December 3, 2011

Wilder's Airplane Birthday Party

I had so much fun planning and putting together Wilder's airplane-themed first birthday party. Although a fair amount of stress went into it, it was exciting and rewarding to see my plans and preparations realized and to see everyone enjoying themselves that day. Once we got everything set up, I was able to relax and enjoy the moment (thanks in part to my insistence on hiring a friend to photograph the occasion -- she took the huge task of picture-taking off my plate and documented the day so well). The weather could not have been better -- 80 degrees and sunny -- one of the rare days like that in this cold, rainy month.
Wilder in his airplane shirt 
made for him
Wilder loved being the center of attention and it was so special for me to look around that day and see many of the people who have loved and supported us throughout Wilder's first year gathered to celebrate him with us. I missed my dad that day and thought about how much he would have loved being there. There was definitely a hole in the party where he would have been but I felt him there still and I know that he was watching and celebrating his grandson in Heaven. We so enjoyed having my mom, my brother and his wife, Paul's dad and his girlfriend, and Paul's youngest sister there. The fact that they had come from so far away just to be there for our son made the day so special for us. They were a huge help too getting everything to the park and setting up -- thank you guys again so much! I also need to especially thank Paul and my mom for all their help making my hopes for the party become a reality and for putting up with my perfectionism. I couldn't have done it without y'all!
The cupcakes were a chocolate with white
frosting collaborative effort between
my mom, Paul, and myself. We I wanted the
frosting to look like clouds and it took us
much trial and error to get it just right. We
ended up going with store-bought as a last
resort and it was perfect.
Not sure if anyone cares but just so I can
remember it, we served sausage balls with
mustard, corn dip with blue corn chips,
Southwest pretzels, red bell pepper hummus
and pita chips, veggies, and caprese salad bites
(cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, and buffalo
mozzarella drizzled with balsalmic vinegar).
Cupcake toppers were paper airplanes
made from old atlas pages.
We had a spot for "In-Flight Magazines", which included
SkyMall, Southwest airplane safety instructions,
and a custom Flying magazine we made
My dad had saved this Flying magazine from the month
Wilder was born last year so we photoshopped the cover
to include an article about "Wild Blue Airlines"
Inside were all of Wilder's weekly pictures, pictures of
Wilder with his little buddies, and photos from the year
We asked people to leave notes in the airplane piggy
bank for Wilder that he can read later on. A big
thank you to Southwest for the adorable piggy bank,
as well as the Southwest napkins and pretzels they
so graciously sent to us to use for the party.
For favors I made lemon cookies with lemon icing
shaped like airplanes (recipe here). For the
kids we did goody bags with "Wild Blue Airlines
Flight Crew" name tags on the front filled
with a bouncy ball, a punch balloon, a cookie,
and a pilot rubber ducky (most of the kids were
under two so I had to keep that in mind when
choosing goodies). Forgot to get a picture
of the kids' favors unfortunately.

5 comments:

  1. oh. my. gosh! that is the cutest theme i've ever seen. such great ideas!

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  2. Aww you're too sweet! Thanks Annalee :)

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  3. It turned out beautifully! I took your advice and I had my friend take (most) of the pictures. We survived!

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  4. Thanks Lindsay! Whoohoo, yes we did! :)

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  5. Look how creative you are! That is the coolest party ever. Am I allowed to have one just like it for my #46? You should maybe look into becoming "Birthday Planner to the Stars" while you're out there so close to Hollywood.

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