The party Jessica put together was amazing.  So much love and care went into it.

Jessica  had been told by people told that a first birthday celebration was just for her, since the baby won’t remember.   This may be true but Jessica wanted to…

“celebrate big, make a fuss, hand-make every decoration, stay up late cooking and crafting and gluing, and invite all of Annalise’s little friends and their families over. I’ve been thinking about this party, this event to celebrate the life and miracle of my angel baby girl, for months, but I couldn’t articulate to myself why I wanted such a big fuss. Then I read a post from this blog and was struck by a short quote from a mother who lost her daughter to a choking accident two weeks shy of her second birthday. In a letter to her son on his first birthday, she wrote, “Dearest Little Peter Boy, I didn’t know that your sister, Lucy, would have only one birthday. Just one. We had a small party for her. And it was sweet and wonderful. But after she passed away, I realized what a big deal birthdays are. Another year alive. Another year with our loved ones. And I vowed that I would make your first birthday a huge celebration. And we did! It was all I could have hoped for and more.” I agree. They’re a big deal and they are indeed a miracle. One which I do not take for granted and Annalise’s party was my way of expressing that and reveling in it. I thank God for my precious baby.”

I have to say I totally agree with Jessica!!

The theme of the party was Sweet Pea,which is her daughter’s nickname.

Jessica carried that fun theme through all the details of the party and created a beautiful, not to be forgotten event!

For Jessica, the name of the game was THRIFTY.  She wanted to put together a fun party from scratch without spending a lot of money. Look what Jessica did with some dollar store finds.  It is amazing what a little spray paint, glue and imagination can do!

Glass bowls and candlesticks from the dollar store become lovely serving pieces!

A little inexpensive tissue paper and craft paper and look what you have -

I also love what she did with this fun little sign she found at the Dollar Store that fit her theme so perfectly!

Before:

After:  So much cuter!

Jessica’s attention to detail was wonderful.  She printed off labels at home to dress up and personalize her water bottles.

She used utensils and paper goods from the Dollar Store but dressed them up a bit!

Add  a fun vintage store find that was originally broken and dark brown.  I love spray paint!!

Jessica then took an out grown tutu she already had and stuffed it into a vase and had an amazing party decoration

There were lots of fun pink treats and some sweet peas too!!

She even printed off some fun birthday themed artwork and changed out the artwork in her frames over the table for the party!  A detail woman after my own heart!!

As you can see Jessica is also an amazing photographer so her sweet pea will remember this amazing first birthday as she relives it through the wonderful pictures her mother has taken.

Thank you Jessica for sharing your party with us.  The love and devotion you have to your daughter shines through every detail.

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!

I love everything vintage and have recently developed a fondness for vintage tablecloths so I wanted to incorporate those into the party.

The luncheon was held out on the patio in our garden.  Fortunately we had wonderful weather.  After a very rainy spring and early summer I was a little worried but the weather came through and it was almost too warm and sunny.  We pulled out the sun hats and sunglasses and everyone did fine.

I also have a little collection of vintage aprons.  Since I had to use my ugly folding chairs I decided to dress them up a bit with the vintage aprons.  I used a double sided tape to tape them onto the top of the chairs.  It worked great.

For the table decor I used my blue mason jars I had picked up last year for the backyard wedding reception I helped with.

I filled them with flowers from my garden and placed a jar on each table along with a couple of old, vintage books.

The only flowers I had to buy was one bunch of hydrangea from Costco which I used in the arrangement I put on the serving table.

I also used the blue and clear canning jars to display pictures of my mother through the ages.  People loved looking at the photos!

I also added some vintage inspired pinwheels into some of the jars.

I borrowed an old vintage quilt from a friend to use as a backdrop.  The serving table was right up against our fireplace and there was an ugly black vent I needed to cover up.  I ran a wire line and used clothes pins to hang it behind the table.  It worked perfect.

I basically just found every vintage type thing in my house and used it to decorate with.  An old shelf from my girl’s room that was in the garage, a sign from Tessa’s room, books from the family room.  I just went around the house collecting things.

My Aunt Pam came down from Canada for the party and brought me this beautiful hat she found at a garage sale.  It very quickly became part of the decor.

I like to use signage on my serving table.  I always like to know what I am eating and besides that it looks pretty!

The menu consisted of three types of quiche, four salads, bread, cupcakes and cake.  For more details on the menu check out the recipes I’ll be posting over at Your Homebased Mom.

The desserts were on a separate serving table.  I found an old rusty shelf at a vintage shop that I used to give the table some height.  I added more flowers and books.

I also stacked 3 cake plates on top of each other for the cupcakes.

The finishing touch was a pretty girl in a vintage dress and apron to help serve!

Since the party was back in the garden I wanted people to know which direction to go so I pulled out Daisy and added a sign to her so people knew where the party was!

The best part of the party?  Was just watching my mom enjoy herself with her friends!

Happy Birthday Mom – we love you!

The theme of the event was preparedness and food storage – the event was called “Stockin’ Up!”  There was a great guest speaker from Arizona who shared with us her method for storing food and being prepared.

Since we were unsure how many people would attend we decided to go with a dessert bar.  We did bar cookies because those would be easy to cut into smaller pieces if we had more people than we expected.  We planned on 200 and had over 350 people there so we quickly cut all the bar cookies in half and it worked great.

For a list of the bar cookies served and the recipes go here.

Of course we had a budget to work with for the event and bar cookies are great way to stretch your budget because you can cut them big or small. 

I also came up with a few fun ways to stretch that budget with the table decor.

One of my favorite things to use on a serving table is cake plates.  Not only are they pretty but they create nice height on the table.  So using the theme of the event – food storage  and stocking up I created my own cake plates out of canned food and other items found at the dollar store!

I used a combination of clear plastic and silver serving plates from the dollar store along with some canned food I bought there.  Our color scheme for the night was green and pink so I found some canned fruit with pink, green and yellow labels – perfect!

Because the plates were fairly lightweight we used some duct tape to attach the plates to the cans so they didn’t topple over when people reached to get a bar cookie  – thanks to my husband and friend Jeannena for figuring all that out for me!!

I always like to lay out the serving table with all of its serving pieces beforehand – to make sure that it looks good and the table is well balanced.

Of course a centerpiece of flowers in a large can added the perfect touch!  The flowers and the pink and green ribbon came from Costco and helped tie everything together along with the pink and green sheer pieces of fabric we already had from another event.

I also created little place cards in my Creative Memories Storybook Creator software that sat on little stands I found at the dollar store!!  I like to know what I’m eating!

The total spent on table decor was very little and was created mainly out of things from the dollar store!

Of course the table always looks prettier when it is full of food!

What’s your best budget saving table decor ideas?