In this post I'll focus on the decor.
**Photo Timeline**
I knew I wanted to showcase A's first year throughout the party area. In order to do this I hit up Pinterest for some ideas. While doing a quick search for "photo timeline" I was quickly bombarded with so many ideas to choose from. Since I had taken A's picture every month on the 18th I knew I wanted to display them in a nice way. So I printed each photo onto 4x6 paper and wrote her age and the date at the bottom of each one. I was very proud of myself for keeping up with taking her photo each month so this was a special project for me.
I decided I would put the timeline on the wall as soon as you entered the party area. That way, as soon as guests arrived, they were taken back though A's first year of life. I arranged the photos in order from her birth up until the day of the party (I meant to take a photo that morning of her in her party dress, but time got away from me). Once they were up, I was pleased with how it looked, but didn't feel like it was enough. So I grabbed purple and green cardstock and cut out some crowns and frogs (images found by doing a google search). I decided to place a crown above each monthly picture so it looked like she was wearing them. The frogs (in three different sizes) were arranged below the photos. This also showcased the theme of the party, Princess and the Frog.
**Hanging Pom Poms**
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| Photo taken before they were hung |
Months before I began to do any party prep I came across this post on Martha Stewart's website. I instantly knew I wanted to make them. Although I wasn't sure then what our them would be, I just knew I had to included them somehow. I was a little intimidated by the instructions so I hit up my friend Pinterest for more ideas and hopefully a better/ easier how-to. Without any real success, I decided to dive right in and wing it.
First thing I had to do was to find tissue paper. I knew I wanted to make them in purple, but wasn't having any luck finding a color I liked. Most of what I found was pastel and I knew it wouldn't work. Then one night I stopped by Target on my way home from a friends birthday celebration. I wasn't on the lookout for anything particular, but when I came across a package of green, purple, and pink tissue paper for $1 (!!) I knew I had hit the jackpot. The only down fall? There was only one package left, so I had to make my pompoms much smaller than what I had hoped for.
There were five sheets of each color so I cut them in half to double it up. By doing this my pompoms became more round than had I not. I figured I'd take better shape over size. After all, you can't really complain when you have a cute set of decorations for $.33.
**Number 1 Sign**
I was really excited when I came across this idea on another blog. I instantly knew I wanted to try to make it for A's party. Although there weren't any instruction on how to do it, I figured it couldn't be too hard. And in fact, it was quite simple. All I needed were basic supplies like cupcake liners, glue, ribbon, and poster board.
First I drew a basic 1 shape on the poster board. I made sure it was large enough so you would still be able to see the exact shape of the number once the liners were on. Then I folded each cupcake liner in half twice and glued the tip (which was made by folding them) onto the board. I started off by gluing them down randomly all over the poster. Once I had a few on, I let them dry, then I would go back and fill in some more. I repeated this step about three times just filling in as I went to make sure there weren't any holes. After an hour, this is what I had. Cute, huh?
**Pom Pom Topiary**
This was another take on the pom poms I made earlier. Since I also had green tissue paper in the package with the purple I figured I wouldn't let it go to waste. For these pompoms I didn't cut the paper in half so they are about twice the size as the hanging ones, but definitely not as full and round. I wasn't too worried about their fullness because they were going to be "planted," therefore I only needed them to look cute from one side. Speaking of them being planted. I got this idea when I came across purple take-out containers at the dollar store for $1 each. Instantly the thought came to mind and I bought the rest of my supplies needed (which were styrofoam and filler, I also needed skewers which I already had at home).
Since the containers were rather large (about five inches tall) and my skewers weren't very long, I first added a handful of filler to the bottom. Then I placed in my styrofoam piece and topped it off with the rest of the filler. I attached the pompom to the skewer with the wire (see tutorial) and then stuck the skewer into the foam. Tada! And at $4.50 each (there were two of them) they really made the table look nice.
**Table Backdrop**
This was, by far, the easiest decor to create. In my dining room I have a mirror hanging on the wall. Since I didn't want strange reflections as people took pictures, I decided to cover it with purple and green steamers. Easy-peasy! Although you can still see through a bit, it's much better than the alternative of taking a picture of yourself...
**Smash Cake Backdrop/ Banner**
Another super easy (and cheap) decor item. After searching Pinterest (yet again) for "smash cake photos" I came across a picture of a baby sitting in front of a white background enjoying his/her cake. I liked how it looked more "studio" and less baby-just-eating-in-a-highchair. I wasn't sure how I was going to pull it off, but then I came up with the idea of using a table cloth for the backdrop. So back to the dollar store I went to purchase a $1 white table cloth to hang up for A to eat her cake on/ in front of. Once I hung it up, I noticed it looked a little plain and kind of out of place. So that's when I decided to make a banner to put across the top. I cut circles out of purple and green paper and wrote out the message "Ariana Grace is one" with one letter on each green circle. I hung the banner high on the cloth so when she did her smash pictures it wouldn't be in the background (I wanted it all white).
*Stay tuned for even more party posts. I have many more "secrets" to share :)
PS. I just enterd this post into a party, come join in on the fun here:
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