And, if you know me personally, you know I’m a girly girl, through and through so throwing this garden party was perfect for me.
Let me give you a little backstory first.
I was completely surprised when I found out I was having a baby. I didn’t think it was in the cards for me and honestly had put the idea out of my head. I was even more surprised when I found out I was having a girl. I thought for sure God was going to give my husband the boy he had longed for. Surprise for Drew too when we went to the gender reveal appointment and it WAS A GIRL! Fast forward a year later, and I am certain that this is the first and only child I will have and I am okay with that.
BUT that meant,
every. single. moment of her life was going to be very significant for me too! Every milestone would be my first and probably my last, so that meant I had to make the most of it, and her first birthday was no exception. Enter a slightly over-the-top, but totally necessary, garden party! Since her birthday falls smack dab in the middle of the most colorful time of year in Ohio, it was only right that the theme be a garden party. And let me tell you, this was such a fun party to plan. Here’s how it went down.
The Details
When I envisioned how I wanted to the party to look and feel, I wanted a lot of color and a lot of whimsy. The space I chose was the cutest micro event space called Hiii. It was a blank white canvas and made for the perfect backdrop for all the color.
The Tables
The Vases. To me, a garden party is eclectic. It’s bright colors, mismatched vases, soft table linens and twinkling lights. It’s taking the beauty and grandeur of a garden and bringing it to life. And, I decided the best way to do this was to start sourcing vases from unique and unsuspecting places. My mom and I started looking at garage sales and estate sales, and let me tell you, they did not disappoint. We found the most colorful, unique vases and they ranged in price from fifty cents to one dollar! All in all, we found over 25 vases for less than $15!
The Flowers. Next, I had to start thinking about the flowers. At first I inquired on buying bulk, like I have with other parties I’ve thrown, but it wasn’t until I was at a garage sale {looking for vases} when I found a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers that I realized, I could continue going the budget route and source faux flowers from the sales as well! Over the course of the next few months, my mom and I would spend our weekend mornings visiting local community garage sales in search of faux flowers and boy, did we find some!
The linens. Once I had my vases and flowers secured, I moved on to table linens. I wanted something that was both soft in color and texture. I wanted to strike a balance between the boldness of the flowers with soft linens. I recommend Facebook Marketplace because you can find linens for cheap! I found 8, 10-foot long cheesecloth table runners for $15! These would lay softly along the center of the tables and provide the whimsical cohesiveness I was going for.
The Candles. The event venue did not allow us to burn open flames but that did not stop me from giving the illusion. After all, what’s a garden party without some candlesticks. Since we couldn’t burn candles, I thought, “why not have beautiful candlesticks on the tables sans flame, of course!”
I stalked Hobby Lobby’s weekly ad searching for the week the candles went on sale. As soon as that happened, I went in grabbed a bunch of colorful candlesticks for about seventy cents a piece. Again, I think I spent about $17 in total. Once I had all my candlesticks, I set them in their holders and started to burn them down.
Here’s a little hack, whenever I buy candlesticks purely for decoration, I always burn them down slightly. The black wick and uneven burn give a very lived-in feel to the space.
Additionally, I snagged small, colorful votive holders from my stash and purchased some battery tea lights and it really made the space come alive. I will die on this hill, but a great party will always have candles, whether faux or real.
The Mementos. Since this garden party was all about celebrating my little girl, I gathered a small mix of gold picture frames in varying sizes and printed off pictures of her from over the last year. I wanted to share the magic of the last year with all of our close friends and family. I spread these throughout the tables as decoration and everyone loved looking at them while they were seated.
The Food
Since I was going with a garden party theme, the food had to be colorful and there had to be fruit and vegetables at minimum. Just like the tables, I wanted the food table to be flooded with color.
Here’s what we served:
- Egg and chicken salad croissants
- Chex Mix – I had to have something crunchy for the kiddos but something that the adults would love too!
- Fruit salad – Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pineapple, mandarin oranges, drizzled with honey, lime juice + topped with mint sprigs. So good!
- Broccoli salad
- Cucumber salad
- Caprese Skewers with balsamic glaze
- Pasta salad
- Ranch, bacon + cheddar dip with Ritz crackers
And for the sweets…
- Almond cupcakes with almond buttercream icing
- Lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream icing
- An 8″ round cake from Resch’s Bakery – a famous bakery in Columbus that has the most decadent treats
- Tea cookies
- Macarons
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Colorful M&M’s
The Vibe
My favorite part of planning are the tiny details that make the vibe of the whole event. The music, the lighting, all of it. Since this was a baby birthday party, I wanted to get creative on how to engage the adult guests as much as the kiddos.
For the adults. I partnered with a local artist, Giving Brush Studios, to design beautiful, handcrafted coloring birthday cards for everyone to color and decorate. The inside was blank and everyone was encouraged to write a special note, advice, a prayer or wish for Gisele. I plan to put these cards in a time capsule and give them to her when she turns 18!
