August's First Birthday Party

Let the fun of August's "Little Surfer Dude" FIRST birthday begin! But don't miss the last post with all the awesome theme party details. :)

Grandma Bonnie had Madelyn sleep over the night before so Mommy could be ready for the party, then she took over Auzzi-duty while all the finishing touches were completed!

Really, at any good party, the food is where it's at!

Some of the wonderful friends and family who came to celebrate!

What a darling big sis!

Could it be a surfer party without a giant waterslide and inflatable surfboards? Probably yes, but they made ours extra-fun!

Lucy and Shelby on the giant shark.

Surfer Bum!

Of course there was also a tropical kiddie pool with a tiny waterslide for the birthday boy and other littles! 

Audrey taking August down the slide.

 

The star of the show is dried off and ready for cake!

 

Ready to serve the cake!

August wanted to grab his cake during the "Happy Birthday" song, of course. 

 

Hmmm...

 

Dig in!

 

I love this picture!

Devoured!

Auzzi's signature evil eyes.

But he's really so sweet, see?

 August adores his Grandma Bonnie!

He loves it when she flips him upside down.

Cool boys in cool surfer shades! 

Cousins Tyce, Derek, Jack, Jimmy, Kaden

 

Guests played horseshoes, ladderball, and as the party wound down, August got to join in the badminton fun too!

Most of these photos (all of the really good ones!!!) were taken by my extremely talented and generous friend Kimmarie.  Having these precious memories captured so beautifully is a priceless treasure to me, so I can't express my gratitude enough! 

Thanks, Kimmarie!

Did you count how many outfits August wore? I didn't really mean to buy so many surf-themed outfits, but it really was nice to have clean clothes after the pool and after the cake...so hush!

Surfer Dude Party Details

I can't believe nearly 2 months have passed since August's first birthday party and I'm finally getting around to posting about it! Sheesh. Too busy!

As mentioned in the previous post, for the first summertime birthday party in our family, I chose a "Little Surfer Dude" theme.  I blame my discovery of Pinterest for the extent to which I carried out the theme, but I love it! What really made the party a success was all the HELP I had from family and friends the day of the party, and my friend Kimmarie sharing her incredible talent with a camera to take all of these stunning pictures! This post is all about the party details. Next will come the fun and the people at the party!

The invitation:

This is a printable I found on etsy, and I love the simple, vintage feel of it. However, after sending invitations, my continued planning led me in a different direction and the style of the party doesn't exactly match. Hope no one was offended by that choice. :)

I got the painted ceramic surfboard, which precisely matches the color scheme of the entire party, at a garage sale across the street from my house. Yeah.  Ordered kids' sunglasses online in bulk. 

Found these fun burlap-style bags and raffia at papermart.com.

I decorated the party hats myself! 

All these printables are from another etsy shop - I decided they were a better fit for my party than the ones that matched the invites. 

My parents host a lot of parties, and they like to have the food served inside and seating out on the patio. I did not want the party separated that way, especially since the food is so central to the party and so much of the "theme" is represented on the table! I'm really happy with how the outdoor buffet setup turned out. 

 

My cake turned out to be a masterpiece, thanks to Diedre!

Inside the ombre ocean cake. The "sand" is crushed graham crackers.

 

This is August's own little cake, topped with a homemade chocolate surfboard!

 

 

Hawaiian Ham Sandwiches, Tropical Seashell Chicken Salad, Grilled Pineapple, "Shark Teeth" (provolone triangles), Dried Coconut, "Shark-Infested Waters" (blue Jell-o jigglers with gummy sharks - TIP: wait until the boiling liquid has cooled off and started to set before putting in the sharks, they melt!)

The mini donuts will be August's traditional birthday treat every year now! His big sister Madelyn has had a giant cupcake cake every birthday. Traditions are fun!

I just happened to have a DeMarle silicon mold that I think is supposed to be football shapes...but when filled only 1/4" or so, made perfect surfboards! For most of them, I piped melted chocolate in the design down first (stripes, letter A, number 1, etc.), then piped the background color on top. Then when the chocolate was re-set, I popped them out and the design was smooth on top!

 

Big sister made this table decoration all by herself, and it was completely her own idea as well. I love it!!

 

Madelyn's party bling.