Vintage Valentine: A pink and brown birthday

2016 Edit: Well, I can’t believe that a year has flown by already. It is INSANE to me that it’s already time for her second birthday. We’re not going big and crazy this year (although I am working out a pretty awesome cake in my mind for her). I wanted to re-share her party from last year though, incase there are any other Valentine’s Babies out there and you could use a little inspiration. I’m not going to lie – this was absolutely a party for myself, to make our house as girly and pretty as possible, even if it was just for one day. Hope you love it just as much as we did!

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On Valentines Day our baby girl turned one. We had the party a week later (because really, how many people want their Valentines Day ruined by an infants birthday party), and I couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out! I figured that this was the first, and probably only, year that I could do exactly what I wanted for her, before she becomes obsessed with a character or asks for a theme. I also thought it good to get the whole Valentines theme out of the way right off the bat. Plus, it was fun to keep a running tally of all the cuteness on Instagram!

I’m not really a jarring red and white kind of girl though. If I could snap my fingers and have my entire house transformed, it would be a combination of distressed wood, orange and yellow roses, soft pinks. and hits of aqua. So I basically forced my daughter to live my dream for a day, and it was beautiful!

I’m just going to kind of show off the party today. I’ll have recipes up for some of the food later on in the coming weeks. Giant rolls of craft wrapping paper were my best friend for the decor. I’ll add as much quick little how-to as I can as well.

For the cups, I just bought some white plastic cups, and used this Martha Stewart eyelet lace paper punch on some brown cardstock. Double stick tape held it to the cups perfectly, and had no problems holding up through the afternoon.

For the napkin holders, I used this Martha Stewart deep edge diamond fence paper punch. I just folded them around the napkins and used some regular tape to keep them in place. These looked so pretty sitting out on a galvanized steel charger plate I found at Michaels (I used a second one to top a cake stand).  Here’s a page that explains how to do the napkin fold. It is so easy, and a great way to keep everything together!

For the table, I just covered it with a light pink plastic cloth, topped the center with a punched out roll of craft wrapping paper. I used that same Martha Stewart eyelet lace paper punch that I did for the cups trim.

I put some paper straws in a diner style straw dispenser, and covered the ceiling above the sweet table with 180 puffs in 6 different colours (white, ivory, grey, peach, light pink, bright pink), and three different sizes (4″, 6″, 8″). I created a border at roughly the same height, running the ribbons on wires. I then filled the center with the puffs at varying heights. All of the puffs and the straws were ordered through Party Envy, my cousins party supply company (full disclosure: I work with her here doing the graphic design).

I made a banner of pictures from her first year that hung across the fireplace. I used that same Martha Stewart eyelet lace paper punch on some light pink card stock, then attached 4″ x 4″ pictures using vintage style corners. I attached them to a burlap ribbon using chalkboard heart clothespins that I marked by month.  The vintage corners and clothespins were from Michaels.

The last thing I really “made” were these little chalkboard signs. They ranged from $1-$2 at Michaels, and I just painted with chalk on them. To make chalk paint: Grind up a stick of chalk, which I did by putting it in a ziplock bag and then hitting with a hammer. Put the chalk dust into a bowl and add water until just runny enough to paint, no lumps! It may look clearish going on, but dries like above.

That’s about it for the how-to. Everything else was just setting up and enjoying. Hope you like the pictures, I’m loving looking at them all again (and it’s only been two weeks)! Last thing, the burlap flag letters below are from Save on Crafts!

The big cake was chocolate with a raspberry buttercream.

Peach coloured mason jars with candles are a glorious thing.

The first thing Sophie said after Dada was love ya. Um, best baby ever!

Homemade macaroons. You can find my recipe for salted caramel macaroons here. The pink on the bottom were raspberry, the ones with the painted hearts in the middle were strawberry, and the salted caramel were up top. Just sub out the caramel sauce for pureed and strained berries to change up the flavour!

Salted caramel cake.

Chocolate hazelnut cake.

Homemade marshmallows and graham crackers for s’mores thanks to a chocolate fountain!

Anna getting into the feta dip

All three cakes were from Bobbette and Belle in Toronto. I was SO happy to take a year off from making the cake too.

The birthday girl having some of that awesome cake.