I also wanted to make sure everyone was capturing memories so I created a selfie station of sorts. I found an old large frame {at a garage sale of course!} I spray painted it gold and added faux flowers around the corners. I found peel and stick flower decals {roses + peonies, my favorites} from the Dollar Tree and added those to the blank, white wall and that became a place for people to take photos with each other and with Gisele. It was the best $10 I’ve spent!
For the kiddos. In addition to encouraging the older kids to color a birthday card and write a special note, I had bubble favors and fun party headbands for the little ones. Also, I created a flower bar where they could build their own flower pot. Since I didn’t want this to get messy, I used faux flowers. What’s a garden party without more flowers!
Here’s what it consisted of:
- Small, plastic starter pots – I found these at Dollar Tree
- A tiny piece of a pool noodle – to secure the faux floral stems inside the pot
- Faux, flower stems – individually cut and trimmed to the appropriate height of the pot
- Fun stickers to personalize and decorate their flower pots.
This was such a hit with all the kids {and a few of the adults too!}
I can’t forget the little ball pit for the smaller kiddos to play in. I created a seating area the parents to hang out and the kids to go wild, and that they did! {Note to self, balls flying in the air in every which direction causes my anxiety to go crazy. Lol!} I found this perfectly aesthetic blow up pool from MINNIDIP and a pack of colorful balls from Amazon, and within seconds, a fun play space for the littles.
And the last element that helped to create the moment was the music. I put together a playlist fitting for a garden party that consisted of string quartet music, mostly by Vitamin String Quartet. It was the perfect background sound for her garden party and really created the vibe when guests walked in.
The Decor
Since the tables made added so much color there wasn’t much else I wanted to do to the space. As I mentioned, the venue had so much original charm and ambient lighting that I didn’t want to take away from it. A few of the details that added the finishing touches were:
- A bunny rabbit throw pillow that I threw on the white settee – pulled from my spring home decor collection
- Small, porcelain rabbit and bird accents that I put on the tables – also pulled from my spring home decor collection
- “Happy Birthday” and “Isnt She ONEderful“ mylar balloons – I saved a ton of money purchasing these instead of doing a balloon arch
- A beautifully decorated highchair that I DIY’d – Check out how I created it, here.
- Butterfly wall decals that felt like they were fluttering into the garden party when you opened the door
- A window sill full of wildflowers and greenery cut from my mom’s garden. This pulled it all together so perfectly because the smell of the fresh flowers wafted through the air just as you walked in.
The Ensemble
I’m always one to dress for a theme and this was certainly the time and place to do so. I am usually all about a neutral palette but this party was not the place for that. My outfit had to be colorful and playful and most importantly, it had to compliment the birthday girl.
I started with Gisele’s dress, I found her dress on Shein! I’ve never purchased baby clothes from there but I was looking for something so specific and their site was able to narrow down exactly what I had in mind. She looks great in any shade of yellow and when I found the dress with the butterfly appliqués, I was sold.
{Yes, Gisele did have an outfit change after she started getting fussy in her dress. And of course I had a new party hat for her to wear!}
I do not, however, look great in yellow so I knew I couldn’t go full on yellow but I did want to compliment her dress. I found an adorable puff sleeve dress with lemons and grapefruits on it, also from Shein. I paired it with some stacked heels {surprisingly comfortable} and a very appropriate fascinator hat. Since their ordering can be a little inconsistent, I ordered a couple of different sizes and sent back the ones that didn’t fit well. Highly recommend doing that! Now if only I could have convinced Drew to dress with the theme {insert eye rolling emoji}.
I do want to take a moment for her headband. This was another DIY project of mine. I knew I wanted her to wear a flower crown of sorts, but all the options online did not impress me, so, as usual, I made my own. It was so easy and I was so proud of her for wearing it much longer than I expected! She made Mama proud.
Reflecting on it all
It’s been a month since we celebrated our little girl turning one {the time is truly flying by}. It was such a beautiful milestone for Drew and I. This last year has been a combination of laughter, joy, tears, frustration, isolation but also so much happiness, and that’s what we were celebrating, the beautiful journey. Gisele has been such a gift to us and my purpose of this party was to celebrate the vibrancy and life that she has brought to our family.
To me a garden symbolizes growth, vitality and life; everything that our little girl means to us. So this theme, while it was very fun and colorful, had a deeper meaning. I hope Gisele looks back on the memories, pictures, and notes from her first birthday and feels all the love that surrounded her in this special moment.
I hope you enjoyed reliving this special day with me. If you feel inspired to throw your own garden party, check out my Amazon Storefront where I have linked some of the many items that I used.
Also, if you’re looking for more inspiration:
♥ This salad would make a perfect summer dish for a garden party or outdoor patio dining.
♥♥ This cloud themed shower is perfect for the mom-to-be.
