Owen's 1 Year Old Mustache Bash

(Warning: Post is long and has lots of pictures)

Earlier this month we celebrated little man's 1st birthday. I spent a lot of time making decorations and planning. Of course, what you envision in your head never ends up happening for real. I became a big ball of stress and worry over a 1 year old birthday party. In the end, it was a wonderful day with family and friends. 

The idea for Owen's birthday theme came from where else... Pinterest. I saw a few wonderful boy themed parties with mustaches... and so I started pinning. I became a little bit obsessed and my hubby thought I was a little crazy for even needing a theme for a 1 year old party. 

My color palette started with a piece of fabric. I used that to create the invitations on Photoshop and to purchase other fabric and decorations items. I also used Photoshop to create some of the other signs for the party. 

I cut and sewed the bunting (all fabric from JoAnn's). I created tissue paper poofs (Sprtiz tissue paper from Target) and my sister made the yarn balls. Apparently those weren't as easy to make as Pinterest says they are. 

Ever since Owen was born, I started creating a Shutterfly book for him. Each page has a picture from each month and a little blurb about what he was doing during that time (another Pinterest idea.) I thought it might be a nice way to remember all the little milestones of the first year. I loved the pictures from each month so much that I found a way to display them at his party. On Pinterest (do you see a theme here?) I found that you could make your own large chalkboard by purchasing a oil drip pan from Walmart and painting it with Chalkboard paint. This is what I used to display the pictures. 

Nick made pulled pork and brisket. We also had potato salad, taco dip, fruit, veggies, calico beans, and lots of dessert. I made three kinds of cupcakes: Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese frosting, Chocolate with Nutella frosting, and Honey cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting. I made the little cupcake toppers and bought the plastic mustache toppers from Hobby Lobby. I tried making his smash cake too, but it epically failed the morning of his party. We made a quick detour to the Walmart bakery and Lindsay did some fancy fixing with a pink and blue cake. I don't think Owen could tell the difference. 

Our guests were made up of family and close friends. We only invited friends who spend time with us as a family and actually know Owen. There were quite a few people there and even a couple of my former students decided to stop by and crash. Here are a couple of Owen's guests...

His cousin Austin

Mom and Dad's Guy Friends

Mom and Dad's Girl Friends and Owen's Friends Eli and Paige

Aunt Larissa and Uncle Mike

His cousin Sawyer

Mom and Owen

Uncle Sammy and Aunt Larissa

Papa

Dad, Owen & Mama

Dad's Family

Student Party Crashers

Aunt Lindsay and cousin Colton

One of my absolute favorite pictures is when Owen started taking his first bites of cake. He loves anything that is sweet. 

 Silly little Owen. We know he won't remember it, but we hope that all the people there will be able to tell him how much fun his first birthday celebration was.

 I think I might need to start thinking about and planning next year's party.