Fun for any Party

A little girl named Liv, had a fabulous 1st birthday party 

because she must have a fabulous mom!  Read on...

I was really excited about this photo aspect of the party… first birthdays are difficult to plan because although they’re in celebration of a one year old, it’s really mostly for the adults. Mini photo sessions were a fun way to keep all the guests entertained… and who doesn’t need a family picture?!  This is probably the best time to mention that all the pictures below were taken by the very talented Dawn of Elemental Image. She arrived early to the party to take pictures of the decor, mingled with the guests to get candid shots, did personal photo sessions with each of the families, took all the ‘must have’ shots – blowing out the candles, opening gifts etc. – and put together a slide show of the edited images. She worked hard, got some amazing photos, and out guests raved about her!  To create the backdrop, I rented a pipe frame (it’s the pipe from the ‘pipe and drape’ that rental companies rent for use in creating walls/dividers in convention centers) and draped two lengths of white paper from a roll over it down to the floor. You can find the roll of paper at office supply stores; it’s what teachers use to cover those big bulletin boards they decorate for their classrooms.  I had almost as much fun making the props as everyone did playing with them! We had moustaches & mouths on sticks, chalkboard thought bubbles, empty picture frames & umbrellas. (In the collage above, guess who’s mommy is pregnant with a BOY?!)      Just about half the guests were adults and the other half children, so two favors were in order. The kids took home a moustache or mouth on a stick with a favor tag Beyond Designs made that said ‘Thanks for a picture perfect first birthday – Liv.‘  For the parents, the tag was a mini Polaroid with the details for ordering a 5×7 print from their photo session on the Elemental Image website. I decorated little binder clips with stickers and ribbon to serve aspicture holders.