Celebrating Little Dude!

We had a birthday party for our Little Dude yesterday. He will be one years old on the 14th! I started collecting ideas and making decorations for the party a couple months ago. I got pretty much all my inspiration online and was able to make most of it which helped keep the cost down. {You might recognize some of the ideas from Jessica's blog at The Mac's. Love her style!}

The invitation we sent out to our friends and family.

I picked the colors aqua & orange, I just love those colors right now! And I went with a pinwheel and pennant theme because those seem so boyish to me. It's been so fun to be able to do both a girl party and now a boy party!

This display greeted our guests in the entry way. Can't wait to share how Little Dude's 1 year pictures turned out... but that will have to wait so this is a preview!

Circle garland: I just used different sized circle cutters to cut the paper and then ran them through the sewing machine. Simple and cute!

This banner hung in the stairwell and displayed a picture of Little Dude, one for each month, to show how much he has changed and grown in the last year. I chose all the pictures to be B&W except for his 12 month picture. This was a favorite of party guests!

We served Italian Beef and BBQ Chicken sandwiches, chips and veggies for lunch. It was a perfect wintery day for hot sandwiches! Yum.

We set up a kid table downstairs with PB&J sandwiches, goldfish and orange juice boxes. We also had a coloring station set up for our little guests!

Orange sodas with aqua striped straws were fun but it ended up being a rainy/snowy day so the hot drinks were a big hit for obvious reasons! 

I used a turquoise bucket we have in Little Dude's room to keep the sodas on ice!

We made an ice cream dirt cake for the guests and a chocolate cake for Little Dude's smash cake.

Our happy birthday boy! He took a nap just before his party and was asleep when guests started arriving. But at least he was well rested and a happy boy for his party. 

Daddy had to get in on the smash cake action and show Little Dude how it's done!

There was a variety of party favors for guests to choose from:

- {Gum balls} "Hope you had a BALL"

- {M&M's} "So SWEET of you to come"

- {Gold fish} "Hope you had a SWIMMINGLY good time"

We had a Time Capsule for Little Dude too. Guests were asked to write a note to him and then we will give it to him to open and read at his 18th birthday! Hubby spray painted the glass jar and used vinyl to make a "C" shaped window.

A few pictures of Little Dude opening gifts:

Playing with Grammy.

His train set was a HUGE hit, especially with big sister!

Thank you to everyone who came and made it a successful and enjoyable party! It just wouldn't have been a party with out you all there.

And a particular HUGE thanks to my mama who came out several days before the party to help me set up! She is also responsible for the delicious and popular ice cream dirt cake! Thank you for ALL of your help, we couldn't have pulled it all off with out you.