Preston's 1st Birthday Party

On Saturday, we had friends and family over to celebrate P's first birthday. We had about 30 people over, mostly family. Several members of the Fields family ended up missing the party at the last minute, because Brian's cousin's wife went into labor with their 3rd child at the hospital around the corner from our house. He was born about halfway through the party. Preston can't wait to meet his new "partner in crime" Quinn Fields. :)

I started prepping for P's party a little over a month ago. Of course, mentally, I had been planning it for much longer than that :). Brian and I talked about themes and knew we wanted to do a "little man" theme. At school, they call him "the man" and we have always called him Mr. P, so it was the perfect fit. I found some ideas on Pinterest and started planning.

I knew I didn't want to be too "over-the-top" because I feel like that's a little ridiculous for a first birthday party. However, I wanted it to be special and I wanted some handmade things. I think we had a nice compromise for the little man.

First up, invites! Ordered from Etsy through Dimple Prints. I found some cute navy and light blue envelopes at Archiver's to mail them.

I knew I wanted to make Preston a 12 month banner to show off his pictures from each month. It was amazing to look at them all laid out like that and see just how much he has changed.

Also at Archiver's, I found striped and houndstooth paper, because I figured that was the most "man-like." Making the banner ended up being much easier than I expected. Can't believe they go for so much on Etsy! Doing the numbers was kind of a pain, but I got through it.

Sweet cards on the mantle.

I hadn't really thought about doing treat bags, but Brian really wanted to. Plus, we had been to a few other parties and gotten some cute ones, so we thought it would be fun. Well, we ended up having the most fun with the stuff in it! Mustaches, mustache suckers, harmonicas, kazoos ($1 aisle at Target), and whoopie cushions. 

The bags were from an ADORABLE Etsy shop Cupcake Social. I ordered the bags, a tie cooker cuter, and houndstooth cupcake liners from them, and will definitely order again. Such cute party stuff. I found the little mustaches at Archivers. They are actually rub-ons, so each bag has a different mustache and they were really easy to put on. Kind of like a temporary tattoo.

Speaking of tie cookie cutters, here are the cute tie cookies. My mom helped me with all the baked goods for the party. She makes the most amazing cookies and cupcakes so I "hired" her.

Aren't those cupcakes gorgeous? They taste even better. They are my absolute favorite. She also helped me by making Preston's smash cake. It was tiny, and perfect, and had real buttercream frosting. We found the cute argyle candle at a local party place.

In addition to baked goods, we had P's favorite fruits (Dapper Dude's Favorite Fruits), "Bowtie" pasta salad, Ham Manwiches (those awesome poppyseed and ham butter rolls), and an assortment of drinks, which we labeled "A Toast to Mr. P!" We ordered the napkins for P's baptism, and ordered a big amount, because we figured we would use them for various stuff for P. They were perfect for the party.

Family pic before the cake throw down!

I thought I might get a little teary when I heard everyone singing him Happy Birthday, but I kept my composure. 

In case you missed the post before this, please go and watch the video. Preston devoured his cake like ONLY he can. I have mentioned many times that he is an intense kid, and he really took his intensity out on this cake. It was everything we hoped it would be. I was scared he might not perform under pressure, but he outdid himself by face-planting into his cake and proceeding to shovel it into his mouth, only coming up for air every now and then. He ate the entire thing!

He had an ADD moment and realized balloons were on his high chair.

He chugged his milk after the cake. He was so proud of himself.

Santa brought Preston some mustaches in his stocking. We pulled those out and some of our guests actually played along with us! Love this one of P's neighbor friend Alex. :)

Brian seriously looked like Tom Selleck when he put the mustache on. The dimples and bushy stache resembled him a little too much.

I love this picture of Preston and me. We don't have a lot of pictures together since I am always behind the camera. The look on his face is SO like him. 

Preston's great-grandfather, dad, and grandfathers.

Preston's sweet little cousin Eva! She is just adorable. She fractured her wrist last weekend and had the cutest little purple cast. 

Best friend Robyn and me...

Oh, and his shirt is from another great Etsy seller, Pocketbaby. The shirt is really high quality, and the embroidery was great. 

Brian and I love the next picture because it was how Preston looked all day. So happy, with this wild-eye look on his face. He was running from room to room checking everyone out. 

What makes a first birthday so special is that (newsflash!) BABIES ARE HARD. And we did it. We made it through 365 days of the sleepless nights, the breastfeeding, the bottles, the middle-of-the-night diaper blowouts, reflux, colic, the ear infections, the teething, fevers, the first smile, the first laugh, the first teeth, the first steps, first words, and the first black eye. We did it. And we're better for it, and I would not trade a SINGLE second of the last year. Perspective is a beautiful thing!!!! :)

After our little man destroyed his cake, Brian and I looked at each other, hugged and kissed, and could not have been prouder because we did it together. We are truly a mommy and a daddy.