I debated waiting to post until I have all of the photos from Polly’s birthday party, but I wanted to share how we were feeling on her big day and how much fun everything was, long before we talk about how pretty it all was (but it was so pretty!).
I used to pride myself on being wholly unsentimental (and, yes, I realize how ridiculous that sounds). I didn’t get super emotional on “first days” with the big girls and I never felt sad to leave stages behind — it has always been so fun for me to watch the girls grow up and it’s hard to be sad about things they are so excited about themselves. I don’t know what changed with the birth of our third baby girl — hello, midlife crisis — but I’m having a harder time watching the days go by than I ever have before. This milestone was super emotional for me and I barely held it together during the birthday song. I just want to freeze this moment in time — the squishy thighs, the sweetest way she says mama, the way she wraps both arms around my neck when I lift her from the crib.
I actually bought her birthday dress in February. I met Jennifer for brunch and ran into a consignment shop afterwards and they had a rack of these dresses (by Dot Dot Smile) with tags still attached. I loved this one, but I didn’t buy it right away. A few days later, I thought OHMYGOSH why didn’t I buy that dress for a sunshine birthday party, MUST GO BACK. It’s been hanging in her closet ever since and I was so thrilled with how well it coordinated with the other party details. I saw a similar invitation idea on Pinterest and whipped this one up, along with the bookplates we mailed to our guests.
I wanted very specific things for this party, but I also wanted to do it all myself and keep a super modest budget. The buffet was filled with finger foods that the birthday girl would love (think fruit, cucumber sandwiches, and plenty of cheese!), cupcakes from Publix, and this darling smash cake that my mom helped me with. She baked the layers and made homemade buttercream frosting and we worked together to ice it, the morning of the party.
I’m so glad I didn’t spend money on something more elaborate — this was exactly what I envisioned. Also? Polly didn’t even love the cake. She spent more time sharing bites and trying to get frosting off of her fingers, than actually eating the cake, so we switched to finger foods pretty soon after.
The cookies were my only splurge and they turned out perfect! I had a local cookie gal make them small enough to put on top of the cupcakes, but had a last minute change of heart. We opted to serve them alone and I added lollipops to the cupcakes instead. We put lollipops on Sophie’s first birthday cupcakes and it was one of my favorite touches!
Did I mention that Josh helped me make a killer playlist? Who knew there were so many songs about the sun, but we pulled together thirteen songs that were perfect for our girl and it’s been on repeat ever since.
I have two pieces of advice, when it comes to first birthdays: have someone else take the pictures and ask your guests to bring books instead of gifts. I have the privilege of having the best photographer in Birmingham as my sister, but it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Trying to set up a party, enjoy your guests, take care of the birthday kid and document the day is hard. Being able to eliminate one of those tasks is a lifesaver. I set up a tripod to capture the birthday song and my sister took care of the photography. Her photos are always stunning and she find all of the tiny details that I might have missed… like this beautiful stack of books. For both Sophie and Polly, we requested books as gifts, and I have exactly zero regrets. We still got a handful of sweet gifts, plus plenty of money to buy a few things she needs, but we also cultivated a wonderful library for her room and we didn’t get a single duplicate book!
A few days after Polly’s party, Josh was telling me that he knew most guys didn’t love birthday parties and how everybody always says the first birthday is really for the mom, but that we threw big birthdays because birthdays were a big deal and we just really loved to celebrate our girls. Can I tell you how amazing it is to hear your husband say those words? Birthdays are a big deal — we made a person and she’s awesome and we want to make sure that everyone knows it!
Polly may not remember this day, but she’ll have so many photographs and stories to look back on. She knew something was different — we all fawned all over her that week (not that we don’t do that anyway!) and she just grinned and giggled at all the attention. She played hard with her friends and crashed hard after they all left and we all just stood around looking at her sleeping face, making balloon animals, and eating smushed up birthday cake. It was the best.
Happy birthday, Sunshine Girl!
