Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Paul's Birthday Party!

Are you sick of Paul Birthday posts yet? Here's one last post!

For Paul's party, we went with a Little Blue Truck theme as that is one of Paul's favorite books and has been from the early days of his life. The publisher has a free party kit that you can download so you can put a party together pretty inexpensively. Honestly I didn't do all that much in terms of decor to carry out the party theme. Party planning is really not my thing and Paul won't remember this birthday. I know some moms put a lot of time, effort, and money into planning their kids parties but that's just not my style (you do you!). So I did a few things to make the celebration special and more so focused on the food (yummy food is a must for me!).

I did order a few things from Etsy to make the party a little more special. First off, I purchased this invitation. Instead of having someone else design the invitation, you purchase a template. That made it easy to play around with the wording and update it to our liking. Instead of printing and mailing these invitations out, we went the "green" route and emailed them to our family members. I'll print one for Paul's baby book but figured an e-version of the invite was sufficient for family members!

Paul's invite with our address redacted
I also purchased a Little Blue Truck "milestone" board. I've seen other friends make something like this on a chalk board. My writing is TERRIBLE and I don't have a creative bone in my body so I decided to purchase one. I figure it will be something we can put in Paul's baby book and it was a nice thing to display at his party.

Lastly, I ordered a special onesie for him to wear. I figure it's something he can wear this spring so it won't be a one-time use shirt!


This picture sums up how Paul felt about all the attention. :(


The party table I set up - I kept it very simple and put out a couple of books, his milestone sheet, and the decorated cupcakes

A pre-party photo
 I ordered some balloons for the party. I thought Paul would love them. He was afraid of them. He's looking at them in this picture.

"What the heck are those things floating in the air?"
I forgot to take a picture of the spread of food but I snapped a picture of my (very full) plate of food! We served Cuban pulled pork and pulled chicken sandwiches (I obviously skipped the bread - GF buns are pretty awful and not worth the calories!), cheesy party potatoes, jicama salad, home made guac, veggies and hummus.


For dessert we made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. In hindsight, we should have covered the cupcakes after we frosted them as the frosting got kind of hard after they sat out for a couple of hours. But they tasted good! Paul wasn't too excited about the cupcakes.


He did take a few bites eventually.


But overall, I think he would have preferred banana pancakes with peanut butter. Oh well!

We got Paul some books for his birthday. His favorite one is the Springtime Little Blue Truck book. It has flaps that you can lift.
Reading his new book with daddy
He mostly got money for his college account from his guests (yay!!) but he got a few physical gifts. This little scooter bike from my parents was his favorite gift. We can't wait for the weather to warm up so he can use it outside on our sidewalk.


He did not want to sit on others' laps all that much during the party but I did snap a quick picture of him sitting on my sister's lap.



It was a really nice celebration. Paul might not have been a fan of all of the attention, but I loved seeing my parents, siblings, and their family. I think Paul just takes after his dad and does not like a lot of attention. He likes to look around at others, but having lots of people looking at him is no bueno!

And now I will take a break from Paul-centric posts unless there's something really notable to share!

12 comments:

R's Rue said...

What a beautiful day.

Amber said...

It all turned out perfectly! Love that you had a bit of a theme to tie it all together!! The food looks AMAZING and also good for you for making the cupcakes yourself!! I definitely just went ahead and bought them for Olivia's birthday haha. They were from this amazing bakery in town though and SO good, no way could I have made ones that good. I think we will continue to have low key family parties until Olivia is 4 or 5 and then will start having more friends involved.

Jeanie said...

Perfection! (We had a few tears at Carson's second! Must come with the territory.) We usually do college fund as the main present and this year a few smaller things. It's the best gift someone can give.

I love thinking of you a year ago and seeing the now. He's wonderful, Lisa, and you and Phil are terrific parents.

Charbelle said...

I never ever get tired of the Paul post, ever!!! That invitation is ADORABLE!!!! I LOVE it!!! When I saw the pic of how he felt about all the attention it made me think of Phil. Michael HATES being the center of attention. He nearly had a panic attack on the day of our wedding. He too would rather observe all the people. I'm so glad that you were able to have so much of your family together for Paul's birthday! That food all looked amazing!!!! This reminds me I need to do Charlotte's bday post. I'm so behind on posting!

Marlys said...

Oh, please don't stop with baby Paul centered posts! Because we don't get to see him as often as we would like to, those posts keep my up to date & entertained! How can one get too much of "Pablito"?!?
It was a fun party and great family time.

Gracie said...

Paul and the balloons!!! So funny. I don't know many tiny kids who aren't scared of them, really. Same with dogs, for that matter! I think you put just the right amount of effort into his party. You kept it fun for his guests, but realistically, he won't remember or care if he had a giant bakery cake or a clown or a bouncy house!
BTW, we're the boring guests contributing to 529 plans...actually, we open one for each of our nieces, nephews, and godchildren. It's not super fun for the kids at their party (especially when they're four or five and get really into the presents thing), but I bet they'll be glad later!

Stephany said...

This looks like my kinda party! Great food, chocolate cupcakes, and a low-key celebration. It made me smile thinking about Paul being like his dad when it comes to attention. Two dudes who don't want the attention on them - makes total sense! :) I'm glad the party was a success and it's AMAZING how much there is to do now through Etsy and such to make party planning so much less stressful.

San said...

What a wonderful 1st birthday party!

katielookingforward said...

who needs bread calories when you can have cheesy party potatoes?!?!?! yum!! Maybe next year it can be a curious George party with banana pancakes instead of cupcakes for the birthday boy. I think you did a great job this year, I agree with your style of decorating. Do something, but it doesn't need to be over the top.

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

Happy belated 1st birthday Paul :-) He is such a honey. That picture of him not liking all the attention - haha <3 Awwwwwe!

I love the Milestone Board, and the invitations turned out great!

Money for his college account sounds like the perfect gift. All the kids we know have so many things, so I like the practicality of a monetary gift to go toward education.

Shoshanah said...

I love this theme! Little Blue Truck is a favorite around her too. And the fact that you can easily download a party package makes it so much easier. Happy 1st birthday Paul!!!

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

aww, looks like a great party!