He’s one year old! I’m sure every new parent feels this way at his or her child’s birthday – but I don’t know where this year went. I remember those few moments before he was born and knew life was about to change; it’s similar to the same way I felt when Tyler & Emily walked into my apartment so I could meet them for the first time. The pitter patter of my heart was quick but so full of excitement, love, and joy!
When deciding how to celebrate, I knew I wanted something intimate. There was a day back in February where I thought I might want to plan an elaborate first birthday – but then my sensibility reminded me about the work, money, and effort required to coordinate such an affair. Plus, as many people reminded me, you don’t even remember your first birthday! The tricky part of Hudson’s birth date is the weather in Chicago is unpredictable. We had snow a week before his first birthday so indoor festivities were a must.
I thought of planning a lunch out somewhere with cake at our home; but since we decided on a small group (family and some friends), we figured we could cram everyone into our place! And it worked out perfectly. I love how cozy it felt but also gave everyone the opportunity to not only be with each other but spend time with Hudson.
My girlfriend Karly threw a Fiesta themed birthday party for her son Grayson last summer and it was ADORABLE. So we stole her idea (and some of her decorations) and coordinated the same for Hudson. Here’s how it went down plus a list of his gifts at the bottom!
Decorations
I wanted the room to look festive but didn’t want to spend a ton of time putting up decorations. We put all of these up in about 20 minutes and it was super easy. I love how colorful our dining room looked! I stuck with yellow, red, orange, green and purple for colors – whether that was the cake, the balloons or even what we wore! It turned out perfectly. See below for information on where I purchased/received these items.
Photo booth props – so I found these on Etsy but it looks like the seller has removed her shop?? Weird!
UNO highchair sign – Karly Mehlhorn 🙂
Food
When I was pregnant with Hudson, I craved Chipotle ALL THE TIME. I get the same 3 flour tacos with sofritas and that smoky chipotle Tabasco sauce. It only made sense to cater Chipotle for his first birthday – but ALAS – Chipotle requires a minimum of 20 people for a catering order and they wouldn’t budge (even when I called our local store). WOMP WOMP!
Knowing that we wouldn’t need that much food (even though I probably could’ve wiped out the leftovers myself), I had a fellow mama friend suggest Qdoba – thanks Marisa. She had it catered for one of her baby showers and was impressed with the food and service. I gave Qdoba a call and they were AWESOME! Seriously – I was very impressed with how good the food was, the service they provided as well as the setup of our taco/burrito bar. We selected two types of meat (chicken and steak) with black and pinto beans, a variety of salsas, queso, and lettuce. We love you Qdoba catering!
The cake was from Mariano’s (our nearby grocery store)! I sent them a picture I saw on Pinterest and they did a great job recreating it. Turns out Hudson is just like his mommy – he loves CAKE! Note to self – the colors selected when mashed together turn brown – so Hudson looks like he ate refried beans instead of frosting haha!
Attire
Hollyce: I chose a yellow Mexican dress. I wish I had discovered these years ago; I wear a lot of sundresses in the summer. This is easy to throw on as a cover-up for the pool but also for a date night out! Cute, easy to wash, and such a happy color.
Emily: Emily’s dress was a youth version of mine! Her color was a bit of a brighter lime green than the one in the link.
Hudson: His onesie was from BebesStiches on Etsy. Her shop is currently taking a break but she will be back! The onesie was perfect and Hudson looked too cute when he wore his sombrero from Little Blue Olive. Unfortunately, he did not like wearing the sombrero – so the pictures show an unhappy birthday baby 🙁 but I mean – look at how cute he is even when angry crying!!
Presents
Everybody’s favorite part of a birthday – PRESENTS! And let me tell you, this little boy made a haul. Lots of love in the form of toys! I wanted to share some of what we received as I think he got a great mix of presents that are great for where he’s at currently but toys that can also serve a purpose as Hudson gets older. Thank you to all our friends and family for all the wonderful gifts.
This book has great big, colorful pictures which are great for teaching first words and entertaining for a young baby!
This pegboard is super portable and great to teach Hudson how to pull the pegs out of the board, how to stack them and how to count. Right now, he’s enjoying putting the pegs into his mouth more than anything – but we’ll get there 🙂
The pipSquigz have been awesome! We can attach them to his highchair, on the floor, on the window, mirror, etc. It helps Hudson to build strength by pulling on them but are also highly entertaining. Just ask my big kids!
UPDATE: Since purchasing the pipSquiz (great for car seat, high chair, airplane), we have purchased these smaller ones and they are AMAZING. Even as a chew toy 🙂
We also got Hudson an ezpz placemat. These are silicone placemats that help with dividing up food, encourage self-feeding and are EASY to clean (which is #1 in my book). He also got a set of toddler forks with his placemat – yes this present was like getting socks for Christmas – a little underwhelming but necessary!
These snap beads are so lightweight and Hudson loves them. We are trying to teach him how to pull them apart and put them back together. A chew toy for now but bigger purpose later!
Hudson LOVES his little blue car. This was an awesome present – especially now that the weather is warm in Chicago. Hudson loves to honk the horn. I put Sophie the Giraffe in the cupholders on the front of the car – it’s his version of the Hula Girl on the dashboard. We put on some music and drive him around outside – plus it’s great for teaching him to sit up straight.
Another great present – this Radio Flyer wagon with a canopy. The wagon is soft on the sides, can hold up to 150 pounds (so Emily and Hudson can ride together), can unzip into a bench, and is super easy to fold up. I had another mama ask me about its turnability – I have seen no issues with it so far! The wagon holds anything we need when going to a park, soccer games or any other family outings where we want some storage. Big fan!
This was an unexpected favorite! As some of you may know, Hudson has not been a fan of bathtime for the past few months. But on the nights where he doesn’t cry, we’ve had some fun in the bath – especially with this toy! It floats in the water and has cool color effects. It reminds me of the changing light we had in our family hot tub growing up! Thanks, Uncle Connor 🙂
The ball popper was one of T&E’s favorite toys as little kiddos – so we are excited to see if Hudson will continue the favoritism. It’s a lot of fun with the balls popping up and being able to help them go back through the toy; plus it plays adorable music. It startled him a little bit at the beginning but he’s getting more used to it now!
This is the gift we are getting the most use out of – TOY STORAGE. We needed somewhere to keep all these delightful toys as we were growing out of our toy box. I love this because Hudson can also reach up and access all of his toys. He’s learning to pull out the bins himself and get the toy he wants.
While Hudson isn’t walking quite yet, this toy is another great example of one he can “grow into” over time. For now, he loves pulling to stand on this and playing with the buttons on the front. My favorite part – the purple telephone. David and I have joked that this will be Hudson’s only reference to a regular telephone since all he’ll know are smartphones.
Hudson also got some really cute clothes and stuffed animals! If you ever have specific questions about any of our clothes as you see them on social media, feel free to reach out as well! A few additional cute shots below.
Thank you again to everyone for your sweet messages and to our family and friends for supporting our little Huddy Buddy!
xo
Hollyce
2 Comments
Kimberly Wyse
What a cute party! I really like the intimate setting. We had a big party and I loved it, but I regretted that I couldn’t spend time with everyone who attended.
Hollyce
I think you can’t do a first birthday party wrong – as long as baby and cake are present 🙂 Thanks for reading mama!