Kalaya's First Birthday Party

Sunday was Kalaya's first birthday party and it was so much fun! We had a great time! We are so blessed that we have all of her grandparents close enough that they all got to come and we had so many wonderful friends attend the party too!

For those of you who don't know, Nelson's father is Pacific Islander, specifically Micronesian. In their culture, the first birthday is the BIG ONE. It probably goes back to a time when it was less common for babies to survive through their first year. So, following tradition, we had a bigger party than I'm used to for a first birthday. But, I'm so glad we did!

We had almost 30 people attend the party all together. We held it at my parent's house (in Portland) so that we'd have enough room for everyone and because it's a more central location than our house in Battle Ground. We kept everything simple and invited a lot of people.

Kalaya wore a super cute dress that I found on clearance (and had a coupon!) that was Carter's. Pink with a first birthday cupcake and a tutu! Too cute! I also found a little crown at Target that she wore too!

I didn't really pick a theme for the party. I'm trying to avoid licensed characters for as long as we can get away with it. Kalaya doesn't watch any TV yet, so she doesn't know who any of them are anyway. Her favorite thing in the whole world is Pippy....maybe we should have had a dachshund party! Next year... : ) Anyway, I just used pink and purple, very basic stuff. We had crepe paper up and a few balloons, with plain paper goods to match. (all from The Dollar Tree, can't beat that!) I'm kicking myself, because I didn't take any pictures of Nelson's excellent job of putting up the streamers!

We had snacks and stuff for the guests and lots of kid activities. I felt the teacher in me coming out, because I basically created "centers"; we had a place to color, a place for Play Dough, a place for bubbles and chalk and a place with lots of different toys. We had a least 10 kids there, who ranged from 6 months to 7 years old and they were all so well behaved! They played and had a great time!

We got lucky and had a pretty nice day. A little windy, but no rain, which for Oregon is GREAT! So, we walked up to the park, which is only about 2 blocks away. It has baby swings, lots of slides and other fun stuff. The kids played and blew bubbles and had a good time!

Then, we went back to the house for cake and presents. I made cupcakes for everyone, from a basic Betty Crocker mix (chocolate) and with cream cheese (BC again) frosting tinted pink. I found really cute cupcake cups at Ikea and used those.

For Kalaya, I am just not ready for her to have processed sugar. She doesn't eat a lot of food as it is, I don't want her to develop a sweet tooth if I can help it. Plus, there's so much extra junk in so much of that food! So, I found a recipe for a simple banana cake and made that. It had no sugar and I used organic ingredients. It tasted good! Pretty plain (since I'm used to sugar stuffed cake!) tasting, but really nice texture and a hint of banana flavor. I just made "frosting" out of organic heavy cream whipped up with a little vanilla added. It was really easy to make and I felt so good doing it!
Kalaya went to town! She ate almost ALL of the whipped cream. I had to get her started, gave her a little taste and put her hands in it, but then she ate it! It was really easy and it was good to know that she enjoyed it and that it was actually healthy for her!

We didn't really expect presents, but we got some nice ones! She had already gotten her new big girl car seat from my parents. She got lots of 18 month clothes, which we really needed! She got some 24 month too. She got a cute alligator pull toy and an adorable tea set that teaches manners, which she LOVES, new books, a doll and a doll stroller. She'll get some more things from Mommy and Daddy on her real birthday! We had such a great time and feel so blessed and loved that so many friends came out to share the special time together! Now, I need to go write those thank you notes!!