TGIF! Last week we shared some images of our little Bennie turning one! Today we are featuring his country themed 1st birthday party and sharing some of our tips for creating your own fun + successful birthday party! We chose to do a country themed party because our boys grandparents live on a little farm and seeing the animals and playing outside is one of their favorite things to do! Location can be key when thinking of a theme for your parties we suggest considering favorite locations and activities for your family.
The two most important things you need when throwing a successful party for kids and adults is good food and fun activities for the little peanuts! We are big on yummy food in our family and have the best cooks in town! For this country party we deep fried corn dogs and fries and washed them down with homemade lemonade! Treats are a must at any birthday party so we made caramel apples, moo-pops made from marshmallows dipped in white & dark chocolate, watermelon and homemade mini lattice cherry pies!
The cake has always been one of the key elements of a birthday party for Bennie’s cake I knew we had to enlist in the help of our good friend + the best fondanista in town, Julie Hill with Layers Cake! Julie is always a dream to work with and I just about died when I saw what she came up with for the country party! Julie’s attention to detail is perfection and the mini barn cake + animals tasted even better then it looked! Southern red velvet cake with coconut cream filling is pure divine!
For favors we custom stamped mini muslin bags using the same animal design from the invitations and filled them with salt water taffies! This is such an easy + cute option for favor bags and you can easily personalize it with a custom made stamp or even a themed stamp found at your local craft store. Fill it with candies and you have a darling favor for your party guests!
A country party wouldn’t be complete with out lots and lots of farm animals! We received the cutest farm animal masks by one of our favorite children brands, Opposite of Far, and the little party guests had a serious blast dressing up as animals and poking their heads through the mini barn we made.
For activities we had mini pony rides, pony cart rides, face painting, a fishing pond and lots of farm animal petting! The kids couldn’t be cuter riding the mini pony and they had so much fun running around the farm and getting a little dirty!
To finish off the sunny afternoon we did the traditional cake eating! I think it’s pretty safe to say that Bennie loved every bite of his cake and playing in it! The day couldn’t have been more beautiful and fun! Birthday parties can be a lot of work and also a lot of fun! Don’t get to caught up in making everything perfect and make sure to sit back and enjoy it as well!
A huge thank you to our sweet + talented friend, Sarah Knight, for hanging out with us and for capturing this special day in our life!